In the new episode ofthe Rock’s Backpages podcast, we invite the excellent Miles Marshall Lewis to Zoom in from his native New York City.
Co-hosts Barney, Mark & Jasper ask Miles about his formative musical experiences in the South Bronx, including the impact of his parents’ superhip record collection. The conversation turns to hip hop, and then to the “mashing” of jazz and rap on the first three Tribe Called Quest albums — which leads circuitously to Kendrick Lamar’s jazz-infused 2015 masterpiece To Pimp a Butterfly, and then to the biography (Promise That You Will Sing About Me: The Power & Poetry of Kendrick Lamar) that Miles has just published. Jasper asks the author about Kamasi Washington and other guest stars on Butterfly, after which we swing to the opposite end of the jazz spectrum and discuss Tony Scherman’s 1996 interview with somewhat divisive traditionalist Wynton Marsalis — the week’s new audio offering, from which we hear two clips.
From jazz and hip hop we turn to reggae and to the week’s featured artist Bob Marley. Prompted by the imminent London premiere of Marley musical Get Up, Stand Up!, we hear the voice of the Jamaican superstar as he speaks to Karl Dallas about ‘I Shot the Sheriff’, a mere day after the Wailers blew the roof off London’s Lyceum theatre on 18th July, 1975.
After bidding farewell to Status Quo bassist/cofounder Alan Lancaster and to George “Commander Cody” Frayne IV, the RBP team talk us through the 100+ pieces added to our library over the past two weeks. These include Lillian Roxon writing about L.A. in the aftermath of the 1969 Manson killings (before Manson has been arrested); Ronnie Hawkins in hot water with former charges The Band/Hawks (also 1969), Michael Watts in hot pursuit of Iggy Pop in 1977, Mark Rozzo revisiting “ultimate cult album” Big Star Third in 2006, and —– bringing the episode full circle — our special guest on Baz Luhrmann’s 2016 hip hop drama The Get Down…
THIS WEEK we’re featuring – for one week only – exclusive audio ofBob Marleytalking to Karl Dallas the day after the Wailers played a legendary show at London’s Lyceum on 18th July, 1975. Hear the interview for free till Friday, then read the Melody Makerpiece that resulted from it – along with Vivien Goldman’s account of dropping in on Bob in Jamaica four years later.
The week’s featured writer (and our next podcast guest) is Miles Marshall Lewis, whose biography of the brilliant Kendrick Lamaris published this week. Miles’ Ebony review of To Pimp a Butterfly is revisited here, as is a 2013 interview with Wynton Marsalis… who just happens to be the week’s new audio interviewee (in a 1996 conversation with Tony Scherman). By way of bidding farewell to Alan LancasterandGeorge Frayne IV, we’re also offering 1976 interviews with Status Quo and Commander Cody & his Lost Planet Airmen.
Subscribers can, of course, access the 50+ new articles added to the RBP library, including:
Listen, I’ve been since I was 12 years old and watch him drop the Poetic Justice video on 106 n Park and then my big brother bought me the Section 8 and maad City CDs for my 13 birthday.
Whenever I listen to Kendrick, I’m playing thee entirety of the albums.
I can literally on listen to 5 songs out of the 18 song on this album.
I know this was suppose to be an album about him exploring his regrets about hoe he grew up, his action during his career but some of these tracks should have been use for his vent, then stuck in a crate.
Also, when the fuck did Kodak Black and Kendrick have this close of a career friendship?
This has some of the weakest use of his talents for vocal, dialect, character and pitch uses. He actual let his little cousin Baby Keem out fo him one some track!
Also Aunties Diaries….was an attempt, I can see the attempt to talk about his journey of growing up with and understanding his transgender family members and the transphobia he observed and how he learned to just accept, defend, learn from his transgender family member but (and I’m not transgender) this song was a fucking mess of a way to convey that that felt very insensitive to the trans community and queer community. With all the misgendering and use of the f word, like Kendrick, you either need those said transgender family members input of a Black trans sensitivity writer. Or this could been a song for the crates.
Mr. Morale & The Hot Steppers is here. Many people have thoughts on the album, ranging from the praising to justifiably complicated feelings considering this side of Kendrick Lamar – where he attempts to process his identity against a 2022 culture – has left many of us out there scratching our heads as to differentiating his well intentions vs. the art vs. the fumble of not getting it all right on the first try when it comes to big issues beyond that of a cis straight male. These pages are still processing it all, but can at least state that there’s probably another classic somewhere in there despite its messy presentation, but then again, art is reflective of life, and life is a mess, so maybe that’s where K. Dot’s head was at?
Anyhow, there’s a new video for the highlight “N95″ out there in the world directed by Kendrick and his pgLang co-founder Dave Free, and he has never stopped short of creating anything other than masterful visuals for his work. Shot in stark black and white, we see Kendrick in varying Christ motifs such as floating above water, being kissed on the cheek by cuz Baby Keem Peter-at-the-Last-Supper style, and hitting that HIIT (I’m pretty sure Jesus was a big fan of crossfit…) Put on your “N95″ below…
