Last night was a great night for football, with the weather cool and pleasant, and I headed down to historic Booker T. Washington Stadium for the Mitchell vs. Manassas game. Unfortunately, there was no band battle, because only Manassas brought their band, but Manassas looks as if they may be on the way to rebuilding their band program. We also had to contend with annoying, dive-bombing insects of some sort that would drop out of the sky on us or at least near us. But I still had fun.
South Memphis
When a veteran old-school rapper comes out with a new album, people are sometimes skeptical, particularly if it has been a long time since the artist has had anything out. They wonder if he’s been able to “keep up with the times”, if his music can be relevant to today. Any such concerns regarding Gangsta Blac should dissolve upon hearing the very first track of Return of the Gangsta, the long-awaited new album from the legendary South Memphis artist. Songs such as “Gangsta, Gangsta” and the obvious single “Go Hard, Go Ham” are so packed with raw energy that it sounds as if it was just yesterday that we were hearing “S.O.U.T.H. Parkway”. Nor does Blac merely pick up where he left off, but in many ways this new album reveals him as an artist continuing to grow and develop, while never losing sight of the traditional Memphis rap foundation from where he came. Only one well-known Memphis rapper is featured on the album, Mac E on the song “I Be”, but Blac and his young cohorts maintain enthusiasm and interest throughout. Return of the Gangsta is a triumphant return for one of Memphis’ most important voices. Here’s hoping he doesn’t stay away that long ever again.
When a veteran old-school rapper comes out with a new album, people are sometimes skeptical, particularly if it has been a long time since the artist has had anything out. They wonder if he’s been able to “keep up with the times”, if his music can be relevant to today. Any such concerns regarding Gangsta Blac should dissolve upon hearing the very first track of Return of the Gangsta, the long-awaited new album from the legendary South Memphis artist. Songs such as “Gangsta, Gangsta” and the obvious single “Go Hard, Go Ham” are so packed with raw energy that it sounds as if it was just yesterday that we were hearing “S.O.U.T.H. Parkway”. Nor does Blac merely pick up where he left off, but in many ways this new album reveals him as an artist continuing to grow and develop, while never losing sight of the traditional Memphis rap foundation from where he came. Only one well-known Memphis rapper is featured on the album, Mac E on the song “I Be”, but Blac and his young cohorts maintain enthusiasm and interest throughout. Return of the Gangsta is a triumphant return for one of Memphis’ most important voices. Here’s hoping he doesn’t stay away that long ever again.
Memphis Activist Dr. Coby Smith at the Juneteenth in Douglass Park
Dr. Coby Vernon Smith, noted Memphis activist and educator, is the first African-American student to attend Southwestern University at Memphis, which is today Rhodes College. In the spring of 1967, with Charles Cabbage and John Burrell Smith, he founded an organization called the Black Organizing Project in Memphis. Feeling that the mainstream civil rights movement was primarily geared to integrating the black upper class with white society, BOP took on the task of organizing the ghettos, particularly youth. In the Riverside neighborhood around Carver High School the name BOP was gradually replaced by The Invaders, and it would be this name that was spread by local media and which would be remembered. The Invaders marched for the Memphis sanitation workers in 1968, taught Black history classes in storefronts in North Memphis and South Memphis, marched with hospital strikers, and marched across Arkansas with Lance “Sweet Willie Wine” Watson in 1969. Although the media attempted to consistently link the Invaders to violence and hatred of whites, reporters rarely allowed the Invaders to rebut such charges, or to state what their organization stood for. At a time here in 2011 when the rights of union members and sanitation workers in Memphis are under attack from politicians, it is important for Memphians to remember the lost legacy of The Invaders.
A Requiem for Cleaborn Homes
The Cleaborn Homes public housing development was built in Memphis in 1955. The Memphis Housing Authority began demolishing it in April this year. The powers that be are telling us that this is improvement, that those forced to leave will be better off, and that the new beautiful development for higher-income people that will be built will be better for Memphis.
But is there any real gain in tearing down people’s neighborhoods and communities? What good actually results? We are told the buildings are old, in which case they could have been rehabilitated or completely replaced, but with the original residents given first priority to be allowed back in when the new construction is completed. We are told the area is overcrowded, but the reconstruction could have been designed to lower density. We are told that the area has become a crime problem, without any regard for the impoverished living conditions that fuel crime. In fact, the mass displacement of these folks may trigger more crime, as their cost for housing, even with vouchers, will be far more significant.
In short, while redevelopment advocates have perhaps shown why the old buildings need to be torn down and replaced, they haven’t shown why the original residents must be uprooted and moved to other areas of the city. The reasons for THAT they’d rather not touch with a ten-foot pole.
And so the memories of more than 50 years come crashing down at the behest of a heedless monster machine called greed and progress, banished to live only in the mind, faded photos and a couple of t-shirts. All “progress” isn’t forward.
RIP Cleaborn Homes (via @jasper8591)
782 tate st. block party 123456 live {rip cleaborn homes} (by jasper8591)
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
Mixtape Review: OG Boo Dirty “The Story of OG”
I’ll admit that I had never heard of OG Boo Dirty until the now-infamous confrontation that apparently occurred between him and some of Yo Gotti’s people at the Level II. And I honestly wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary when I downloaded this mixtape. And besides that, I am, and have always been, a fan of Yo Gotti. But I have to admit that this mixtape surprised me for its consistent quality. For one thing, the production quality is stellar, with first-rate beats throughout. And, even more to my surprise, OG Boo Dirty is a better-than-average rapper, and while street rap usually seems tired and redundant to me these days, he does it well. Obviously, the high points of the mixtape are the two songs that are starting to be heard everywhere in Memphis these days, “She’s A Freak”, and “South Memphis Stand Up” another anthem for those on the Southside alongside Gangsta Blac’s legendary “South Parkway.” Altogether not a bad mixtape. Click on the cover to download and enjoy.
At the Tate Avenue Block Party in South Memphis, June 4, 2011
At the Tate Avenue Block Party in South Memphis, June 4, 2011
OG Boo Dirty takes the stage at the Tate Avenue Block Party and tells South Memphis to “Stand Up!”, June 4, 2011