Buppies
The Play List
Dam Funk: Collections (Boiler Room): Recently, for quick updates on what’s going on in electronic music, I’ve been turning to the Boiler Room’s various platforms. Of late, I’ve been dumbfounded by Breakfast with Ringgo’s anti-DJ aesthetic and Sampha’s one-hour shorthand for his multivalent influences. From what I’ve seen, I’ll say Dam Funk’s Collections episode wins on cohesiveness, despite pulling it off on one turntable. I am not too ashamed that until last Saturday, I had no idea what yacht rock was. (KS)
Solange: A Seat at the Table: For the last week, at every opportunity I have been given, I’ve been playing Solange’s A Seat at The Table. I wasn’t sold at first but I now love this album for so many reasons: the lyrics that match the visuals, the down tempo beats, the collaborators and how it’s flavoured with a little bit of Tweet, Aaliyah, Destiny’s Child, FKA Twigs and Minnie Ripperton, all wrapped up in what feels like a 21 song hug. (MB)
The Reading List
Buppies, B-boys, Baps & Bohos by Nelson George: Someone recently said that the emergence of American publications such as The Source and Vibe in the Eighties and Nineties was that, for the first time, one had college educated black people writing about an emergent post-soul black culture. To speak about those as halcyon days in the internet age would be disingenuous, but I must pay homage to the impact of Nelson George’s book in shaping my career decisions. (KS)
Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into The Mystery and Art of Living by Krista Tippet: I’m a relatively slow reader and I’m still reading Tippet’s book. One of the many lines I’ve highlighted on my Kindle include this one: “This book is for people who want to take up the great questions of our time with imagination and courage, to nurture new realities in the spaces we inhabit, and to do so expectantly and with joy.’’ I’m on a chapter that examines the importance of words in our everyday lives and words as an essential tool of inhabiting our humanity. (MB)