Ed Garnes , Raphael Saadiq, & Tboz Talk, Going Solo, September 11, Tony! Toni! Tone!, And Why Soul Music Will Never Die (Another Excerpt from Ed’s Book Other Side Of The Game)

Hip hop journalism aint dead. And it surely lives in the south. Roni Sarig’s tome Third Coast: OutKast, Timbaland, and How Hip-Hop Became a Southern Thing is one of few books to trace southern musical roots from Mc Shy D to booty shake.

For the uninitiated, Burns is a “lifestyle specialist” adept at forecasting trends well before a hibernating status quo has a clue. Just as Harlem Renaissance artists, businessmen, activists, and politicians appropriated the term “New Negro” to challenge conventional notions of black identity, Burns represents a cooler offspring “The New Black,” a cultural armor defining a new space of creative expression and personal agency.

Chrisette Michele has been here before. Inheriting the vulnerability and matchless vocal character of queens like Billie Holliday and Phyllis Hyman, she plainly personifies loves vacant assurances as well as its soul stirring potential. Michele’s musical gifts vacillate between the sonic mysticism of smoky jazz clubs and the boomin’ system vigor of hip hop. In this exclusive with Ed Garnes, Michele represents for everyday sistas.

The following joint is an exclusive excerpt from award winning writer Edward M. Garnes, Jr.’s long awaited collection Other Side of The Game: Rare Testimonials On Music & Black Cultural Production to be published by Home Grown in 2009. This was the first story ever written on Anthony David way back in 2000.

Celebrating his Definitive Collection release, Kuti talks freedom, black music, and second slavery in a rare interview with Ed Garnes. The following interview is an exclusive excerpt from award winning writer Garnes’ long awaited collection Other Side of The Game: Rare Testimonials On Music & Black Cultural Production to be published by Home Grown in 2009.