Unearthed
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The Man in Black bids farewell: Johnny Cash leaves a legacy of profoundly influential music.
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The album with the title of the century so far has the beats and the smarts to tune ears and turn heads. Recorded in 2002 by the Deepdickollective, ‘seven queer Negroes’ (their term) from San Francisco and only now properly available, BourgieBoho is a début rap album that combines the polemical capacity of Public Enemy with the poetic flow of Gil Scott Heron. The only difference? This is the rap that dares to speak its name: homohop.
That gay hiphop has come out of the closet so gloriously is a delight to anyone who has listened to the homophobic onslaughts of stars such as Eminem and, yes, Public Enemy, and wondered whether they protest a little too much. BourgieBoho seems to have the answers.
It’s a highly literate, polished route that Tim’m West (aka 25 percenter), Juba Kalamka (aka Pointfivefag), Phillip Atiba Goff (the Lightskindid Philosopher) and their colleagues negotiate through ‘misty-eyed’ Afrocentrism, homophobia and racism. They do it with theoretical lucidity and no sledgehammer politics.
But the really great thing about BourgieBoho is that the music’s so good: the Deepdickollective have also served time as performance poets and studio wizards. The deconstructed beats owe something to drum’n’bass minimalism, but just as you lock into a groove, this ensemble surprises with a loop of lush violins. It’s an album that sets the agenda, musically and politically, for some time to come.
- Product information
- by Johnny Cash
- Publisher
- Lost Highway
- Product number
- B0001679-02 5CDs
- Star rating
- Product link
- www.losthighwayrecords.com
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Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
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- Vinayan from India on agriculture
