FROM AFROS TO SHELLTOES BLOG » Erykah Badu

Ed Garnes Traces Anthony David’s Rise Circa 00′

Edward M. Garnes, Jr. — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 17:56:59 +0000

Other Side Of The Game: Soul Singer Anthony David Traces His Musical Roots (2000)

By Edward M. Garnes, Jr.

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.

Throughout his childhood in Savannah, GA he had displayed his consummate skill as an artist, churning out poems and screenplays, and acting in numerous productions in his community. But after performing in an Army benefit while a soldier, he realized that he could actually sing. Apprehensively, on the fire escape of his West End Atlanta abode, Anthony David began the laborious task of reading chord books and finding his voice – his signature sound. Right up the street from prestigious Morehouse and Spelman Colleges, in the city too busy to hate, he struggled to find that beautiful place where instrumentation and inspiration meet.

The first person he met on his journey, India Arie (who is now signed with Motown records with a slated March 2001 debut), would soon become his sister in soul. “I was getting out of my car at the Underground in Atlanta and I saw her and her friends. We became close over the years. We liked the same music and we kinda grew together.”

Hooking up with his musical mentor and guardian angel, Lazz, helped to further cultivate David’s gift. Standing a slim 6 feet tall, Lazz is the cool cat on the corner who use to bump Stylistics tunes in an age when ‘art for art’s sake’ was an everyday thing. “Lazz gave me a $10,000 music education in three months. He set a great foundation and taught me how to learn from other people. Like an angel, whenever he was around, things just seemed to work out. I gotta keep that power in reserve.”

Five years removed from his first guitar lesson and decked out in an Adidas pullover, loose-fitting jeans, and sneakers, Anthony David looks more like a high schooler on his way to class than a seasoned soul stirrer creating underground buzz and hosting open mike nights at poet Jessica Care Moore’s storefront in downtown Atlanta. Moore, who rose to national acclaim after her poetry mesmerized the notoriously brutal Apollo audiences for five straight weeks, is creating a new Black Renaissance in the dirty south. She and her husband, poet Shariff Simmons, packed up and brought their energy to Georgia. Moore Epics has quickly become to Atlanta what the Nuyorican Café and Lennox Lounge are to New York, and David is an intricate part of the building process.

“Me and Jessica are on the same vibe – like Saul Williams and Shariff, who she published. I would go to New York and we’d run in the same circles. I had been trying to do an open mike thing, and she gave me a chance.” And he is taking full advantage of the house that Moore built. In an incense haze, sitting on stage with guitar in tow, Anthony David doesn’t just sing. He testifies. He transcends.

The best exemplar of his unique voice is the groovy plea of “Cold Turkey,” in which he employs a catchy hook as a fiending lover attempts to exorcise his love jones. The lyrics plead, “Cold turkey/ feelings don’t go away so easy/ Just a little more time/ and I swear I’ll leave you alone,” leaving audiences empathetic and mesmerized by David’s sincerity.

“Eyes Closed” is a boastful ballad of a superman lover “I can do it with my eyes closed/ ‘cause I know how to treat a women with my hands behind my back/ I can keep the good loving coming.” Another tune, “Backstreet,” is a poignant social critique that infuses the singer’s political consciousness like a millennial “What’s Going On.” David readily admits that his work is a sharp veer from Billboard’s Top 40, and credits a soulful narrator for giving him the license to do his thing.

“I am slightly to the left. I could never sing anyone else’s songs or stuff I heard on the radio. But when I was introduced to Bill Withers – as I cultivated my work – it gave me confidence and something to relate to. If he could do it like that, then I could too.”

This modern day crooner is a redeemer who belts blues with an old school sensibility, and his craftsmanship as songwriter conjures up the liberating effect of unconventional singers like Withers, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder. Yet, David is the Scottie Pippen of soul, the all around cat who is just as comfortable busting a flow as he is singing a ballad. A hip hop theologian, he blends rhymes and riffs like the ground-breaking and Bob Marley-influenced mainstream marauder, Lauryn Hill.

Like the work of all great artists, his emotional compositions detail what it is like to be human. To hurt…to love…to live. ” I like being human. Many of my songs come from everyday conversations. I soak up the influence for a little while and really don’t mess with it until it really comes. Until I feel it,” David explains. It’s this attention to detail, this respect for the craft, that sets artists like Anthony David apart from the norm. With descendants of soul like the flower child Erykah Badu and the buffed D’Angelo (and more recently, poet/vocalist Jill Scott, and funky child, Musiq) ripping billboard charts, taking home Grammy awards and thriving in the mainstream, perhaps timing couldn’t be better for Anthony David’s rise.

But David is quick to point out that soul never died. It’s recent popularity can be attributed to the consumers’ ever-evolving taste. “It’s always been there, even in the ‘80s with Prince and Cameo. People just weren’t receptive and didn’t pay attention. People are getting tired of stuff that doesn’t seem to be cared about by the people that make it. Consumers are getting smarter and demanding a better product.”

And David is right. Groups like Toni!Tony!Tone!, Mint Condition, and The Roots had been putting it down in obscure, smoke-filled, underground clubs before live music from actual bands got consumer stamps of approval. Like any other business, music is competitive, and persistence pays off. You may have to pour out your soul for years, playing small venues, sharing your gift, before industry insiders ever take notice. You might even have to play on your fire escape in front of no one, in anticipation of your big break.

The prospect of being a struggling artist was not the sexiest of career choices for David. People were unreceptive to authentic soul, yet David always believed. He put in the work. He moved beyond despair. And when asked what the secret to his growing success is, he steadfastly replies, “I loved music even when music didn’t love me.”

David has a new album slated for independent release in the spring of 2001.– The End

[end_columns]

Award winning writer, educator, counselor, and activist Edward M. Garnes, Jr. is the founder of From Afros to Shelltoes: Art, Action, and Conversation, a nationally acclaimed series of cultural productions confronting the social divide between elders and hip hop heads, and holds a B.A. in English Writing from DePauw University and a M.A. in Counseling from Michigan State University . His seminal essay, ” Sweet Tea Ethics: Black Luv, Healthcare, and Cultural Mistrust,” currently appears in Not In My Family: AIDS in the African American Community, a 2007 NAACP Image Award nominated collection edited by Gil Robertson. (www.afrostoshelltoes.com).

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Damn Good Albums: Erykah Badu

admin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 03:32:11 +0000

Baduizm (Universal; 1997)

video: Badu’s Other Side of The Game

Sugar’s Review: Senior year in college, second semester to be exact, and i was doing my best to get my degree without jumpin over a bridge from the stress. baduizm floated onto the synthetically labeled neo-soul arena like a butterfly on a georgia peach patch. i didn’t know anyone, man or woman, that did not have or want to have that album, especially after seeing the video for “on and on”. soft inuendos, real love songs (and by real i mean situations that you could truly believe happened to regular folk) and a savoir faire that shook the world out of its complacent boots. it was and still is an album we talk about. some brothers acted like they hadn’t heard it just to slip in a fine girl’s room for an impromptu booty rub. i remember blasting her album on friday afternoon right after my last class and sunday night to ease my mind of all those monday assignments due. we loved the album so much we’d shout her out on the campus television show, radio show and parties we did (special shout out to greg stephan, chris newton and the gang at the Pulliam Center). from rim shot to otha side of the game to drama she told us her story even when it wasn’t always pretty. it was just golden…d’angelo cleansed our palates with brown sugar the year before (we miss you man) and baduizm was a much appreciated course. i learned more from erykah badu than any uppity syllabus could attempt to teach me.

Ed’s Review

“what you gonna do when they come for you/ work aint honest but it pays the bills..” - “Other Side Of The Game” from Baduizm

Erykah Badu’s Baduizm not only saved my damn life, but it’s revolutionary grooves would also come to embody (musically & spiritually) everything we wanted from an artist…and the dreams we clung to for ourselves…Broke as hell my sophomore year of college, Sugar beat me to the punch coppin’ the Badu joint and blasting it across the hall of our dorm in West Bubble Freak, Indiana…Overcome with jealously, I begged him like a crack fiend to borrow the album one weekend while he was out of town…But his hatin’ ass girl at the time came and stole the album before I could really catch a groove I remember using change –I had saved to wash my clothes–to buy the album. Baduizm was a regular niggas dream gettin’ me through finals, death threats, heartbreaks, suicidal ideation, and my parents (now divorced) rocky relationship. In many ways, “Other Side Of The Game” became my personal soundtrack (and still is) as a young man developing in a world where free spirits have hell to pay. It was my shit so much so; Sugar could tell if I was depressed by how many times he heard “Other Side Of The Game” on repeat Sista Badu had given us a gift we could never repay…the courage to get our dreams out of layaway…Thank You!!!!

Erykah Badu Black Queen Or Baby Mamma

admin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:17:11 +0000

I love Erykah Badu, but I think having 3 baby daddies is a bit much. I think of the example she may be setting for her kids. Is she any different than the women in the projects our mamas warned us about?

Candice, Philadelphia, PA

Photo Credit www.myspace.com/shannonmccollum

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Sugar’s Take

To be frank, Erykah Badu is further from the stereotype of project baby mamas than the Pluto is to Earth. The key difference is Badu ain’t runnin’ around lookin’ for the next man payin’ for nails and hair with a car to take her shoppin’. She has built sound relationships with some cool brothers and it didn’t work out the way we, on the outside, thought it should. I mean listen to the music. Mama’s Gun, Baduizm, the live joint, all of these are acoustic journal entries. Being even a little judgmental is denying our own humanity. How many failed relationships have we had? How many times have we dealt with the ‘wrong’ person and stayed for no good reason at all? How many times have we been in relationships for the wrong reason? I had the pleasure of looking Ms. Badu square in the eye at the Dave Chappelle concert (eternal thanks for puttin’ me in your movie brother) , and I was instantly warped into a world with warm grass, cool breeze, big trees and beds of roses. And from that I can tell you for sure, Erykah Badu is a lover y’all… travelin the same universal roads of discovery as everyone else. I’m for real. {/column1}
{column2}
Ed’s Take

Erykah Badu has never fit nicely into the “typical women” role. If anything, she has redefined contemporary notional of black femininity with a fierce independence that side steps the “cook the grits and shut the hell up” version of womanhood we are sold. Her love for her people and the brother’s in her life is unconditional, and her definition of a relationship may seem unconventional to on lookers, but she is happy..aint that the goal!!! Admittedly, her relationships have not worked out. But despite the issues, she has maintained a positive/working relationship with all of her former mates. Plus, her kids are well provided for and not victims of the system. Yeah, we can cast insults form the sidelines and call her a baby mamma with loose morals; but who is perfect? We all know of relationships, and some of us have been in a few, where couples stay together in misery instead of breaking up. Some of us stay for the kids, fear of being lonely, or to deflect criticism. There is a greater question we must ask ourselves. In this age of dysfunction, as divorce rates swell past 50%, how does a sista like Badu find the strength to move on, reinvent her heart, heal her wounds, raise her kids, dare to challenge tradition, live in the fickle world of entertainment, and not fold to societal pressures imposing value systems down her throat? {/column2}

Got a question; email us at askedandsugar@afrostoshelltoes.com.

About Sugar Between catching the uptown train to conduct “we luv the kids” writing workshops to dancing rumba on the lower eastside, Sugar Johnson flaunts his creative freedom in various mediums. The actor, vocalist, and educator have not only shared the stage with prolific artists such as The Last Poets, M-1 of Dead Prez, Jessica Care Moore, and Spike Lee, but he also labors to cultivate the forgotten souls of Rikers Island. Johnson made his film debut in Dave Chappelle’s Block Party. The ASCAP member holds a B.A. in Mathematics from DePauw University and will release the poetry collection Food Clothes and Shelter on his imprint Home Grown Publishing, LLC in 2008.

About Ed Award winning writer, educator, counselor, and activist Edward M. Garnes, Jr. is the founder of From Afros to Shelltoes: Art, Action, and Conversation, a nationally acclaimed series of cultural productions confronting the social divide between elders and hip hop heads, and holds a B.A. in English Writing from DePauw University and a M.A. in Counseling from Michigan State University . His seminal essay, ” Sweet Tea Ethics: Black Luv, Healthcare, and Cultural Mistrust,” currently appears in Not In My Family: AIDS in the African American Community, a 2007 NAACP Image Award nominated collection edited by Gil Robertson. (www.afrostoshelltoes.com).