Sometimes it takes a chaotic event to make you realize truths about your life. Sometimes said event opens your eyes to something that's been right in front of your nose the whole time and been unwilling to accept it. Sometimes...no make that everytime, that event is a death, your world will never be the same again and that, THAT is a bitter pill to swallow.
With that said, we lost Carrie Fisher this past week. A woman who is one of my geek influences, on screen and in prose. A woman that looked at her demons and fought them every step of the way. A woman who fought for what she believed in and fought for all her friends. A woman who made it cool to be "weird" and until she left us, was this shining princess of weird and a queen of determination.
It just heartbreaking to also report that as I type the first draft of this that we have also lost her mother Debbie Reynolds, the Singing in the Rain actress and, for me, known more for her activist work throughout Hollywood circles.
RIP Ladies. Thank You For All You Did For Those You Didn't Even Meet And Thank You For The Generations You Are Going To Inspire To Pick Up After You!
A lot of talent has just left us in 2016 and I have no words left so I have to go on with the blog...
Bison4Life, a hearty supporter of the AfroNerd Radio show and a whole bunch of Black Podcasts threw down a challenge to me for my best albums of 2016. And like an idiot, I went "No problem!". Let me just say, I picked up close to 70 albums this year throughout various genres of music. Trying to weed these down was like a loving parent trying to choose their favorite child. I think my brain got fried in this endeavor BUT here is my list in no particular order with a comment or two next to each choice....
Wordburglar "Rapplicable Skills" - The mastermind behind "Welcome To Cobra Island" released this in 2015 BUT me being me, I didn't know about it until January. Showed a lot of depth to go along with his deft, Canada's go to NerdCore star doesn't disappoint here and I was singing tracks Narc Hi Score and Warp Formula for weeks after...
The White Panda "The Pawprint" - I'm a sucker for great mashup albums and once again, the dudes in White Panda showed their insanity with some of these crashes. Will Smith & Vicetone? Ginuwine & Feki? TV On The Radio & Jason Derulo? Yup! Not only did it but made them AWESOME!
Lil Dicky "Professional Rapper" - Another one I slept on but because of my bar circles recommendations, I had to pick this up and BOY does this dude have a flow. He might be Hip-Hop's Weird AL Yankovic and there's a lot of rappers in the mainstream that might want to pay attention to him. Why? He's taking your style and actually IMPROVING on it. Speaking of that comparison...
Weird Al Yankovic "Mandatory Fun" - Why are y'all snickering? This album was fun! Not just imitations. Not just comedy. But all around fun and I'm glad that Weird Al FINALLY got that shine in the mainstream with the album going #1 for a couple of weeks on Billboard. Long overdue for years and years of enjoyment!
The Roots "...and Then You Shoot Your Cousin" - Go listen to Never and Black Rock off of this and then you understand why I put this on this list. The Roots are excellence. Nuff Said.
GameBreax "GameBreakers Vol 2" - Through Mega Ran and SkyBlew, who both will be on this list in a minute, I found out about these guys and their love of video game and anime shines through on this album. Hard Edge and Ikimashou (Let's Go!) are tracks that addictive doesn't even do them justice! Fun. As. *$%$%!!!
SkyBlew “SkyBlew The Cowardly Boy” - Yes. This is EXACTLY what you think it is. A rap concept album about Courage The Cowardly Dog and SkyBlew hits it out of the park!
Mega Ran "Mat Mania" - Way before he got into the mainstream for coming back at Alex Trebek (who can still suck it as far as I'm concerned!), Mega Ran started up a wrestling podcast with his buds. So of course along with said podcast he had to make an album, rapping over wrestler themes past and present. Yep I totally geeked over this one of course as it took me back to stuff like WWF Aggression...
Sammus "Infusion" - The lady from Upstate New York blew up on the NerdCore scene over the past year, literally performing from coast to coast in support of her best album yet! 1080p and The Feels should be playing on radio stations. Honestly. The lady has bars for days!
Logic "The Incredible True Story" - Take a rapper with a love for all things geeky. Get an idea for a concept album that's about space. Mix with one of the best animated voice actors of all time in Steve Blum and you get this. Holy! Crap! This was great!
Beyonce "Lemonade" - I see you rolling your eyes over there BUT there's no denying that this album became the anthem for the spring season. This was fierce and you couldn't escape it anywhere. People were talking about it...
Shinobi Ninja "Rock Hood" - A group that contacted me over Twitter and urged me to give their music a shot. I'm glad they did. I have had a hole in my Rock/Rap fusion cravings for a minute now and SN filled that need.
Lianna La Havas "Blood" - A Prince protege but let's not let it be misunderstood. Ms La Havas has chops and a sound all her own. She's got this r&b etereal vibe that almost hides the hard rock streams in her musical foundation.
Babymetal "Metal Resistance" - Metal. Hardcore. Adorable. The Japanese youngsters are a must listen for any metal head that's an anime fan. Hell they're a must listen for folks that love hard guitar riffs combined with cute Japanese speak..lol
De La Soul "And The Anonymous Nobody" - My album of the year. The guys returned with an album that's a pure gateway drug to rap, rock, R&B and jazz. It an absolute crime that this received no airplay.
Roman GianArthur "OK Lady" - One of the gems I discovered because of the Brooklyn AfroPunk event. Kid is definitely a disciple of Prince and Hendrix and he can rock a stage...
Chance The Rapper "Coloring Book" - Chance represents everything that I hope hip-hop can return to being. He's got a flow that cannot be contained in just 1 song. It bleeds through his work across the album with an insane intelligence that's glorious...
Solange "A Seat At The Table" - Ok Yes. I'm shocked to have a Solange album on this one too. But she literally made an album here that out Alicia Keys' Alicia Keys own album. Never knew she had this type of range and depth. The praise she received for it was well deserved.
Common "Black America Again" - October was fantastic for me in terms of music and I capped off the month with this. Again, the word woke will be thrown around by a lot of people but if they don't have this album, how "woke" can they possibly be?
A Tribe Called Quest "We Got It From Here...Thanks 4 Your Service" - RIP Phife. This album is a lasting legacy to you and the guys careers and talent. More than just a memorial, this album opened eyes and more than a few of my newer friends copped my old Tribe stuff because of it...
Lady Gaga "Joanne" - Her most personal album to date and you can hear track by track that LG bares her soul through fire, trials and tribulations. They'll be fans who would want the old party music certainly BUT this is the album that shows an emotional range that the mainstream doesn't want to explore anymore.
Bruno Mars "24K Magic" - On the opposite spectrum, this is definitely my party album of the year. I have joked that Versace On The Floor will have a whole generation of kids born to it. From top to bottom, Bruno works his skills on this one....
Metallica "Hardwired...To Self-Destruct" - A return to glory. A return to the edge. A kickass album that is like 3 albums in one. A lot of haters returned back for this one and then looked at their own rock acts wondering why they can't go this hard....
Unlocking The Truth "Chaos" - These kids are my rock and roll present. My metalhead future. And they haven't gone through high school as a collective yet. Don't sleep on them folks! Trust me...
Lin-Manuel Miranda "The Hamilton Mixtape" - I already have the Hamilton Soundtrack but I needed to cop this just to hear what some of my favorite performers' take on the LMM songs would be. I wasn't disappointed and this was Miranda's year. Talk about making moves!
The Weeknd "Starboy" - His influence, like Bruno Mars, has been all over pop music for the past 2-3 years and he's had hits here and there BUT this is the album that signaled to me that he can put a whole album together. I also recommend his mini movie that has been floating around YouTube.
Childish Gambino "Awaken My Love" - I'm a longtime fan of Mr. Glover's alter ego BUT this, THIS felt like he wanted to push all of his musical boundaries. Not Just A Rapper. Not just a comedian. Wow Childish. You impressed me with the range on this one!
Geek E Inc. Productions "Nerdcore Absolution Volume 3" - One more geek offering from yours truly. Songs about Dragonball Z, Ranma 1/2, One Punch Man and more using their own themes with hip-hop? Yep. I was all over this one....
I'd be remiss if I didn't prop up my own friends from the New York indie scene as I do this:
Dead Rocking Horse "Triptych" - Marron Chaplin got a beautiful voice and when laid to rock beats and country twangs, it becomes a powerful force!
Midnight Mob "Honest Brutal Glorious" - When talking about power, MM got this punk energy that evokes early Debbie Harry at times. Mind blowing.
All Night Sounds "The Morning After" - What do you get when you take 90's skate rock sound and strain it through 2000's industrial rock sensibilities? You get this. Dan and James? Your album caps a great music year for me!
All albums can be gotten through the artist's band pages, iTunes and Bandcamp. I got this satisfies your query Bison. My brain is fried... AND I still have to do a review of the comics I got this week! ARRRGGGGH!
Thx For Reading All. Until Next Time, Keep Fantasizing!
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