T.I.’s album cover for King Uncaged features the ATL rapper seated next to a lion, drawing an obvious parallel between the recently-released-from-jail rapper and the king of the jungle, as well as a fleeting nod to a classic 70’s soul album from Minnie Riperton.
By Tom Hanchett (Historian, Levine Museum of the New South) Charlotte’s Excelsior Club is a longtime music landmark in this region. It is the last survivor of a string of shops and music clubs known as “The End” for its location at the end of the Trade Street-Beatties Ford Road streetcar line. The club was […]
As I watched the Dirty South edition of HipHop Honors last week, I was saddened because there wasn't a North Carolina segment of the show. I tweeted the question, "where are the NC rappers?" It received a chuckle or two from a few friends and followers, but I really wanted to know, and according to an article I found on Wikipedia, it does. North Carolina's hip hop scene is vibrant and very relevant.
Word on the street is Sunshine Anderson is back in the lab working on an album. The Winston-Salem born, Charlotte native is best known for her hit, "Heard It All Before."
To celebrate Black Music Month, I recruited Levine Museum of the New South historian Tom Hanchett. If you’ve never heard one of Hanchett’s talks please make a point to attend one of his lectures. He can explain everything from the city’s confusing street names to the rise and fall of historic black communities uptown. In […]
eLZhi, no explanation needed. One of hip hop’s greatest emcee’s took the time out to speak with me.
jive (origin unknown) – 1. the jargon of jazz musicians or enthusiasts. 2. deceptive, nonsensical or glib talk. 3. to play or dance to jive music.
Eboni Lewis, known to those who grew up in Charlotte as Eboni Wallace, was voted Most Likely To Succeed when she graduated from high school. Her classmates figured that was the highest honor they could give to West Charlotte's 1994 student body president. And while she didn't choose a career as Oprah (that was the word back in the day) she did turn out to be quite the socialite. She's a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Smart Set and the Links. She is a former Zumba instructor and blogger for MomsCharlotte.com and currently owns her own photography business. She is able to balance it all because she has music.
Since helming Creative Loafing a few years ago, Carlton Hargro has helped the alternative weekly be more reflective of the Charlotte community it covers. He’s a huge fan of comic books, good conversation, and music – great music. What dead singer would you most like to bring to Charlotte for a concert and why? I […]
For 16 years Janine Davis' signature laugh could be heard on over Charlotte airwaves from 5:30 to 10 a.m. each morning. Davis was the producer of what was at one time Charlotte's only live, local morning show - No Limit Larry and the Morning Maddhouse. These days Janine is following her passion of helping teen girls. Davis is a motivational speaker and is serving as the executive director of the Girl Talk Foundation, Inc., an organization that she founded in 2003 to help teen girls build self-esteem and leadership qualities. But she hasn't totally left the entertainment industry.
It goes without saying that Kanye West, who celebrated a birthday yesterday, is one of hip-hop’s greatest producers.
Lauryn Hill blasted onto the hip-hop scene fronting the Fugees’ version of “Killing Me Softly.” For GenXers, the song hailed the arrival of a new voice and sound in hip-hop. For Baby Boomers, however, Hill reminded them of another genre-blurring black female singer — Roberta Flack. Flack is a native of Black Mountain near Asheville. […]