Examining Alcohol and Marijuana

Examining Alcohol and Marijuana from Little Rebellion on Vimeo.


This is a video that I made with one of my co-multimedia editor for Little Rebellion, an online publication created by the Comm/Media Department of my college, and upgraded by my advanced editing class. Video Vix[o]n and I conducted brief interviews with a few college mates about their opinions pertaining to alcohol and marijuana and all that good stuff. This video is based on an article written by a Comm&Media/Journalism student. Look out for the launch later in April. Enjoy :0)

Anonamas or Anonymous? (written for Nu-Soul, never published)

Artist: Anonamas
Title: Truth Thru Fiction
Label: Infinite Soul Music
Genre: Other/2-step/Alternative

By Marcus Scott

At the start of Truth Thru Fiction by African boho-glam funk songstress Anonamas, music lovers are transported into a futuristic wilderness, where the crackling of twigs from the hooves of the native animals can be heard and the sound of electric keys rip through the airwaves. But the jazzy ambience of the “Welcome Intro” revs up an engine that has a few kinks in it, and occasionally overheats from time to time, musically speaking that is.

The problem with the record is, it feels dated. Where neo-soul favorites Erykah Badu and Jill Scott left their indigenous Afrocentric dashikis and infamous hair warp days to focus on ever-changing images, Anonamas finds her record the product of the been-there-done-that status. A sound that fuses UK’s Floetry and D’Angelo’s “Brown Sugar” days, Truth Thru Fiction only “bites” on the simplicity of 70s soul power anthem and early 90s hip-hop soul era, creating a synthetic awareness that has dumb down the title of the album more so than the atmosphere it would intend.

“Beautiful Thang” for example, a moody piece featuring Blak Mamba sounds like a Erykah Badu revamp, with the works: chorale backbeats and jazz lounge riffs. Remember “Certainly”? Subtract Badu’s Afro-Rasta charm and add Anonamas’ melissma breakbeat soul staccato and you’ve got a song that would have been a radio runaway success had it been released doing the neo-soul epoch.

But, Anonamas is one artist that maybe around at the right time. While the neo-soul revival is in full-effect at the moment with artists like torch singer Chrisette Michele, lament-sopping diva Adele, coke-spoon chanteuse Amy Winehouse and blues songbird Corinne Bailey Rae—Anonamas may get her just deserts as an artists, and not as a failing cover artists with songs like “Little Girl’s Pea.” While the soca-bebop vocal of the young artist doesn’t sound sincere in artistry, the storytelling is what sells the song. A story about a young girl and her love affair with a boy and her plea to her mother to protect her from the outside world is nicely done, in many ways incorporating Anonamas’ worldview into the record—rarely done by artists nowadays.

What works for the album is the flow. Rather than bash the mystic safari shaman knack that’s worked for several R&B and soul artists over the last decade, the New Age feel of the record. Listen to “Africa,” an ode to the motherland by Ananomas herself. With bird imitation, a silky manufactured backdrop and a grungy yet poignant vocal by Ananomas is a nice cry for help for the dilapidating motherland and also, a nice reminder of where soul music finds its origins. The track is simply moving. Other tracks “This Moment” and “Still Here” are so great for car drives and self-meditation. The sleek and molasses slow-crawling “This Moment” and down-tempo synth-like “Still Here” thrives in the bowels of rest and relaxation making them the album stand-outs.

Over all, the album however sounds rehashed: It sounds like one song. There is no diversity, no odd instrumentalism, no wow-factor in terms of vocal, no eccentrics in the record’s personality. Its very a structured album and in many ways Ananomas doesn’t let her music breathe. “Gift of Pain” is something one would expect off of Sadé’s “Love Deluxe” to have been recorded: A sassy island breeze environmental backbeat mixed with a playful tribal funk soul. It’s a fantastic song. But where there could be a beautiful aria or a ship cruise jam session, all of which Sadé is known for, Ananomas doesn’t brighten her sound, and the record is over. It flat lines.

Truth Thru Fiction isn’t anything special. While’s the album has great cover art (mostly pictures of the artist walking through nightlife), the artist takes no chances and therefore, bores us. There are some gems, yet they hide in plain sight.

If you want to see her Myspace profile, go to: http://www.myspace.com/anonamas

Keyshia Cole's A Different Me (Nu-Soul)

Keyshia Cole: The new R&B pin-up girl
By Marcus Scott

Unlike the thump jam R&B music of the times, where manufactured soul has become a financial practicality of sorts, there are still those songbirds, whose husky, melancholic voices soars and sweeps through the airwaves, as if slashing the soul. Rather or not you like or love Keyshia Cole, her debut The Way It Is, was an undeniable classic showcasing her exemplary passion for the ever-changing R&B genre and showing us that she was more than the second-coming of hip-hop soul queen Mary J. Blige. Two records later, she’s changed a bit and is no longer the neophyte audiences were presented with in her debut. This time around, she gives us A Different Me, a step in a new direction.

Similar to Ciara’s Evolution phase or even Beyoncé’s Sasha Fierce reinvention, Keyshia Cole’s A Different Me gives the star a rather seductive introduction as she sashays in an synth-heavy R&B slow jam, the Reo produced “A Different Me Intro” is equal parts sexy and equal parts spectacular, spawning from similar influences that created magical grown-folks music that created Ciara’s “Promise” and Chris Brown’s “Take You Down,” and the ramifications are beautiful. For a song that’s only an introduction, the only let down is that it is an introduction.

Nonetheless, when the album gets underway, the album grows balls, and something that Cole has lacked in her music—individualism, which, by many means is a plus. The first official track “Make Me Over” is a soul-clash funk spectacle that immediately dismisses Cole as a copycat for the likes of her contemporaries, sampling the likes of rock legends like Tina Turner. This is a big mistake because the track is utterly magical, eliminating any notion that she’s unoriginal or that her salient and arresting vocals aren’t presented with a love with her music. The “Tina’s Wish” sample added with elements of its high-energy horns, voluptuous brassy bass, dynamo pro tools engineer backbeats and buxom off-the-wall drum—a sound that encompasses the girl group Motown Sound and miscellany of 80s Miami Bass music—is a poetic stunning success in harmony. Adding Cole’s pain-filled poignant vocals and a message of rebirth, change in image and or course, and a sensationally vivacious cabaret come-hither vocal delivery, the song is great mid-tempo gush of soul.

“Please Don’t Stop” is one of those singles that sounds like an electro-soul edition of the recent Mary J. Blige Growing Pains era, something that Cole will face for quite some time. Nonetheless, it’s refreshing. The groovy synth sounds of the laid back track produced by The Runners and Ron Fair respectively is high-quality love song fuelled by an R&B urban glam and club bravado arguably unseen in Cole’s first two records. The track’s finger-snapping rhythms, aligned with Cole’s soaring alto wails, definitely define her positive endorsement via record sales and longevity in music.

Just listen to hip-hop swagger of “No Other” featuring Amina Harris, with its simple and sexy strings sparring with the electro-guitar creating an R&B new wave ripple effect beautifully produced by Kwamé, who scored films like “Step Up” and “Stomp the Yard.” Or, listen to the little slice-of-heaven fairytale ending christened “You Complete Me,” whose over-the-top torch song vocal bouillabaisse is like food for the soul. With its soaring tinkering keyboard notes and pulsating drumbeat clang sounds contrasting against the backdrop of its slow-paced flow, makes this a song influenced by tunes that made old school R&B tunes legendary.

What doesn’t work for the record, is that its not very diverse in sound. Plagued by the current chameleon R&B wave, Cole is gridlocked in creating a combination of seen-it-done-it balladry and writing classics to her repertoire. Tune in to some of the best songs on the record such as “Brand New,” whose sex appeal and simple messages scream star power and potential hit makers. If released on Cole’s sophomore record or even released in the first part of the record, the songs beauty is lost because of its sister tracks that come before an after—“Playa Cardz Right” and “Trust”—which are amazing tracks, bare resemblances. The strings in “Brand New” for example, seem to parody nearly the same keys in “Trust.”

On the other hand, even while there are no surprises (she doesn’t challenge herself), the record is a standout and fuses the competence of former Cole releases in a way that, not only is marketable, but declared Cole as an important R&B artist. A Different Me matches the alluring psyche of The Way It Is and the babydoll-lingerie-appeal that made Just Like You a work of genius for the post TRL generation. With high points on tracks like “This Is It” and “Beautiful Music,” Keyshia Cole is slowly proving that she is the new blackbird of post-Y2K BET soul music scene, which isn’t a bad feat for someone fairly new to the music game. With the slow-drip flow of the record, the synth soul and vocal cry is Cole’s most kinetic attempt as an artist and there’s no telling what’s next. Maybe she’ll shed that tough snakeskin of her’s and share another side of her?

If you want to see the original: http://blog.nu-soulmag.com/?p=1037