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2007-09-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

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2007-07-02T17:45:00.001-07:00

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2007-06-29T14:46:00.001-07:00

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Marsha “the Songstress” Ambrosius leaves Floetry

2007-06-13T08:56:00.001-07:00

When a reasonably successful rock or pop band loses a key member to solo stardom, it’s often devastating to the other members — even more so when the group is only a duo. Marsha “the Songstress” Ambrosius and Natalie “the Floacist” Stewart had worked together as songwriters and producers and later as the R&B duo Floetry, which earned seven Grammy nominations, for 11 years. But when Ambrosius, the singer with the effortlessly commanding voice and quiet disposition, told her partner, Stewart, the effusive MC, back in December that she had accepted a solo record deal with Dr. Dre, their longtime friendship took a hit. They haven’t seen or spoken to each other since.

“She told me that she expected it. But it didn’t feel like she was really happy for me. Our friendship got a little twisted, so it was very bittersweet,” Ambrosius says over the phone from Atlanta, where she has spent the last few days recording with Usher and a new producer named Oak. During the weeks before that, she was in Los Angeles recording the bulk of her upcoming solo album with Dr. Dre — a stark contrast from her experiences mostly providing the hooks and choruses to Stewart’s verses.

“I got into Floetry based on my friendship with Nat. As a performer, I gave her the ball and always took the back burner because I wanted her to shine. She’s a phenomenal writer, and I wanted the world to hear her words,” the 29-year-old from London explains. “It’s sad. I know deep down, she knows what kind of friend I am. I’ve prayed on it. I made the compromise, and it was a beautiful compromise,” she adds as if trying to convince herself, as well.

Ambrosius says her new album will be somewhat of a departure from Floetry’s neo-soul sound.

“It’s Dre at his most genius, plus my melodies and song concepts. I did all the writing,” she says. She first met the CEO of Aftermath after a Floetry concert in 2005 when he approached her at the Roxy in L.A. A year later, Dr. Dre, who is credited with turning Snoop Dogg, Eminem and 50 Cent into the platinum-selling artists they are, offered her a deal.

“I was shocked, but I went for it. Who could say no to that?” she says. Chad Hugo of The Neptunes, Scott Storch and Just Blaze also contributed work to the album.

She’ll test out the new material during a set at S.O.B.’s Wednesday night. The gig will be one of her first as a solo artist.

“I’m nervous and excited. I have so much new material I might need to bring my composition book onstage,” she says laughing.

Source from She Real Cool Blog

Friday's are wassup at wghhradio.com

2007-05-18T09:18:00.001-07:00

Illegal Hip hop Show 4-7 pm
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J pitts show 9-10 est.

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Saul Williams open letter to oprah winfrey

2007-05-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

Saul's letter to Oprah

Friday, April 20, 2007

An Open Letter to Oprah

Dear Ms. Winfrey,

It is with the greatest respect and adoration of your loving spirit that I write you. As a young child, I would sit beside my mother everyday and watch your program. As a young adult, with children of my own, I spend much less time in front of the television, but I am ever thankful for the positive effect that you continue to have on our nation, history and culture. The example that you have set as someone unafraid to answer their calling, even when the reality of that calling insists that one self-actualize beyond the point of any given example, is humbling, and serves as the cornerstone of the greatest faith. You, love, are a pioneer.

I am a poet.

Growing up in Newburgh, NY, with a father as a minister and a mother as a school teacher, at a time when we fought for our heroes to be nationally recognized, I certainly was exposed to the great names and voices of our past. I took great pride in competing in my churches Black History Quiz Bowl and the countless events my mother organized in hopes of fostering a generation of youth well versed in the greatness as well as the horrors of our history. Yet, even in a household where I had the privilege of personally interacting with some of the most outspoken and courageous luminaries of our times, I must admit that the voices that resonated the most within me and made me want to speak up were those of my peers, and these peers were emcees. Rappers.
.
Yes, Ms. Winfrey, I am what my generation would call "a Hip Hop head." Hip Hop has served as one of the greatest aspects of my self-definition. Lucky for me, I grew up in the 80's when groups like Public Enemy, Rakim, The jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah, and many more realized the power of their voices within the artform and chose to create music aimed at the upliftment of our generation.

As a student at Morehouse College where I studied Philosophy and Drama I was forced to venture across the street to Spelman College for all of my Drama classes, since Morehouse had no theater department of its own. I had few complaints. The performing arts scholarship awarded me by Michael Jackson had promised me a practically free ride to my dream school, which now had opened the doors to another campus that could make even the most focused of young boys dreamy, Spelman. One of my first theater professors, Pearle Cleage, shook me from my adolescent dream state. It was the year that Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" was released and our introduction to Snoop Dogg as he sang catchy hooks like "Bitches ain't shit but hoes and tricks…" Although, it was a playwriting class, what seemed to take precedence was Ms. Cleages political ideology, which had recently been pressed and bound in her 1st book, Mad at Miles. As, you know, in this book she spoke of how she could not listen to the music of Miles Davis and his muted trumpet without hearing the muted screams of the women that he was outspoken about "man-handling". It was my first exposure to the idea of an artist being held accountable for their actions outside of their art. It was the first time I had ever heard the word, "misogyny". And as Ms. Cleage would walk into the classroom fuming over the women she would pass on campus, blasting those Snoop lyrics from their cars and jeeps, we, her students, would be privy to many freestyle rants and raves on the dangers of nodding our heads to a music that could serve as our own demise.

Her words, coupled with the words of the young women I found myself interacting with forever changed how I listened to Hip Hop and quite frankly ruined what would have been a number of good songs for me. I had now been burdened with a level of awareness that made it impossible for me to enjoy what the growing masses were ushering into the mainstream. I was now becoming what many Hip Hop heads would call "a Backpacker", a person who chooses to associate themselves with the more "conscious" or politically astute artists of the Hip Hop community. What we termed as "conscious" Hip Hop became our preference for dance and booming systems. Groups like X-Clan, A Tribe Called Quest, Brand Nubian, Arrested Development, Gangstarr and others became the prevailing music of our circle. We also enjoyed the more playful Hip Hop of De La Soul, Heiroglyphics, Das FX, Organized Konfusion. Digable Planets, The Fugees, and more. We had more than enough positivity to fixate on. Hip Hop was diverse.

I had not yet begun writing poetry. Most of my friends hardly knew that I had been an emcee in high school. I no longer cared to identify myself as an emcee and my love of oratory seemed misplaced at Morehouse where most orators were actually preachers in training, speaking with the Southern drawl of Dr. King although they were 19 and from the North. I spent my time doing countless plays and school performances. I was in line to become what I thought would be the next Robeson, Sidney, Ossie, Denzel, Snipes… It wasn't until I was in graduate school for acting at NYU that I was invited to a poetry reading in Manhattan where I heard Asha Bandele, Sapphire, Carl Hancock Rux, Reggie Gaines, Jessica Care Moore, and many others read poems that sometimes felt like monologues that my newly acquired journal started taking the form of a young poets'. Yet, I still noticed that I was a bit different from these poets who listed names like: Audre Lorde, June Jordan, Sekou Sundiata etc, when asked why they began to write poetry. I knew that I had been inspired to write because of emcees like Rakim, Chuck D, LL, Run DMC… Hip Hop had informed my love of poetry as much or even more than my theater background which had exposed me to Shakespeare, Baraka, Fugard, Genet, Hansberry and countless others. In those days, just a mere decade ago, I started writing to fill the void between what I was hearing and what I wished I was hearing. It was not enough for me to critique the voices I heard blasting through the walls of my Brooklyn brownstone. I needed to create examples of where Hip Hop, particularly its lyricism, could go. I ventured to poetry readings with my friends and neighbors, Dante Smith (now Mos Def), Talib Kwele, Erycka Badu, Jessica Care Moore, Mums the Schemer, Beau Sia, Suheir Hammad…all poets that frequented the open mics and poetry slams that we commonly saw as "the other direction" when Hip hop reached that fork in the road as you discussed on your show this past week. On your show you asked the question, "Are all rappers poets?" Nice. I wanted to take the opportunity to answer this question for you.

The genius, as far as the marketability, of Hip Hop is in its competitiveness. Its roots are as much in the dignified aspects of our oral tradition as it is in the tradition of "the dozens" or "signifying". In Hip Hop, every emcee is automatically pitted against every other emcee, sort of like characters with super powers in comic books. No one wants to listen to a rapper unless they claim to be the best or the greatest. This sort of braggadocio leads to all sorts of tirades, showdowns, battles, and sometimes even deaths. In all cases, confidence is the ruling card. Because of the competitive stance that all emcees are prone to take, they, like soldiers begin to believe that they can show no sign of vulnerability. Thus, the most popular emcees of our age are often those that claim to be heartless or show no feelings or signs of emotion. The poet, on the other hand, is the one who realizes that their vulnerability is their power. Like you, unafraid to shed tears on countless shows, the poet finds strength in exposing their humanity, their vulnerability, thus making it possible for us to find connection and strength through their work. Many emcees have been poets. But, no, Ms. Winfrey, not all emcees are poets. Many choose gangsterism and business over the emotional terrain through which true artistry will lead. But they are not to blame. I would now like to address your question of leadership.

You may recall that in immediate response to the attacks of September 11th, our president took the national stage to say to the American public and the world that we would "…show no sign of vulnerability". Here is the same word that distinguishes poets from rappers, but in its history, more accurately, women from men. To make such a statement is to align oneself with the ideology that instills in us a sense of vulnerability meaning "weakness". And these meanings all take their place under the heading of what we consciously or subconsciously characterize as traits of the feminine. The weapon of mass destruction is the one that asserts that a holy trinity would be a father, a male child, and a ghost when common sense tells us that the holiest of trinities would be a mother, a father, and a child: Family. The vulnerability that we see as weakness is the saving grace of the drunken driver who because of their drunken/vulnerable state survives the fatal accident that kills the passengers in the approaching vehicle who tighten their grip and show no physical vulnerability in the face of their fear. Vulnerability is also the saving grace of the skate boarder who attempts a trick and remembers to stay loose and not tense during their fall. Likewise, vulnerability has been the saving grace of the African American struggle as we have been whipped, jailed, spat upon, called names, and killed, yet continue to strive forward mostly non-violently towards our highest goals. But today we are at a crossroads, because the institutions that have sold us the crosses we wear around our necks are the most overt in the denigration of women and thus humanity. That is why I write you today, Ms. Winfrey. We cannot address the root of what plagues Hip Hop without addressing the root of what plagues today's society and the world.

You see, Ms. Winfrey, at it's worse; Hip Hop is simply a reflection of the society that birthed it. Our love affair with gangsterism and the denigration of women is not rooted in Hip Hop; rather it is rooted in the very core of our personal faith and religions. The gangsters that rule Hip Hop are the same gangsters that rule our nation. 50 Cent and George Bush have the same birthday (July 6th). For a Hip Hop artist to say "I do what I wanna do/Don't care if I get caught/The DA could play this mothaf@kin tape in court/I'll kill you/ I ain't playin'" epitomizes the confidence and braggadocio we expect an admire from a rapper who claims to represent the lowest denominator. When a world leader with the spirit of a cowboy (the true original gangster of the West: raping, stealing land, and pillaging, as we clapped and cheered.) takes the position of doing what he wants to do, regardless of whether the UN or American public would take him to court, then we have witnessed true gangsterism and violent negligence. Yet, there is nothing more negligent than attempting to address a problem one finds on a branch by censoring the leaves.

Name calling, racist generalizations, sexist perceptions, are all rooted in something much deeper than an uncensored music. Like the rest of the world, I watched footage on AOL of you dancing mindlessly to 50 Cent on your fiftieth birthday as he proclaimed, "I got the ex/if you're into taking drugs/ I'm into having sex/ I ain't into making love" and you looked like you were having a great time. No judgment. I like that song too. Just as I do, James Brown's Sex Machine or Grand Master Flashes "White Lines". Sex, drugs, and rock and roll is how the story goes. Censorship will never solve our problems. It will only foster the sub-cultures of the underground, which inevitably inhabit the mainstream. There is nothing more mainstream than the denigration of women as projected through religious doctrine. Please understand, I am by no means opposing the teachings of Jesus, by example (he wasn't Christian), but rather the men that have used his teachings to control and manipulate the masses. Hip Hop, like Rock and Roll, like the media, and the government, all reflect an idea of power that labels vulnerability as weakness. I can only imagine the non-emotive hardness that you have had to show in order to secure your empire from the grips of those that once stood in your way: the old guard. You reflect our changing times. As time progresses we sometimes outgrow what may have served us along the way. This time, what we have outgrown, is not hip hop, rather it is the festering remnants of a God depicted as an angry and jealous male, by men who were angry and jealous over the minute role that they played in the everyday story of creation. I am sure that you have covered ideas such as these on your show, but we must make a connection before our disconnect proves fatal.

We are a nation at war. What we fail to see is that we are fighting ourselves. There is no true hatred of women in Hip Hop. At the root of our nature we inherently worship the feminine. Our overall attention to the nurturing guidance of our mothers and grandmothers as well as our ideas of what is sexy and beautiful all support this. But when the idea of the feminine is taken out of the idea of what is divine or sacred then that worship becomes objectification. When our governed morality asserts that a woman is either a virgin or a whore, then our understanding of sexuality becomes warped. Note the dangling platinum crosses over the bare asses being smacked in the videos. The emcees of my generation are the ministers of my father's generation. They too had a warped perspective of the feminine. Censoring songs, sermons, or the tirades of radio personalities will change nothing except the format of our discussion. If we are to sincerely address the change we are praying for then we must first address to whom we are praying.

Thank you, Ms. Winfrey, for your forum, your heart, and your vision. May you find the strength and support to bring about the changes you wish to see in ways that do more than perpetuate the myth of enmity.

In loving kindness,

Saul Williams

Common "Finding Forever"

2007-05-04T10:54:00.001-07:00

Common "Finding Forever"

2:00am Friday, Apr 27

Few artists host listening sessions as well as Common. In between emanating deep Buddah vibes, dude lip syncs to every song, raises his fist whenever the word "black" is mentioned in his lyrics and tries to explain the actual meaning of each song...though he usually just ends up reciting at least one verse acapella to get his ideas across. The listening session for his upcoming album Finding Forever, due out in July, was held last week at Hollywood's Record Plant studio and featured special guest Kanye West. Common described West as "the thread" of the album, as he produced nine of the 11 tracks played. Mr West spent the majority of the time on a couch listening with his eyes closed. He would periodically interject his own point or approach Common at the mixing board with ideas for new embellishments to add to the songs. Which brings us to the point that the version of Finding Forever we heard was not in sequence, not mastered, and not entirely complete, but we're going to tell you all about it anyway after the jump.

"The People"
Set to be Finding Forever's first single, "The People" begins with a chopped interplay between the sampled "Louder!" and "Yeah!" from Mountain's ultimate breakbeat jam "Long Red." Not long ago "Long Red" was sampled by J Dilla for De La Soul's "Verbal Clap" on The Grind Date. West said that during a meeting with Steven Spielberg. the director told him that he made the film AI in the way he imagined Stanley Kubrick would have told the story. West revealed that this inspired him to produce all his tracks on Finding Forever in the same way the recently departed Dilla would have, in tribute to him.

"Black Maybe"
Another Kanye West production, the title of this song was taken from a song by Stevie Wonder and Syretta Wright and is about the problems that come once you've grown out of the circumstances you were born into. Repeat Common collaborator Bilal provided the vocals on the hook, furthering the album's reference point of classic soul.

"I Want You"
A track of electro love soul with sonic nods to Busta Rhymes' "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See" and Audio Two's "Top Billin.'" "I write love songs, point blank and I ain't ashamed of it," said Common. Will.iam whipped up the beat when he and Common were working on that song from the Gap commercial.

"Southside"
A shorter version of this song was released earlier this year when the Bears were in the Super Bowl. Hardly any attention is paid to hooks or catchiness, it's just bullet-spray lyrics from West and Common, who in the space of a couple lines compares himself to both James Baldwin and Kool G Rap.

"Driving Me Wild"
Featuring Lily Allen and produced by Kanye West. Our notes say something about it being "unhinged." We're not really sure what we meant.

"So Far To Go"
This one was produced by J Dilla and features D'Angelo. You should have heard it already when it was released on Dilla's posthumous album The Shining. You'd be surprised how many people at the listening session seemingly hadn't.

"Break My Heart"
Common had only recorded one verse for this storytelling piece that tracks a relationship from the initial flirtations to its end. "Breaking a girl's heart," said Common," sometimes it happens."

"The Game"
The use of Ahmad Jamal's "Swahililand" (as heard on De La Soul's "Stakes Is High") is an obvious nod to Dilla by West, but "The Game" also incorporates ’90s boom-bap hip-hop. The duo even brought in DJ Premier to scratch a chorus out of lines from OC's "Half Good, Half Sinner" : It's only right that I address this/ You gotta be in to win it.

"Start The Show"
Slated as the album opener, the beat for "Start The Show" is much more dominating than most Common tracks, though West was sure to add some sparkle as it progresses. "Start The Show" features one of Common's patented putdowns of other rappers: "You was better as a drug dealer."

"Misunderstood"
Produced by Devo Springsteen, West's cousin and collaborator, the song is introduced by a verse and chorus from a live Nina Simone performance of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood." A cast of characters that commonly appear in Common songs find their way into the lyrics: the college girl gone wrong, the smart kid stuck on the corner, etc.

"Forever Begins"
This is going to be the last song on our album and was probably our favorite, from it's military drums to afro-soul instrumental outro. Once it was over Common kept up his tradition and asked everyone in the room what they thought the best two tracks were. The most popular picks were "The People," "The Game," "Southside," and "Forever Begins." Common said his favorites were ""The People" and "Drivin Me Wild." West abstained.

SOURCE: Fader

20/20 proof show today at 6 pm eastern standard time

2007-04-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

20/20 proof today at 6
thought i'd let you know we got 20/20 in the building today at 6 giving you the inside on what's up with hip hop in pittsburgh. so check it out at 6 today eastern standard time.

http://www.wghhradio.com

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2007-04-19T14:43:00.001-07:00

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wghhradio.com progressive hip hop coming soon

2007-03-16T23:16:00.000-07:00

YO
to hear this blog in Podcast Form, go to this site http://www.wghhradio.com/w
ghhradio2.mp3

I'm Chad, or mainly referred to as DJ Chizzad, former radio dj at Bearcast Radio (http://bearcast.uc.edu). As a hip-hop dj for four years, i've been exposed to some amazing music by artists that you would not usually hear on your typical Clear-Channel or CBS radio station. The exciting part was the artists, who I have played and interviewed on my show, such as Rhymefest, Slim Thug, and Pitbull, have gone from the underground ranks to becoming popular artists. To my readers, experiencing this was like having that "hip and cool" feeling one gets when he or she listens to an artist, and feels special because they know this artist before all their friends do.

To my readers in Cincinnati, being able to discover new and exciting music, on fm radio, is pretty much a rarity. For Hip-hop fans, it's difficult to hear something new when commercial radio plays the same thing over and over. There is even repetition in the themes between each rapper. On a side note, Cincinnatians, in a rare occasion, were definately exposed to new things never before heard on the radio, such as hearing local artists on stations such as the former waqz 97.3.

By november, 97.3 WAQZ and several other stations had flipped formats or changed frequencies and left listeners confused and deprived, as former favorite dj's, such as "the lunaman" on the former mojo 94.9, were no longer on the air.

As Cincinnati experiences the torture of corporate radio shuffling its cards, as well i believe other cities face the similar problem, I hope my new venture can relieve music fans of this ever-so growing problem. ON MARCH 19 I WILL BE STARTING WGHH RADIO, A RADIO STATION DEDICATED TO PLAYING PROGRESSIVE HIP-HOP.

WHAT IS PROGRESSIVE HIP-HOP?

To put it in a famous phrase: FRESH TO DEATH. This is music that will wow you each time you hear a song because it always brings diversity and creativity that opens one's mind. For example, while you listen to one song about Cupid giving you a chokehold, like Gym Class Hero's "Cupid's Choke Hold", the next song you'll hear will be about golddiggers or even skateboards like lupe fiasco’s "kick push". You may hear collaborations between new artists and godfathers of this genre, like Dr. Dre and Rakim, and then you may hear collaborations between artists you wouldn't have thought have happened, like Dave Matthews Band and Jurrasic Five.

Overall please dont think of this as an advertisement, but a message that there is an alternative toward terrestrial radio today, as most you people know. Also we're striving that the station to be listener controlled, where more listeners have a say in this. If you have any suggestions or songs that would like to hear that would fit our progressive hip hop format contact me at wghhradio@gmail.com or http://www.myspace.com/gro
ovehiphop

HTTP://WWW.WGHHRADIO.COM

For Last.FM listeners, To listen to music before the station begins, go to this site http://www.last.fm/user/Wg
hhRadio/

For MYSPACE users go to http://www.myspace.com/gro
ovehiphop