Cornel West Learns His Lesson
Professor Cornel West has done it again, but better than before. As should be the case with any intellectual, the past has served as a teaching tool. His debut CD, 2001's Sketches of My Culture, included insightful content but was weakened by the scholar's lyrical delivery. The album was more spoken word poetry than contemporary rap. As a result, Sketches lacked the rhythmic flow needed to attract his youthful target audience.
This time around, however, West appears to have found a golden mean, embracing the potential of socially conscious hip-hop music while also acknowledging his limitations as a performer. Instead of taking the lead on each track, West enlists the aid of some hip-hop's most talented artists to form BMWMB (Black Men Who Mean Business). As a result, West's most recent CD, Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations, is a new and much-improved effort.
Album Highlights
The album begins with a quartet of songs so strong that listeners might never bother to listen to the remainder of the disc. Talib Kweli, everyone's favorite socially conscious rapper, makes the opening track a memorable one from the first verse: "Voter registration / with no scope of education / Is jwasted time with no hope / Its just fustration / It ain't no choice when you pickin’ the voice of a nation / You’re just contributing to the status quos preservation."
West also makes a commendable contribution to the track: "Taking hip-hop back to its roots / When the people could see / That the hip in hip hop stood for / We want to be free / We go from the bling bling / To let freedom ring."
The second track, "America," unflinchingly chronicles the past and present experiences of Americans of African descent. In a track with a more narrow scope, the third track, "Still Here" features Ambassador, a rapper whose performance in the inspirational autobiographical track makes him a name to remember. His lyrics evoke memories of African Americans from the Harlem Renaissance to Ralph Wiley, who all acknowledged the importance, not only of remembering the suffering of the past, but also of celebrating the survival of past injustices.
Prince graces ths compilation with "Dear Mr. Man," on which he proves that he can sing Bible verses and Constitutional amendments with more pathos than singers half his age can sing about anything.
Listeners who can get beyond the first quartet will find even more reasons to like the disc: a discussion of the n-word, featuring West, Michael Eric Dyson, and Tavis Smiley; and noteworthy guest appearances from KRS-ONE and Jill Scott (who must have chosen to ignore the BMWMB moniker). An uninspired contribution from Outkast's Andre 3000 disrupts the album's consistency, but on the whole, the album is a worthy contribution to the hip-hop genre.
Michael Irvin Arrington - Michael Irvin Arrington teaches in the Department of Communication at the University of Kentucky, where he studies interpersonal, family, ...
