A new Michael Jackson song…. Or is it?
Last weekend, the world stood still as “Breaking News,” the first of a rumoured 250 unreleased Michael Jackson songs was unleashed on the internet. “Breaking News” was supposed to be the...
Category: Music
Eminem, Hip-Hop, Homophobia and Whiteness
In a recent interview with Anderson Cooper, Eminem posed an interesting question: Why does he seem to be the focus of intense media scrutiny when it comes to his homophobic and sexist lyrics?...
Enter Janelle Monáe
In my last piece about music for Global Comment, I bemoaned the state of contemporary rnb and hiphop, which has few bright spots as far as I'm concerned—a malaise I should hasten to add it shares...
Shonen Knife at Bottom of the Hill – so damn nice
After nearly 20 years in the business, Shonen Knife are still neither bored nor boring. The punk/pop band from Osaka has always been a trio, but there have been quite a few lineup changes over the...
Before hip-hop died: best of the best in rnb
It's one of the inevitabilities of music criticism that eventually, someone somewhere declares a formerly beloved genre dead. The movement usually goes something like: underground from first...
Editor’s Diary: Musical High Holy Days
Music is my religion. I worship at many different churches; I'm a raging polytheist. I hit three different services this past week and each was blissful in its own way, a reminder to step away from...
San Diego Comic-Con: Geek Music at W00tstock
The idea of “geeky music” has come a long way since Lambda Lambda Lambda won that battle of the bands in Revenge Of The Nerds. And come San Diego Comic-Con, that evolution will take center stage...
Searching for David Bowie in London
Somewhere in London it stopped seeming like a coincidence anymore and started to feel like something I should pay attention to. “China Girl” haunted my steps from my arrival. It showed up on...
“I’ll Be Your Bitch” – two songs, one title, one cool story
With his thousand-yard scowl, shaven head and muscular arms, rapper DJ Class doesn’t look like the sort of chap you’d want to argue with. He grew up in Baltimore, a city that's an illustration...
Why I love Erykah Badu
Erykah Badu lives her life without apologies. In a White supremacist patriarchal society, such an approach to life immediately comes under scrutiny, because it threatens the hierarchical order that...