Beyond that man, I don't see anything remotely wrongheaded about Sanneh's article. He's simply pointing out (quite accurately) a phenomenon that might be unknown and interesting to Times readers. Besides Matisyahu sucks and his whole appeal is based on his freakshow status: stoned jam-band creeps are all like "dude he's part of an exotic spirtual group and he's got like a long beard and stuff". The music is laughable at best, but beyond that there's nothing[/b] more comical than a lubavitcher appropriating West Indian culture or trying to make comparisons between being a rasta and a chasid, because these dudes have the most[/b] contentious relationship with their West Indian neighbors that you ever seen. Why get up in arms because Kalefah pointed out the hypocrisy and absurdity of the situation? Seems like great journalism to me.
I don't care that the guy is Jewish. I don't care that he wears traditional Hasidic garb onstage. I care that he makes really shitt watered-down reggae that people like David Letterman (sorry, Dave) latch on to and push as the next big thing because it's really safe. Kelefa's right: there are shitloads of people making much, much better music, but *because they're not white Americans* Matisyahu fans won't check for it at all.
And faux, you're not quite right with your assessment that only Jamaicans make good reggae. A few non-Jamaicans who are currently killing it:
Marlon Asher Gentleman Bitty McLean Natural Black Morgan Heritage (here and there)
Doesn't the Times have a jam-band apologist on staff?
Ben Ratliff or somebody?
they should get a point-counterpoint thing going.
imho jamband fans seem the least discerning of all sociomusical groups - their criteria of quality centering around 'mellow shit to smoke a doobie to'...
imho jamband fans seem the least discerning of all sociomusical groups - their criteria of quality centering around 'mellow shit to smoke a doobie to'...
---
I think Ratliff is the "jazz dude"
...and many "jazz dudes" like to put on jam-band underpanties when nobody's looking.
I agree. And I don't imagine you getting any hell around here for calling out a religious fringe group. Us secular Jews don't really identify with those dudes, at least I don't. I mean, they are kind of crazy. Messiahs, women wearing wigs, arranged marriages, big hats etc etc. I don't mean to clown, but they are a peculiar bunch and very set in their ways. Plus the women seem to get a bad deal in that community.
These dudes attitude's about women are fucking barbaric and many of the wives spit out a baby every 9 months from the time they turn 16 to the time they can't do it anymore. Also, not to generalize, but the community has high rates of inbreeding-related genetic ailments, a real love of money laundering schemes, and an awful attitude toward anyone who doesn't share their beliefs to letter (including other chasidic sects), not to mention one of them ran me over with his goddamn delivery truck. On the positive tip, I gotta give it up to the "chasidic Hendrix" Yossi Piamenta. Dude really has chops and the crowd at his concerts is almost as entertaining as he is.
imho jamband fans seem the least discerning of all sociomusical groups - their criteria of quality centering around 'mellow shit to smoke a doobie to'...
---
I think Ratliff is the "jazz dude"
...and many "jazz dudes" like to put on jam-band underpanties when nobody's looking.
Or is that many jam band dudes like to front like they're "jazz dudes"... and then when you get into a discussion of jazz with them, Medeski, Martin & Wood somehow keep coming up.
imho jamband fans seem the least discerning of all sociomusical groups - their criteria of quality centering around 'mellow shit to smoke a doobie to'...
---
I think Ratliff is the "jazz dude"
...and many "jazz dudes" like to put on jam-band underpanties when nobody's looking.
Or is that many jam band dudes like to front like they're "jazz dudes"... and then when you get into a discussion of jazz with them, Medeski, Martin & Wood somehow keep coming up.
I think it goes both ways and age is the directional factor.
Also, not to generalize, but the community has high rates of inbreeding-related genetic ailments, a real love of money laundering schemes, and an awful attitude toward anyone who doesn't share their beliefs to letter (including other chasidic sects), not to mention one of them ran me over with his goddamn delivery truck.
Okay, here's an article that S>plants a "negative seed"/S> bitterly clowns a white artist for appropriating black music, which I submit as proof that this author does not bitterly clown white artists for appropriating black music.[/b]
"What's Left After Bling, Boasts and Odd Beats" NYTIMES By KELEFA SANNEH
Published: February 16, 2005
Why is it so hard to be an underground hip-hop hero? Perhaps because the mainstream hip-hop heroes have already claimed so much of the best turf for themselves.
"I like 99 rappers, but Jay-Z ain't one," Sage Francis declared at the Bowery Ballroom on Wednesday night. And to prove it, he steered clear of all things Jay-Z-ish. That meant no slick outfits (the rapper and his band all wore black jumpsuits), no jewelry, no high-life boasts or low-life threats. But it also meant no impossibly smooth stanzas filled with hidden jokes and counterrhythms; no mesmerizing stories or irresistible refrains; no state-of-the-art beats or propulsive club tracks.
What was left? Lots of bitter sarcasm, for starters. Mr. Francis, a white rapper, has built his career on a foundation of rage and disillusionment: when he said, "This song is about how awesome guns are," listeners knew he meant the opposite; when he began the show with a verse that started, "I used to think that rappers had it figured out," everyone knew that he was about to explain how wrong he'd been.
Mr. Francis has spent the past few years amassing a cult of fans who prefer the overwrought to the overproduced. He delivers his heavy-handed barrages with the single-minded fury of a punk rock singer, which might be one reason that his new album, "A Healthy Distrust," was released by the punk label Epitaph. (To get a taste of the fractious, obsessive world of Sage Francis fans, visit the energetic Internet forum, inhalerproductions.com/forum/index.php, that he calls home.
The album has lots of densely written rhymes and even a tune or two (the indie-rock singer Will Oldham contributes a chorus), but it's still no fun to listen to: there are some clever couplets ("In a world where the girls got retro tattoos/ All I've got is a gut and Velcro black shoes"), but his harangues don't give them room to breathe.
At Bowery Ballroom, Mr. Francis's backup rappers (two women, one man) sometimes added some playful energy by pairing off, boy-against-girl, trading gruff lines for sing-song ones. But the most ambitious new songs sounded even worse live. A drawn-out version of "Sun Vs Moon" only highlighted the ill-considered lyrics: "God's not a woman/ He's a big white guy in the sky/ And the deserts are reflections of his eyes." (And he wonders why some rappers stick with crime and clubs?)
This was a night overrun with words, so perhaps it's no surprise that the highlight was all words: an a cappella version of "Slow Down Gandhi," his bitter but ambivalent protest poem. Whispering and shouting and singing and talking, Mr. Francis lambasted both warmongers and pacifists, getting closer and closer to his perverse goal: he's a rapper who dreams of being a lecturer.[i]
Also, not to generalize, but the community has high rates of inbreeding-related genetic ailments, a real love of money laundering schemes, and an awful attitude toward anyone who doesn't share their beliefs to letter (including other chasidic sects), not to mention one of them ran me over with his goddamn delivery truck.
hey Goebbels, plaese to leave this thread now.
You're a fucking fool. I have a hebrew name and was raised orthodox until I was about 8 or 9. Unlike you however I don't get my panties in a knot every time I hear something that even hints at criticism of jews. Everything I stated above is a verifiable fact. Sorry if that hurts your corny zionist feelings dude, but comparing me to a nazi just shows what a knee-jerk schmuck you are.
Also, not to generalize, but the community has high rates of inbreeding-related genetic ailments, a real love of money laundering schemes, and an awful attitude toward anyone who doesn't share their beliefs to letter (including other chasidic sects), not to mention one of them ran me over with his goddamn delivery truck.
hey Goebbels, plaese to leave this thread now.
but how you can you get upset? he said he wasn't generalizing
[sarcasm]I'm going to walk up to a asian guy today and say "not to generalize, but all you asian people are the same..."
Also, not to generalize, but the community has high rates of inbreeding-related genetic ailments, a real love of money laundering schemes, and an awful attitude toward anyone who doesn't share their beliefs to letter (including other chasidic sects), not to mention one of them ran me over with his goddamn delivery truck.
hey Goebbels, plaese to leave this thread now.
but how you can you get upset? he said he wasn't generalizing
[sarcasm]I'm going to walk up to a asian guy today and say "not to generalize, but all you asian people are the same..."
It's his fault if he takes offense[/sarcasm]
And here comes the left nut to hang next to the right nut, right off my diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick.
Also, not to generalize, but the community has high rates of inbreeding-related genetic ailments, a real love of money laundering schemes, and an awful attitude toward anyone who doesn't share their beliefs to letter (including other chasidic sects), not to mention one of them ran me over with his goddamn delivery truck.
hey Goebbels, plaese to leave this thread now.
You're a fucking fool. I have a hebrew name and was raised orthodox until I was about 8 or 9. Unlike you however I don't get my panties in a knot every time I hear something that even hints at criticism of jews. Everything I stated above is a verifiable fact. Sorry if that hurts your corny zionist feelings dude, but comparing me to a nazi just shows what a knee-jerk schmuck you are.
and unlike YOU, i don't use my ethnicity as a cover for what are otherwise totally racist utterances.
high rates of inbreeding-related genetic ailments? dude, please leave.
you wanna start clowning African-Americans for being lactose intolerant or Native Americans for their susceptability to alcoholism? what's wrong with you?
The following was published in NYT today. It's an interesting contrast to the Matisyahu piece:
March 9, 2006 Critic's Notebook A Reggae Star Forged in the Dancehall Furnace By KELEFA SANNEH One of the season's most entertaining new hip-hop albums has just been released. Although, strictly speaking, it's not really hip-hop at all. Or new. Or an album. It's called "J.M.T.," which stands for "Jamaica Mean Time," and it's a collection of new-ish tracks from Vybz Kartel, a wicked and witty rhymer who has spent the last four years near the top of Jamaica's dancehall reggae heap. He rushes through 20 songs in less than an hour, sometimes rattling off his smutty puns so quickly that the words disappear into a blur of clickety-clack consonants. Keeping up is hard work, especially for any listener not fluent in Jamaican patois. But it's worth it. Even as the American recording industry searches for new ways to make a buck, full-length albums still drive the market. But in the singles-driven world of dancehall reggae, the full-length album is less a product than a byproduct. An album is what happens while you're busy making other recordings. That helps explain how "J.M.T." sneaked into record shops so silently, despite Vybz's reputation. (He has recently appeared on CD's by Missy Elliott and Rihanna.) Reached by phone in Jamaica, where he was ??? where else? ??? back in the studio, Vybz said that Greensleeves, his label, hadn't done enough promotion. But he also suggested that it didn't really matter. "In dancehall music, it's not really based on an album per se," he said. "You just need to have a lot of songs ??? a lot of hits." Few of the songs on this album have more than two verses, since no D.J. would let a song play longer than that. For Vybz, the real money is not in album sales but in live shows, and in dubplates: customized versions of singles, each one personalized with a salute to the D.J. who commissioned it. He often charges $500 to $1,500 for dubplates (though some important D.J.'s get them cheaply or even free), and he might record more than a hundred dubplates of a big hit. His biggest recent hit wasn't even really his. A verse from his song called "Gun Session" (which is on the album) was on an unauthorized remix of the hip-hop song "Soul Survivor." "The remix was a surprise to me," Vybz said. "I heard it in a dance, and it tore the dance up." Soon requests for "Soul Survivor" dubplates came pouring in, making it one of Vybz's most lucrative records ever, even though it may never be officially released. (He says he has recorded about 200 versions.). Vybz's has been making Jamaican hits since 2002, when he established himself as one of dancehall's deftest lyricists. In one popular song, "Tekk," he addressed a woman who had taken his time and money, slyly inviting ??? or commanding ??? her to help herself to his body, as well: "Yuh tekk mi things and tekk mi money, too/ So tekk buddy, too." In the verses, he enumerated specific ways she could pay him back; you can't imagine what he charges for a refrigerator. In 2003 he released his impressive debut album, "Up 2 Di Time" (also on Greensleeves; it was updated and reissued the next year). Since then, Vybz has found himself in a tricky position. There has been a resurgence in the more earnest, more old-fashioned sound of roots reggae. For a time, the Jamaican pop charts were full of high-minded love songs and tributes to the Rastafarian faith. The futuristic beats and dirty jokes of Vybz Kartel sounded somewhat out of place next to I-Wayne's antipromiscuity parable "Can't Satisfy Her," or Jah Cure's aching ballad, "Longing For." Needless to say, Vybz professes not to be bothered. "It's conscious music on one side, Vybz Kartel on the next side," he said, proudly. In fact, he's happy to take credit for the revival of Rastafarian reggae. "Ain't no artist in secular dancehall can even compare to Vybz Kartel," he said, starting to sound a bit like that outspoken fellow on the records. "So all these Rasta artists come up." "J.M.T." doesn't quite sound like unconscious music. (Though that description does sound appealing.) But there's nothing rootsy about it. Propelled forward by skeletal electronic beats (known in reggae as riddims), Vybz nimbly holds forth on matters momentous and frivolous, with a decided emphasis on the latter. The CD starts with his hit "U Nuh Have a Phone (Hello Moto)," a frantic elaboration on the simple observation that men without cellular service have a hard time attracting women. "Car Man" makes the same point about automobiles, using a reworked version of the evergreen instrumental "Axel F." ("No vehicle? No romance/ Di taxi driver stand a better chance.") And in the current Jamaican hit "Bad Man Party 2", also known as "Got Funds," part of the fun is hearing Vybz rush to keep pace with the frenetic riddim. The new CD also includes about half a dozen new songs. One of the best is "Vybsy Versa Love," which is built on a sped-up sample of Barrington Levy. It's an unusually sentimental track, and Vybz's lyrics plead for a better world. He rhymes globally: "To Uncle Sam, now/ Pull out di troops from Afghanistan, now." He rhymes locally: "Rude boy, stop war with a youth you know from Grade 1, now/ Stop gwan like you want fi be di man, now." And he finds time to rhyme frivolously, too: "Gal, if you a chickenhead, go inna di coop, now." Yet for anyone intent on keeping up with Vybz, the 20 tracks on "J.M.T." won't be nearly enough. To hear his indispensable recent dubplates and remixes you'll need a mixtape, like "Return of the Crime Minister," a great 44-track CD compiled last year by the Soul Controllers (available from your local street vendor, or from sites like mixunit.com). And if you want to hear his fierce new single, "Gunshot," based on a stark riddim called "Redbull & Guinness," then you'll have to buy the "Redbull & Guinness" compilation CD (Greensleeves), which compiles nearly two dozen new songs based on the same riddim. Maybe "Gunshot" will be included on Vybz's third album. Or maybe it will be appended to the next iteration of this one. In any case, there's something seductive about the knowledge that no Vybz Kartel CD will ever be definitive. Even more than most albums, this one is a happily hopeless attempt to capture something that just won't stay still.
I don't care that the guy is Jewish. I don't care that he wears traditional Hasidic garb onstage. I care that he makes really shitt watered-down reggae that people like David Letterman (sorry, Dave) latch on to and push as the next big thing because it's really safe.
word. the author is asshurt because a white guy is making money off black art.
*yawn*
at the end of the day, this Matisyahu dude is not fooling anyone. the author says so himself: most of his fans are hippies, not true reggae heads. so, again, my question is, why bother writing this?
Also, not to generalize, but the community has high rates of inbreeding-related genetic ailments, a real love of money laundering schemes, and an awful attitude toward anyone who doesn't share their beliefs to letter (including other chasidic sects), not to mention one of them ran me over with his goddamn delivery truck.
hey Goebbels, plaese to leave this thread now.
You're a fucking fool. I have a hebrew name and was raised orthodox until I was about 8 or 9. Unlike you however I don't get my panties in a knot every time I hear something that even hints at criticism of jews. Everything I stated above is a verifiable fact. Sorry if that hurts your corny zionist feelings dude, but comparing me to a nazi just shows what a knee-jerk schmuck you are.
and unlike YOU, i don't use my ethnicity as a cover for what are otherwise totally racist utterances.
high rates of inbreeding-related genetic ailments? dude, please leave.
you wanna start clowning African-Americans for being lactose intolerant or Native Americans for their susceptability to alcoholism? what's wrong with you?
Not clowning at all short pants, show me where in that post I was clowning. Shit is a verifiable fact. Because of the insularity of the population and the length of time that they've been making babies with their relatives, they have all sorts of things like Tay-Sacks disease to worry about and many communities have started genetic testing centers to try and cut down on the number of birth defects too. Nothing remotely racist about what I'm saying. Try and get this through your thick zionist head: people are allowed to criticize jews and/or state negative facts about them. That is not racism foolio.
Also, not to generalize, but the community has high rates of inbreeding-related genetic ailments, a real love of money laundering schemes, and an awful attitude toward anyone who doesn't share their beliefs to letter (including other chasidic sects), not to mention one of them ran me over with his goddamn delivery truck.
hey Goebbels, plaese to leave this thread now.
You're a fucking fool. I have a hebrew name and was raised orthodox until I was about 8 or 9. Unlike you however I don't get my panties in a knot every time I hear something that even hints at criticism of jews. Everything I stated above is a verifiable fact. Sorry if that hurts your corny zionist feelings dude, but comparing me to a nazi just shows what a knee-jerk schmuck you are.
and unlike YOU, i don't use my ethnicity as a cover for what are otherwise totally racist utterances.
high rates of inbreeding-related genetic ailments? dude, please leave.
you wanna start clowning African-Americans for being lactose intolerant or Native Americans for their susceptability to alcoholism? what's wrong with you?
if they do, thats nothing to do with anything and its not anti-semitic either, no more than its racist to point out that some african ameriacns might be lactose intolerant and some native americans might be unable to process alcohol so well. those last two things have to do with the presence or absence of enzymes, as I'm sure you know. So the in-breeding thing is an empirical issue, isn't it? And the guy is either right or wrong about that.
uhhh, except the genetic ailment thing was included in a list of negative things about Jews. did you miss that part?
Also, not to generalize, but the community has high rates of inbreeding-related genetic ailments, a real love of money laundering schemes, and an awful attitude toward anyone who doesn't share their beliefs to letter (including other chasidic sects), not to mention one of them ran me over with his goddamn delivery truck.
hey Goebbels, plaese to leave this thread now.
You're a fucking fool. I have a hebrew name and was raised orthodox until I was about 8 or 9. Unlike you however I don't get my panties in a knot every time I hear something that even hints at criticism of jews. Everything I stated above is a verifiable fact. Sorry if that hurts your corny zionist feelings dude, but comparing me to a nazi just shows what a knee-jerk schmuck you are.
and unlike YOU, i don't use my ethnicity as a cover for what are otherwise totally racist utterances.
high rates of inbreeding-related genetic ailments? dude, please leave.
you wanna start clowning African-Americans for being lactose intolerant or Native Americans for their susceptability to alcoholism? what's wrong with you?
if they do, thats nothing to do with anything and its not anti-semitic either, no more than its racist to point out that some african ameriacns might be lactose intolerant and some native americans might be unable to process alcohol so well. those last two things have to do with the presence or absence of enzymes, as I'm sure you know. So the in-breeding thing is an empirical issue, isn't it? And the guy is either right or wrong about that.
uhhh, except the genetic ailment thing was included in a list of negative things about Jews. did you miss that part?
Also, not to generalize, but the community has high rates of inbreeding-related genetic ailments, a real love of money laundering schemes, and an awful attitude toward anyone who doesn't share their beliefs to letter (including other chasidic sects), not to mention one of them ran me over with his goddamn delivery truck.
hey Goebbels, plaese to leave this thread now.
You're a fucking fool. I have a hebrew name and was raised orthodox until I was about 8 or 9. Unlike you however I don't get my panties in a knot every time I hear something that even hints at criticism of jews. Everything I stated above is a verifiable fact. Sorry if that hurts your corny zionist feelings dude, but comparing me to a nazi just shows what a knee-jerk schmuck you are.
These dudes attitude's about women are fucking barbaric and many of the wives spit out a baby every 9 months from the time they turn 16 to the time they can't do it anymore. Also, not to generalize, but the community has high rates of inbreeding-related genetic ailments, a real love of money laundering schemes, and an awful attitude toward anyone who doesn't share their beliefs to letter (including other chasidic sects), not to mention one of them ran me over with his goddamn delivery truck. On the positive tip, I gotta give it up to the "chasidic Hendrix" Yossi Piamenta. Dude really has chops and the crowd at his concerts is almost as entertaining as he is.
glad you have a forum to voice your displeasure for chasidics, but not only are you looking real thick for making generalizations (doesn't matter if your jewish), but your first post sounded like some non-responsive,self-serving type garbage that i would hear on the bill o'reilly show. please explain how your speech on "lubavitchers" has any relevancy to dude's article. his criticism related to the fact that whites are supporting, what he considers, subpar and a poor replica of authentic reggae. you transformed his argument into a diatribe about chasidics friction with west indians and how that makes matisyahu a hypocrite? who said dude's lyrics were all about comparing hebrews to rastas? he borrowed jamaican music and style, not the lyrical content.
I foresee high levels of asshurtedness in the future of this thread...
You didn't even foresee the half of it. Most of these sensitive clowns can't tell the difference between a stereotype and generalization. (And yeah, there's a difference).
I also like how the original poster has backed off his original issue (i.e. that Sanneh has "issues", read: dude is a reverse racist or something) once he got his argument served and instead, is now trying to sound like an editor, "why did they bother to run this to begin with."
Let me try to explain something: when a curious phenomenon happens - say, a born-again Hasidic jew doing reggae - this institution called "the media" writes things called "stories" that focus on them since they think that "readers" might find said phenom interesting or "newsworthy." Occassionally, certain writers, known as "critics" may actually offer up what's known as an "opinion" on the matter.
Ok? That's what newspapers like the NY Times (especially the NY Times) does: examine cultural phenomenon and occassionally proffer an opinion about it. You may not agree with said opinion but to ask, "why did they bother to report on this to begin with?" seems to miss the point about what newspapers and magazines are supposed to do.
Why don't you just disagree with Sanneh's opinion (even though I don't think you actually disagree with the crux of his critique: that dude makes shitty music) and be done with it? And this point, I don't even known what windmills you're charging against.
These dudes attitude's about women are fucking barbaric and many of the wives spit out a baby every 9 months from the time they turn 16 to the time they can't do it anymore. Also, not to generalize, but the community has high rates of inbreeding-related genetic ailments, a real love of money laundering schemes, and an awful attitude toward anyone who doesn't share their beliefs to letter (including other chasidic sects), not to mention one of them ran me over with his goddamn delivery truck. On the positive tip, I gotta give it up to the "chasidic Hendrix" Yossi Piamenta. Dude really has chops and the crowd at his concerts is almost as entertaining as he is.
glad you have a forum to voice your displeasure for chasidics, but not only are you looking real thick for making generalizations (doesn't matter if your jewish), but your first post sounded like some non-responsive,self-serving type garbage that i would hear on the bill o'reilly show. please explain how your speech on "lubavitchers" has any relevancy to dude's article. his criticism related to the fact that whites are supporting, what he considers, subpar and a poor replica of authentic reggae. you transformed his argument into a diatribe about chasidics friction with west indians and how that makes matisyahu a hypocrite? who said dude's lyrics were all about comparing hebrews to rastas? he borrowed jamaican music and style, not the lyrical content.
You need to learn how to read better. There's nothing "non-responsive" about my post. My point was that this dude is a vehicle for prostelatizing people into the lubavitcher sect. Therefore, I find it ironic that their chosen vehicle is a poor watered-down imitation of the music created by a group of people who they have tormented for quite some time. I'm not parroting Sanneh, I'm adding on a related thought of my own. I don't want to twist your mind up with too many complex notions, but this is a message board dude, where people respond to things written by other people and add on ideas of their own. What part of that is hard for you to grasp?
You need to learn how to read better. There's nothing "non-responsive" about my post. My point was that this dude is a vehicle for prostelatizing people into the lubavitcher sect. Therefore, I find it ironic that their chosen vehicle is a poor watered-down imitation of the music created by a group of people who they have tormented for quite some time.
right, cause thats how this dude is selling millions of records. to all those zealous religious convert types. he might as well be a jehovah's witness.
You need to learn how to read better. There's nothing "non-responsive" about my post. My point was that this dude is a vehicle for prostelatizing people into the lubavitcher sect. Therefore, I find it ironic that their chosen vehicle is a poor watered-down imitation of the music created by a group of people who they have tormented for quite some time.
right, cause thats how this dude is selling millions of records. to all those zealous religious convert types. he might as well be a jehovah's witness.
You have serious reading comprehension issues. Go back and read my posts from the beginning. Maybe take notes or try reading out loud. I would draw you a diagram but I really don't have time. Don't argue with people when you cannot even comprehend what they're saying. Where is that I said that Matisblahoo is selling records to "zealous religious convert types"? I simply pointed out that he has an agenda about which he is not forthcoming and commented on the ironies of said agenda. Get off my diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick.
Comments
And faux, you're not quite right with your assessment that only Jamaicans make good reggae. A few non-Jamaicans who are currently killing it:
Marlon Asher
Gentleman
Bitty McLean
Natural Black
Morgan Heritage (here and there)
I was speaking in deliberate hyperbole. But I wasn't exaggerating by much.
Ben Ratliff or somebody?
they should get a point-counterpoint thing going.
imho jamband fans seem the least discerning of all sociomusical groups - their criteria of quality centering around 'mellow shit to smoke a doobie to'...
---
Seriously, because now somebody's gonna make it. Just when you thought it didn't get any worse than reggaeton....
I think Ratliff is the "jazz dude"
...and many "jazz dudes" like to put on jam-band underpanties when nobody's looking.
These dudes attitude's about women are fucking barbaric and many of the wives spit out a baby every 9 months from the time they turn 16 to the time they can't do it anymore. Also, not to generalize, but the community has high rates of inbreeding-related genetic ailments, a real love of money laundering schemes, and an awful attitude toward anyone who doesn't share their beliefs to letter (including other chasidic sects), not to mention one of them ran me over with his goddamn delivery truck. On the positive tip, I gotta give it up to the "chasidic Hendrix" Yossi Piamenta. Dude really has chops and the crowd at his concerts is almost as entertaining as he is.
Or is that many jam band dudes like to front like they're "jazz dudes"... and then when you get into a discussion of jazz with them, Medeski, Martin & Wood somehow keep coming up.
I think it goes both ways and age is the directional factor.
hey Goebbels, plaese to leave this thread now.
You're a fucking fool. I have a hebrew name and was raised orthodox until I was about 8 or 9. Unlike you however I don't get my panties in a knot every time I hear something that even hints at criticism of jews. Everything I stated above is a verifiable fact. Sorry if that hurts your corny zionist feelings dude, but comparing me to a nazi just shows what a knee-jerk schmuck you are.
but how you can you get upset? he said he wasn't generalizing
[sarcasm]I'm going to walk up to a asian guy today and say "not to generalize, but all you asian people are the same..."
It's his fault if he takes offense[/sarcasm]
And here comes the left nut to hang next to the right nut, right off my diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick.
and unlike YOU, i don't use my ethnicity as a cover for what are otherwise totally racist utterances.
high rates of inbreeding-related genetic ailments? dude, please leave.
you wanna start clowning African-Americans for being lactose intolerant or Native Americans for their susceptability to alcoholism? what's wrong with you?
The following was published in NYT today. It's an interesting contrast to the Matisyahu piece:
March 9, 2006
Critic's Notebook
A Reggae Star Forged in the Dancehall Furnace
By KELEFA SANNEH
One of the season's most entertaining new hip-hop albums has just been released. Although, strictly speaking, it's not really hip-hop at all. Or new. Or an album.
It's called "J.M.T.," which stands for "Jamaica Mean Time," and it's a collection of new-ish tracks from Vybz Kartel, a wicked and witty rhymer who has spent the last four years near the top of Jamaica's dancehall reggae heap. He rushes through 20 songs in less than an hour, sometimes rattling off his smutty puns so quickly that the words disappear into a blur of clickety-clack consonants. Keeping up is hard work, especially for any listener not fluent in Jamaican patois. But it's worth it.
Even as the American recording industry searches for new ways to make a buck, full-length albums still drive the market. But in the singles-driven world of dancehall reggae, the full-length album is less a product than a byproduct. An album is what happens while you're busy making other recordings.
That helps explain how "J.M.T." sneaked into record shops so silently, despite Vybz's reputation. (He has recently appeared on CD's by Missy Elliott and Rihanna.) Reached by phone in Jamaica, where he was ??? where else? ??? back in the studio, Vybz said that Greensleeves, his label, hadn't done enough promotion. But he also suggested that it didn't really matter. "In dancehall music, it's not really based on an album per se," he said. "You just need to have a lot of songs ??? a lot of hits."
Few of the songs on this album have more than two verses, since no D.J. would let a song play longer than that. For Vybz, the real money is not in album sales but in live shows, and in dubplates: customized versions of singles, each one personalized with a salute to the D.J. who commissioned it. He often charges $500 to $1,500 for dubplates (though some important D.J.'s get them cheaply or even free), and he might record more than a hundred dubplates of a big hit.
His biggest recent hit wasn't even really his. A verse from his song called "Gun Session" (which is on the album) was on an unauthorized remix of the hip-hop song "Soul Survivor." "The remix was a surprise to me," Vybz said. "I heard it in a dance, and it tore the dance up." Soon requests for "Soul Survivor" dubplates came pouring in, making it one of Vybz's most lucrative records ever, even though it may never be officially released. (He says he has recorded about 200 versions.).
Vybz's has been making Jamaican hits since 2002, when he established himself as one of dancehall's deftest lyricists. In one popular song, "Tekk," he addressed a woman who had taken his time and money, slyly inviting ??? or commanding ??? her to help herself to his body, as well: "Yuh tekk mi things and tekk mi money, too/ So tekk buddy, too." In the verses, he enumerated specific ways she could pay him back; you can't imagine what he charges for a refrigerator.
In 2003 he released his impressive debut album, "Up 2 Di Time" (also on Greensleeves; it was updated and reissued the next year). Since then, Vybz has found himself in a tricky position. There has been a resurgence in the more earnest, more old-fashioned sound of roots reggae. For a time, the Jamaican pop charts were full of high-minded love songs and tributes to the Rastafarian faith. The futuristic beats and dirty jokes of Vybz Kartel sounded somewhat out of place next to I-Wayne's antipromiscuity parable "Can't Satisfy Her," or Jah Cure's aching ballad, "Longing For."
Needless to say, Vybz professes not to be bothered. "It's conscious music on one side, Vybz Kartel on the next side," he said, proudly. In fact, he's happy to take credit for the revival of Rastafarian reggae. "Ain't no artist in secular dancehall can even compare to Vybz Kartel," he said, starting to sound a bit like that outspoken fellow on the records. "So all these Rasta artists come up."
"J.M.T." doesn't quite sound like unconscious music. (Though that description does sound appealing.) But there's nothing rootsy about it. Propelled forward by skeletal electronic beats (known in reggae as riddims), Vybz nimbly holds forth on matters momentous and frivolous, with a decided emphasis on the latter.
The CD starts with his hit "U Nuh Have a Phone (Hello Moto)," a frantic elaboration on the simple observation that men without cellular service have a hard time attracting women. "Car Man" makes the same point about automobiles, using a reworked version of the evergreen instrumental "Axel F." ("No vehicle? No romance/ Di taxi driver stand a better chance.") And in the current Jamaican hit "Bad Man Party 2", also known as "Got Funds," part of the fun is hearing Vybz rush to keep pace with the frenetic riddim.
The new CD also includes about half a dozen new songs. One of the best is "Vybsy Versa Love," which is built on a sped-up sample of Barrington Levy. It's an unusually sentimental track, and Vybz's lyrics plead for a better world. He rhymes globally: "To Uncle Sam, now/ Pull out di troops from Afghanistan, now." He rhymes locally: "Rude boy, stop war with a youth you know from Grade 1, now/ Stop gwan like you want fi be di man, now." And he finds time to rhyme frivolously, too: "Gal, if you a chickenhead, go inna di coop, now."
Yet for anyone intent on keeping up with Vybz, the 20 tracks on "J.M.T." won't be nearly enough. To hear his indispensable recent dubplates and remixes you'll need a mixtape, like "Return of the Crime Minister," a great 44-track CD compiled last year by the Soul Controllers (available from your local street vendor, or from sites like mixunit.com). And if you want to hear his fierce new single, "Gunshot," based on a stark riddim called "Redbull & Guinness," then you'll have to buy the "Redbull & Guinness" compilation CD (Greensleeves), which compiles nearly two dozen new songs based on the same riddim.
Maybe "Gunshot" will be included on Vybz's third album. Or maybe it will be appended to the next iteration of this one. In any case, there's something seductive about the knowledge that no Vybz Kartel CD will ever be definitive. Even more than most albums, this one is a happily hopeless attempt to capture something that just won't stay still.
[/ducking shit being flung]
word. the author is asshurt because a white guy is making money off black art.
*yawn*
at the end of the day, this Matisyahu dude is not fooling anyone. the author says so himself: most of his fans are hippies, not true reggae heads. so, again, my question is, why bother writing this?
Not clowning at all short pants, show me where in that post I was clowning. Shit is a verifiable fact. Because of the insularity of the population and the length of time that they've been making babies with their relatives, they have all sorts of things like Tay-Sacks disease to worry about and many communities have started genetic testing centers to try and cut down on the number of birth defects too. Nothing remotely racist about what I'm saying. Try and get this through your thick zionist head: people are allowed to criticize jews and/or state negative facts about them. That is not racism foolio.
uhhh, except the genetic ailment thing was included in a list of negative things about Jews. did you miss that part?
You aren't very bright, are you?
but remember: he doesn't like to generalize.
So you're taking the role of a Jewish Bill Cosby?
glad you have a forum to voice your displeasure for chasidics, but not only are you looking real thick for making generalizations (doesn't matter if your jewish), but your first post sounded like some non-responsive,self-serving type garbage that i would hear on the bill o'reilly show. please explain how your speech on "lubavitchers" has any relevancy to dude's article. his criticism related to the fact that whites are supporting, what he considers, subpar and a poor replica of authentic reggae. you transformed his argument into a diatribe about chasidics friction with west indians and how that makes matisyahu a hypocrite? who said dude's lyrics were all about comparing hebrews to rastas? he borrowed jamaican music and style, not the lyrical content.
how dare you? "true" what?
OK, so I'm thinking you're the Jewish Michael Eric Dyson to Celray's Cosby?
You didn't even foresee the half of it. Most of these sensitive clowns can't tell the difference between a stereotype and generalization. (And yeah, there's a difference).
I also like how the original poster has backed off his original issue (i.e. that Sanneh has "issues", read: dude is a reverse racist or something) once he got his argument served and instead, is now trying to sound like an editor, "why did they bother to run this to begin with."
Let me try to explain something: when a curious phenomenon happens - say, a born-again Hasidic jew doing reggae - this institution called "the media" writes things called "stories" that focus on them since they think that "readers" might find said phenom interesting or "newsworthy." Occassionally, certain writers, known as "critics" may actually offer up what's known as an "opinion" on the matter.
Ok? That's what newspapers like the NY Times (especially the NY Times) does: examine cultural phenomenon and occassionally proffer an opinion about it. You may not agree with said opinion but to ask, "why did they bother to report on this to begin with?" seems to miss the point about what newspapers and magazines are supposed to do.
Why don't you just disagree with Sanneh's opinion (even though I don't think you actually disagree with the crux of his critique: that dude makes shitty music) and be done with it? And this point, I don't even known what windmills you're charging against.
You need to learn how to read better. There's nothing "non-responsive" about my post. My point was that this dude is a vehicle for prostelatizing people into the lubavitcher sect. Therefore, I find it ironic that their chosen vehicle is a poor watered-down imitation of the music created by a group of people who they have tormented for quite some time. I'm not parroting Sanneh, I'm adding on a related thought of my own. I don't want to twist your mind up with too many complex notions, but this is a message board dude, where people respond to things written by other people and add on ideas of their own. What part of that is hard for you to grasp?
right, cause thats how this dude is selling millions of records. to all those zealous religious convert types. he might as well be a jehovah's witness.
i think matisyahoo was on kimmel last nite. but i fell asleep. did i miss anything?
You have serious reading comprehension issues. Go back and read my posts from the beginning. Maybe take notes or try reading out loud. I would draw you a diagram but I really don't have time. Don't argue with people when you cannot even comprehend what they're saying. Where is that I said that Matisblahoo is selling records to "zealous religious convert types"? I simply pointed out that he has an agenda about which he is not forthcoming and commented on the ironies of said agenda. Get off my diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick.