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Divinity Roxx Ghetto Rock feat Killer Mike and Hustle Boy

From Afros To Shelltoes — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:18:27 +0000

Over a decade ago, award winning journalist Ed Garnes scored a musical coup writing the print debut of Decatur Duchess Divinity Roxx, Beyonce’s resident bass diva whose guitar licks and spit fire rhymes have won industry stamps of approval and an adoring international fan base. Divibaby shows From Afros To Shelltoes some love with an exclusive track, feat Killer Mike and Hustle Boy, from her upcoming release Roxx Boxx.

To Hear Divinity Roxx ‘Ghetto Rock’ feat Killa Mike and Hustle Boy Click Here

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Whose Kool Aid Is Sweeter: T.J. Holmes The Politics of Free Will

From Afros To Shelltoes — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:43:23 +0000

Whose Kool Aid Is Sweeter: T.J. Holmes & The Politics of Free Will

By Edward M. Garnes, Jr.

“The only thing that white people have that black people need, or should want, is power-and no one holds power forever.”—James Baldwin

On the surface, veteran journalist T.J. Holmes’ move from the seemingly green media pastures of CNN to the perceived programming purgatory of BET seems all kinds of crazy on an ordinary day. It’s befuddling enough for many Atlanta residents, and international audiences alike, to spill a pitcher of sweet tea hastily trading text messages, emails, facebook rants, and twitter direct messages questioning the sanity of such a defection. While the Holmes move does come as a surprise, I have learned, from direct experience, to stay clear of criticizing professional motives especially in the treacherous terrain of media where smiling supervisors can easily morph into editorial backstabbers. For me, the interpretations of Holmes’ move, couched in very antiquated theories of race pathology, and the perception that he is committing career suicide are most intriguing. The Holmes affair conjures up a weighty question: “Whose kool aid is sweeter…CNN or BET?”

Besides the brilliance of “Reed Between The Lines,” beautifully led by Malcolm Jamal Warner & Tracee Ellis Ross, BET has been a network in black face. The television entity’s dumbed down programming strings have been pulled by white gate keepers as Viacom’s ownership has threatened the very definition of what a “black network” means. So while the target audience of BET’s offspring is the souls of black folk, its parents have more in common with billionaire Warren Buffett than reality duo Frankie & Neffe. It seems as though Holmes moved on down from a deluxe apartment in the sky, but in all actuality, he merely changed floors in the same corporate condo. In closed-door meetings, CNN and BET’s upper rooms are made up of many faces you will not see at the Tom Joyner Family Reunion. To be sure, Holmes’ address may have changed but not the realities of media, whose strange career in the treatment and portrayal of a people who are darker than blue often borderlines paternalism. Let’s not forget the outrage and constant critique of media darling CNN’s “Black In America” series. And one can not ignore the consistent absence of nuanced black thought throughout ALL mainstream outlets.

Holmes is, and will be, the smart, sharp, engaging, and confrontational– in the most progressive ways possible– investigative journalist he has always been. It is the worn belief in the “white is right” mythology paralyzing black thought that leads many to believe Holmes lost cool points. Or maybe, it simply comes down to whose red kool aid you believe is sweeter.

Atlanta native Edward M. Garnes, Jr. is an award winning journalist, counselor, educator, editor, producer, and activist. He is the founder of From Afros to Shelltoes, a community based organization uniquely focused on cultural productions that bridge generation gaps between youth, elders, and the hip hop community. The Atlanta Tribune Man Of Distinction holds a B.A. in English Writing from DePauw University and a M.A. in Counseling from Michigan State University where he studied as a Competitive Fellow in Urban Counseling. Recently honored as Chozen Awards 2011 Motivator of the Year, Garnes currently serves as an Adjunct Professor in Public Speaking at Spelman College.

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Pickin Cotton:Why Black Artists Still Aint Free

Video:The Foreign Exchange The Last Fall

From Afros To Shelltoes — Tue, 03 May 2011 03:25:07 +0000

Our play cousins The Foreign Exchange have released their video for “The Last Fall”. The short film was directed by Matt Koza & Bruce Pinchbeck and features Gabriel Voss as Tyler and Katy O’Leary as Tiffany. Love unrequited never felt so damn uncomfortable. Peep the joint below, and lets debate, chat, and ponder the visuals in the comment section.

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Raphael Saadiq Stone Rollin

From Afros To Shelltoes — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 18:10:26 +0000

Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter and record producer Raphael Saadiq has announced the release of his fifth studio album Stone Rollin’

photo credit:www.shannonmccollum.com

Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter and record producer Raphael Saadiq has announced the release of his fifth studio album Stone Rollin’ on March 22, 2011 on Columbia Records. Known for defying the confines of working within one genre, this standard bearer for “old school” R&B returns with a new release that celebrates the classic sounds of 60’s and 70’s soul with a futuristic twist. Raphael is set to debut the video for the track “Radio” today at www.rollingstone.com. The song will be available on iTunes starting next Tuesday, January 11th.

Featuring ten new tracks, Stone Rollin’ is the follow up to Saadiq’s 2008 solo album The Way I See It, which boasted four Billboard R&B chart singles and was nominated for three GRAMMY Awards including Best R&B Album. The album was also selected by iTunes as their ‘Album of the Year’ in 2008. With the release of The Way I See It, Raphael Saadiq truly made his mark as a touring artist, striking a universal chord with audiences around the world through multiple performances at festival dates throughout Europe and the States — including Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza, SXSW and Voodoo Experience– as well as a recent opening slot on the Dave Matthews Band’s amphitheater tour. Now with his new collection Stone Rollin’, Saadiq nods to his heroes like Chuck Berry, Stevie Wonder, Little Walter and Sly Stone, while merging his own contemporary twist, one born out of a combination of his recent touring experiences, as well as inspiration derived from indie acts that hold regular rotation in his ipod. The end result is a collection that showcases Saadiq’s gifted musicality and the stellar production skills that have become the artist’s signature.

Raphael Saadiq says of the recording “Both the attraction and reaction to my music from my listeners has giving me all that I need to continue pushing the envelope and making music that wakes and rocks the soul of many, Its Ready, I’m Ready, and I know the world is Ready, Lets all go Stone Rollin.”

Recorded at his studio complex the Blakeslee Recording Company in Los Angeles, Raphael Saadiq played bass, mellotron, keys, guitar, percussion and even drums on most of the tracks. Opening with the stomping “Heart Attack,” the album’s other standout cuts include the stunning “Go To Hell,” featuring his studio squad of musicians who are melodically complimented by an angelic choir, the evocative Dixieland number “Day Dreams,” featuring Robert Randolph who plays steel guitar on the track, and “Just Don’t,” which includes a guest appearance from one of Saadiq’s indie rock favorites Swedish-Japanese singer Yukimi Nagano (Little Dragon). Also making an appearance on that same song is one of Saadiq’s idols Larry Dunn (Earth, Wind and Fire), who plays piano and contributes an epic Moog solo.

Official Track listing for Stone Rollin:

1. Heart Attack 2. Go To Hell 3. Radio 4. Over You 5. Stone Rollin’ 6. Day Dreams 7. Moving Down The Line 8. Just Don’t 9. Good Man 10. The Answer

Since Raphael Saadiq’s early days with the groundbreaking 80′s soul trio Tony! Toni! Tone! he has carried the torch for old school R&B and in the process has established his place as one of music’s most highly regarded recording artists and producers. In addition to releasing a series of critically acclaimed solo albums that have garnered multiple awards and nominations, Saadiq has also worked behind the scenes as an award winning producer, collaborator and sideman for some of music’s biggest acts including D’Angelo, John Legend, Joss Stone, The Roots, A Tribe Called Quest, Stevie Wonder, the Bee Gees, The Isley Brothers, Mary J. Blige, TLC, Whitney Houston, Snoop Dogg, Earth, Wind and Fire and more. Now, at the peak of his creativity, Saadiq is finally ready to soak up the spotlight alone.

For more info, visit www.raphaelsaadiq.com.

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Ed Garnes Raphael Saadiq Tboz On Sept 11 And Why Soul Music Will Never Die

Fahamu Pecou Hard To Death Second Childhood

From Afros To Shelltoes — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 09:34:06 +0000

As always, famed visual art star Fahamu Pecou offers a visual blues suite sure to make pipe wielding professors, anal retentive curators, and studio thugs ponder some sh*!.

On January 8, 2011, Dallas’ Conduit Gallery plays host to Pecou’s Second Childhood, a new body work pulled from his HARD TO DEATH series examining social behaviors within black male culture. Black masculinity aint gonna neva’ be the same. Now, run and tell that homeboy!

For more information, go to www.conduitgallery.com or www.fahamupecouart.com.

Hard 2 Death: Second Childhood from Fahamu Pecou on Vimeo.

“It is not uncommon in black male culture for older generations of men to look at what the youth are doing and attempt to emulate certain behaviors, trends and fashions as opposed to setting the example. To exaggerate this idea, I’ve posed my character “Fahamu Pecou is the Shit” in actual children’s clothes. The images are created to appear as though pages from a fashion catalogue.”-Fahamu Pecou

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Mark Anthony Neal Boyce Watkins Discuss N Word Huckleberry Finn

From Afros To Shelltoes — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 02:20:53 +0000

Dr. Mark Anthony Neal and Dr. Boyce Watkins wax poetics on removal of N word from Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn on CNN.


Dr. Mark Anthony Neal is the author of five books, What the Music Said: Black Popular Music and Black Public Culture (1998), Soul Babies: Black Popular Culture and the Post-Soul Aesthetic (2002), Songs in the Keys of Black Life: A Rhythm and Blues Nation (2003) New Black Man: Rethinking Black Masculinity (2005) and the forthcoming Looking for Leroy: (Il)Legible Black Masculinities. Neal is also the co-editor (with Murray Forman) of That’s the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader (2nd Edition) which will be published in the Spring of 2011. Neal is Professor of Black Popular Culture in the Department of African and African American Studies at Duke University. A frequent commentator for National Public Radio Neal is also the host of the weekly webcast ‘Left of Black’ and a regular columnist for theLoop21.com

Educationally, Dr. Boyce Watkins earned BA and BS degrees with a triple major in Finance, Economics and Business Management. In college, he was selected by the Wall Street Journal as the Outstanding Graduating Senior in Finance. He then earned a Masters Degree in Mathematical Statistics from The University of Kentucky and a PhD in Finance from The Ohio State University and was the only African-American in the world to earn a PHD in Finance during the year 2002. He is currently a Finance Professor at Syracuse University. Dr. Boyce has appeared on The Wendy Williams Experience (11 million listeners) 6 times in the last year alone. He normally provides critical social commentary, financial advice and humor to Williams’ audience. He is also called on by national and international media (CNN, NBC, CBS, FOX Business) to discuss Finance and Business.

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Sweet Tea Ethics 105: Ed Garnes Dr. Cornel West Clifton West On Love Spiritual Malnutrition

From Afros To Shelltoes — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:22:38 +0000

In this episode of Sweet Tea Ethics, Ed Garnes, Dr. Cornel West, and Clifton West discuss the accessibility of love, spiritual malnutrition, moral constipation Dr. Martin Luther King and Tupac Shakur. To book a Sweet Tea Ethics event contact sweetteaethics@afrostoshelltoes.com.

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Ed Garnes Joins Mathew Knowles at Radio One Media Entertainment Conference

From Afros To Shelltoes — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 18:39:28 +0000

From Afros To Shelltoes Founder, Edward M. Garnes, Jr., Joins Mathew Knowles, and Industry Elite at 2^nd Annual Radio One Media & Entertainment Conference

Award winning writer, counselor, and activist Edward M. Garnes, Jr., founder of From Afros To Shelltoes (FATS) , a community based art programming collective focused on bridging generation gaps between youth, elders, and hip hop heads, will join top music executives and industry professionals at Radio One’s 2^ndAnnual Media & Entertainment Conference (MEC). The event will take place on November 20, 2010 at the Raleigh Convention Center (500 Salisbury Street; Raleigh, North Carolina 27601).

Besides being treated to a keynote address courtesy of industry veteran Mathew Knowles, (Owner of Music World Entertainment, Father of Beyonce Knowles and the man behind the success of Destiny’s Child, Beyonce Knowles, Kelly Rowland, Brian Courtney Wilson and more), attendees will have the opportunity to meet, learn and network with the industry’s top actors, producers, movie directors, national recording artists, fashion designers, marketing professionals, theater performers, entertainment lawyers, publicists, music producers, successful entrepreneurs, national selling authors, dancers, artists and representatives from companies such as: Radio One, Interactive One, TV One, Allhiphp.com, BET, Universal Music, Atlantic Records, Jive Records, Black Enterprise Magazine, The Source Magazine, RCA/Zomba, Zomba Music Group.

From opening for famed poets Nikki Giovanni, Amiri Barka, and The Last Poets to producing his Sweet Tea Ethics tour with Dr. Cornel West, Garnes is a respected visionary in arts and entertainment with over 15 years in the industry. He currently appears in an uncensored documentary film entitled The reMixed Mind: Crossfaders, Visionaries & other Revolutionaries, directed by K. Neycha Herford, starring Joi Gilliam, stic man( dead prez), Killa Mike, Dionne Farris Jason Orr, Shannon McCollum, Lil John Roberts, Fahamu Pecou, DJ Kemit, Rich Medina, N’dea Davenport, and others.

Garnes will moderate the the following panel at the Radio One’s MEC

The Arts: Entering or Enhancing Your Career in Dance, Theatre, Spoken Word

Time: 3:30 pm – 4:45 pm

For a full schedule of the Radio One Media & Entertainment Conference events visit: http://hiphopnc.com/media-entertainment-convention/hiphopnc/m-e-c-schedule/

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