The Warmth of Other Suns: Reflections

[The Warmth of Other Suns]
 
Ok readers, we've reached the end of Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns. What's one idea that you found most memorable, challenging, or surprising concerning the book? Why?

Black graduation ceremony

On April 26, my colleagues Earleen Patterson and Kelly Jo Karnes and I organized a black graduation ceremony for upcoming graduates at SIUE. It was the first such ceremony in more than a decade-and-a-half at the university. It was a really wonderful event.  The photos are by SIUE university photographer Howard Ash.

Related:
• Spring 2016 Programming

Notations for a common reading experience of Ta-Nehisi Coates

On May 20, I'll give a presentation at the University of Oregon focusing on Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me. I've been following Coates's work for more than a decade now, so I've been especially intrigued by the ongoing response to his new book and his overall thinking and writing.

The presentation will concentrate on:

• the pre-production history that led to Coates's book becoming a common reading selection
• crucial potential points to focus on concerning Between the World and Me
• the book's extraordinary reception
• some potential challenges and opportunities for participating in a common reading experience based on a book like Between the World and Me.

I'll provide links to various pieces on Coates and his book here, leading up to the presentation, and afterward.

UO:
• Understanding the uncommon reading program at the UO

Reading Coates
• Ta-Nehisi Coates's audiences of black boys and young black men

On Between the World and Me
• The multiple people referenced in Between the World and Me
• Sharing resources on Between the World and Me
• Common Read Projects and Between the World and Me

Coverage of Between the World and Me
• Coverage of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Between the World and Me
• 6 notable reviews of Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me
• Critiques re: absence of black women in Between the World and Me
• "Meccas are multitudes": Tressie McMillan Cottom and HBCUs

Coates and other writers:
• Women's Work, Between the World and Me & accumulated knowledge 
• The curious minds of Colson Whitehead and Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Ta-Nehisi Coates, Aaron McGruder & the Kitchen Sink

Lists
• Accomplished black men in the arts born between 1965 - 1975

Related:
• A Notebook on Ta-Nehisi Coates

African American literary studies & cultural artifacts

On April 26, we coordinated an activity in the Eugene B. Redmond Learning Center that concentrated on various artifacts and documents from past literature courses and programming activities.


Related:
• Spring 2016 Programming

When a poetry scholar offers a class on Biggie, Jay Z & Nas

Reading materials: Flash drives for the "Biggie, Jay Z, or Nas" class

For one, it's meant wonderful debates all semester. Who's really good? Who's overrated? Who's so ill that it's ridiculous? And then on to other kinds of questions: Why does those lyrics move folks the way they do? What is the meaning of black consciousness in rap? 

My class "Biggie, Jay Z, or Nas?" has been one wild ride this semester. Unlike in my conventional poetry classes where folks usually sit back and take notes, the students in this "Jay Z class," as we called it for short, are really active and interestingly disruptive in discussions. Since before the first day of class, when people were registering last fall, they'd contact me and ask questions.

• "I'm signed up for your class. We're going to listen to some Pac too, right?
• Someone else, "Why can't it be Biggie, Kanye, or Nas?"
• Yet a different student on the first day of class, "We need to listen to some battle lyricists."
• Various students who are from Chicago. "Kanye. Kanye is the greatest."
• One student, nearly every day. "Scarface. We need a class on Scarface." 

Rap fans are always debating who's in the top five, for instance, and the "rap scholars" in my class have not disappointed in that regard. Several of them have lobbied daily for rappers they feel are exceptionally talented but under-appreciated and thus deserve more serious attention. Their zeal for the music and artists has been inspiring.  

During the first week of class, I gave the students flash drives filled with music that we would cover for the semester. Some students expressed appreciation that I gave them access to "old" rappers like Rakim. And of course, they've been more enthusiastic about conversations with younger rappers such as Kendrick Lamar and Big K.R.I.T.   

I've taught courses featuring African American poetry at least one semester each of these first 13 years of my career as a college professor. I'm been pleased to evolve this semester in order to devote class time exclusively to rap. In the past, I inserted short segments of the music here and there, and a couple of years back, I offered a "Rap Genius" course, concentrating on the popular annotation site, where we covered more literature than rap.

I have not assigned any conventional poetry this semester. But in every discussion with students this semester, I've transferred many of the keywords associated with African American poetry studies and literary studies in general over to the music. In short, I was sampling. That's part of what it's been like being a poetry scholar leading a class on rap.   

 Related:
• African American Literature @ SIUE
• African American Language and Culture Lab

Geo-Coding Black Short Stories

By Kenton Rambsy

In addition to the Jay Z course, I’m also teaching another literary digital humanities class this semester at the UTA. “Geo-coding black short stories” focuses on texts by Charles Chesnutt, Zora Neale Hursotn, Richard Wright, Toni Cade Bambara, and Edward P. Jones. Similar to #TheJayZClass, we created a custom metadata schema by identifying key publication trends, analyzing thematic aspects, and digitizing select short stories by the various writers. We used the data to identify precise features of each short story in order to provide a more comprehensive analysis of black short stories based on geography.

Over the course of the semester, I have had conversations with various literary scholars and people interested in the course. They generally ask: how can digital tools enhance our engagements with black short fiction?

"Oooowow!": the wonderful wordless phrasings of Amiri Baraka

source

"rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. . . tuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuh" from "Black Art" by Amiri Baraka

"owwooooo owooooo" from "Kutoa Umoja" by Amiri Baraka

"Bahhhhhhh
Wheeeeeeee" from "Am/Trak" by Amiri Baraka

"uuuuuuuuuu" from "Dope" by Amiri Baraka

"oooowow!" from "Dope" by Amiri Baraka

"oh wah wah
oh wah wah wah" from "Shazam Doowah" by Amiri Baraka

"(ahhhhhhhhhh!)" from "In Walked Bud" by Amiri Baraka

"Whooooooooooooooooooooo!" from "Somebody Blew up America" by Amiri Baraka

Listen: you'll be hard-pressed to find a major American poet who delves into the wonderful worlds of wordless phrasings more than Amiri Baraka. Nearly everywhere you look and listen in his work, you'll notice him projecting all these sound effects and various utterances. You still get his point.

Above, I've provided a small sample of what you see and hear in Baraka's work. And there's more. Much more. Before reading "Somebody Blew up America," Baraka would always hum Thelonious Monk's "Misterioso;" Baraka also interspersed that tune in his poem "Bang, Bang Outishly." Before and during his readings of his low coup poems, Baraka would hum Bud Powell's "Un Poco Loco." Throughout his poem "In Walked Bud," Baraka would hum aspects of Monk's "In Walked Bud."

It's not uncommon, during the Q & A after a reading, for poets to say "I hear music in my head." The difference with Baraka is that he so often invites you to hear exactly what music he was referring to at the time. I remember back in 2004 at the Furious Flower conference, Baraka read a poem that I can't recall any words for, but I do distinctly remember he was humming Stevie Wonder's "All I do" during sections of the poem. 

There's little surprise that Baraka, who was deeply immersed in black music scenes for so much of his artistic life, would emulate the sounds of musicians in his poetry. Further, Baraka thoroughly embraced Black arts principles such as one of his collaborators, Larry Neal, urging black poets to avoid being "tied to the texts, like most white poets." All those wordless phrasings Baraka was inclined to make freed him from the texts and more broadly from the conventional restraints of the page.   

Related:
• Amiri Baraka

50 Amiri Baraka poems on YouTube

Source

Here we go, an update to my previous roundup of Amiri Baraka poems on YouTube, including 12 versions of his poem "Somebody Blew Up America." 

• "Against Bourgeois Art"
• "Africa"/"Why's/Wise"
• "All Songs Are Crazy" - October 8, 2010
• "AM/TRAK"
• "Beautiful Black Woman" (1972)
• "Black Art"
• "Class Struggle in Music I" - with David Murray and Steve McCall
• "Come Back Pharoah"  (1972)
• "Dope" - A reading of the poem in 1980. 
• "Dope"
• "Fashion This, From the Irony of The World" - recorded live on Feb. 21, 2009. Rob Brown on saxophone.
• "Heathens"
• "Heathens"
• "I Liked Us Better"
• "I Love Music (For John Coltrane)" 
• "In the Funk World" 
• "In the Tradition"
• "It's Nation Time"
• "Madness" - from Black & Beautiful, Soul & Madness 
• "Money"
• "Nightmare Bush'It Whirl" 
• "Obama Poem" - recorded live on Feb. 21, 2009. Rob Brown on saxophone.
• "Ode to Obama" - from a series presented by the Associated Press acknowledging Obama's inauguration.
• "Play Dat" - The Long Center, Austin, Texas, 2012.
• "Revelations" - read at memorial for Gus Heningburg.

Underground conversation series: How a Black Woman Manages a $26M Budget

 

On April 21, we coordinated one of our Underground Conversation series. Our title for the session was “How a Black Woman Manages a $26 Million-Dollar Budget at SIUE,” featuring Shavonda Mitchom, Director of Business Affairs for the College of Arts and Sciences.

After the presentation, we asked students to respond to the prompt, "What’s something useful you gained from today’s session? In what way was it useful or notable?"

A sample of responses:
• Being able to speak with an established, African-American woman, it was beneficial to learn that someone who I can relate with is in one of the most influential positions on campus.
• That as a Black Woman in a high position you need to work 10x harder to be respected and get your point across. You can’t let ignorance bring you down.
• Something I’ve gained from the session is that no matter what position’s you are in, whether it is high or low, your race always does play a factor. I liked hearing her experiences dealing with white people who are the same positions as her and how she handles it.

Related:
• Spring 2016 Programming

The Warmth of Other Suns: (539 - 543)

[The Warmth of Other Suns]

In the "Notes on Methodology" section of The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson discusses the various approaches that she took to produce this monumental book. At one point she writes that:

The book is essentially three projects in one. The first was a collection of oral histories from around the country. The second was the distillation of those oral histories into a narrative of three protagonists, each of whom led a sufficiently full life to merit a book in his or her own right and was thus researched and reported as such. The third was an examination of newspaper accounts and scholarly and literary works of the era and more recent analyses of the Migration to recount the motivations, circumstances, and perceptions of the Migration as it was in progress and to put the subjects' actions into historical context (540).

Among various things, Wilkerson also discusses conducting interviews and driving across the country tracing her subjects' journeys.

Based on her discussion of producing the book, what aspect of her research or processes did you find particularly important? Why?

Public thinking event: “lucky breaks” and “misfortune” in educaiton

For our Public Thinking event, we produced narratives about “lucky breaks” and “misfortune” in education. We drew our prompts from Robert H. Frank's “Why Luck Matters More Than You Might Think.” At one point, he writes:

Chance plays a far larger role in life outcomes than most people realize. And yet, the luckiest among us appear especially unlikely to appreciate our good fortune. According to the Pew Research Center, people in higher income brackets are much more likely than those with lower incomes to say that individuals get rich primarily because they work hard. Other surveys bear this out: Wealthy people overwhelmingly attribute their own success to hard work rather than to factors like luck or being in the right place at the right time.

At another point, he writes:

A growing body of evidence suggests that seeing ourselves as self-made—rather than as talented, hardworking, and lucky—leads us to be less generous and public-spirited. It may even make the lucky less likely to support the conditions (such as high-quality public infrastructure and education) that made their own success possible.
Happily, though, when people are prompted to reflect on their good fortune, they become much more willing to contribute to the common good.

Related:
• Spring 2016 Programming

Jay Z, African American literary studies & digital humanities

By Kenton Rambsy

This semester, I am teaching an English digital humanities course entitled “The Life and Times of S. Carter” at the University of Texas at Arlington. I have had various conversations with people about the class.

Some are avid Jay Z fans and find the class very exciting. They always ask me some version of the question “what is the most popular Jay Z song discussed in the class?” Others wonder, “why not choose a more contemporary rapper?” Occasionally, a person or two will even ask “Who is Jay Z?” Despite the varying degree of questions, everyone always asks “What do you do in a Jay Z class?”

Good question.

My short response to the question is that our class places Jay Z’s four classic albums in a broad African American literary continuum of autobiographical and semi-autobiographical works, while utilizing principles and tools associated with data management.

What follows is a version of the extended response I provide.

Poetry Book Blurbs: Cornelius Eady's Tireless Promotional Work

Sample of books containing book blurbs by Cornelius Eady

He's recognized as an acclaimed poet, as a musician, as the co-founder of Cave Canem, and as a mentor for countless poets. But one important, recurring, almost behind-the-scenes service that Cornelius Eady provides on behalf of contemporary poets has to be book blurbs. Over the last decade and a half or so, his appraisals have appeared on the backs of several debut volumes of poetry.

One of my favorite books -- Leadbelly (2005) by Tyehimba Jess -- includes one of my favorite all-time book blurbs. That blurb was composed by Eady and goes: 

Be careful; you hold in your hands a world. I suspect this book, about one man's journey through the blues, is as close as a book of poetry may get to describing what it means and what it costs to have this music in your veins. 

I read and re-read that blurb way too many times over the years. 

Many, though not all, of Eady's blurbs appear on books by Cave Canem Fellows. As the founders of the organization, many poets likely look to Eady and Toi Derricotte, who has also provided many blurbs, when seeking statements to complement or assist in promoting their works.

Book blurbs are part of the paratext or supporting material around the so-called main composition. At this point, commentary on the back of a book linked to the name "Cornelius Eady" represents a notable paratext. In the world of contemporary African American, Eady's presence on the back of a book signals that an individual volume is linked to a much wider black poetic network.      

There are longstanding debates among people in the publishing industry on the value of book blurbs. How much do book blurbs matter? To what extent do they include potential book buyers? What is loss and gained by judging a book by what's on the front and back covers? While folks debate those questions, I imagine that the poets who request and receive positive statements from Eady for their books experience feelings of personal satisfaction and validation. Those feelings, though hard to quantify, are significant.

Among the many volumes I own, I noticed Eady's blurbs on books by Lyrae Van CLief-Stefanon, Terrance Hayes, Adrian Matejka, Jason McCall, and others. Eady belongs to an unofficial group, which includes Derricotte, Nikky Finney, and Yusef Komunyakaa, who have produced a large number of book blurbs for poets who came of age during the late 1990s and early years of the 21st century.     

Eady continues to have a distinguishing career as a poet, but he also deserves attention for his tireless promotional work.

Related:
• A Notebook on Cornelius Eady

A Notebook on Cornelius Eady

2016
• April 18: Poetry Book Blurbs: Cornelius Eady's Tireless Promotional Work 

2015
• November 8: 10 years reading Leadbelly, Pt. 5: Eady, Jess, and Matejka

2013
• August 29: Things we need to know prior to reading poetry by Cornelius Eady, Tyehimba Jess, and Adrian Matejka 
• June 14: Reading Cornelius Eady, Tyehimba Jess & Adrian Matejka...together
• April 2: Cornelius Eady's, Tyehimba Jess's & Adrian Matejka's Bad Men 
• February 12: Cornelius Eady, Brutal Imagination, and Crime Poetry

Related:
• An Extended Notebook on the works of writers & artists 

Signifying

Signifying, in African American literary and cultural contexts, refers to a mode of verbal joust or play where a speaker covertly makes fun of, ridicules , undermines, outsmarts, or insults someone through clever wordplay or indirection. The term also refers to the practice of a writer referencing, and in the process reworking and remixing work, by another writer or groups of writers. 

Carolyn Rodgers, Geneva Smitherman, and others have written about the term signifying; however, literary scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is especially linked to the phrase because of his well-known work The Signifying Monkey. Among other observations, Gates persuasively argued that a distinguishing feature of African American literary and expressive culture were the extents to which black writers signified on or constantly referred to and reworked other black writers within a tradition.   

Related:
• Keywords

The Language Arts and Leadership Conference, 2016

April 13, we hosted 30 students for our "Language Arts and Leadership" conference. The event involved high school black boys in learning activities and workshops designed to enhance their engagements with active thinking and conversations. The event also included a book fair and mixed media listening session.

A year ago, we hosted a similar conference. This year, we hosted students from 4 area high schools: East St. Louis Senior High School, Edwardsville High School, the SIUE/East St. Louis Charter High School, and Collinsville High School. The majority of the students were 9th and 10th graders. The guys enjoyed the activities and interacting with each other.

What follows are entries concerning aspects of the conference. 

Entries:
• A photo-review the Language Arts & Leadership Conference
• Conference attendees visit the EBR Learning Center
• A free book fair for African American boys 

A free book fair for African American boys

So much of my intellectual development and curiosities over the years were linked to bookstores and special collections. Thus, nearly every chance I get, I introduce students to bookstores, and I often host book fairs on campus.

On April 13, for our Language Arts and Leadership conference for high school African American boys, I worked with undergraduates, grad students, and colleagues to organize a book fair. We were able to offer at least two free books and comics books to the conference attendees.

The guys seemed to have a good time perusing books and making selections. They provided notations on why they chose books that they chose. Similar to last year, the guys appreciated the chance to make choices and select from a wide range of reading materials.

Undergraduate prepares for book fair

 
Related:
• The Language Arts and Leadership Conference, 2016

Conference attendees visit the EBR Learning Center

A year ago at our conference, attendees participated in viewing sessions in the Underground Reading Room. But we had a better, even larger space this year, as we were able to coordinate a mixed media listening session in the Eugene B. Redmond (EBR) Learning Center in Lovejoy Library.

In many respects, our Underground Reading Room was one key blueprint for what we now have with this wonderful space. I'm really pleased with the EBR Learning Center, and how many different kinds of events we've been able to host in the area. In addition, we've hosted a diverse group of visitors, from students to general citizens.

A photo-review the Language Arts & Leadership Conference

On April 13th, we hosted our second annual  Language Arts & Leadership conference for high school African American boys from Collinsville High School, East St. Louis Senior High School, Edwardsville High School, and the SIUE/East St. Louis Charter High School.

Darryl Cherry, SOAR Retention Coordinator and Academic Advisor welcomes conference attendees.

Graduate student Jeremiah Carter leads session on Frederick Douglass

Why the shift in poetry award juries matters

The inclusion of more African Americans on selection committees or "juries" over the last 30 years has been one of the most consequential shifts in the histories of American and African American poetry. The increase of African American poetry jurors or judges coincides with the increase of African American poetry award recipients. Historically, all-white poetry award juries selected white poet recipients.

Sure, there were exceptions. But that's part of the point: they were exceptions. The absence of African Americans on selection committees prior to the 1990s meant that countless talented, deserving black poets were far less likely to receive national recognition and the related financial rewards for their works. There's no telling how invisible poets and poetry would have been without the Black Arts Movement, and particularly without the advocacy and promotional work of Negro Digest/Black World managing editor Hoyt Fuller. (In our celebrations of contemporary winners, we rarely reflect on how much the odds were stacked against generations of black poets).

By the late 1990s and especially during the 21st century, award and prize agencies became far more likely to include African Americans as jurors. Let's hope that noting the influence of African American jurors for poetry awards does not lead people to diminish the outstanding work of African American poetry winners. Instead, we might acknowledge that diverse selection committees tend to award a more diverse group of winners over time. 

George Packer compliments LeRoi Jones (but derides Amiri Baraka)

Last week, George Packer had a piece "Race, Art, and Essentialism" in the New Yorker where he was (rightly)  raising questions about Rick Moody's suggestion that black people naturally write better about black music than non-black people. But then, strangely, Packer felt it necessary to insult Amiri Baraka. 

Packer, referring to Baraka as "LeRoi Jones," describes an early, useful essay and then follows up parenthetically to deride the writer. Here's Packer: 

"Jones was arguing that white critics, so far, had shown the limitations of their cultural experience. He wasn’t (yet) insisting on the essentialism that equates color with judgment. (This was the early Jones, still a member of the Village beat scene, before his life as Baraka took a turn into cultural nationalism, anti-Semitism, and forgettable writing.)"

Baraka's black arts works, and his poems and essays post-1967, can be summed up as "forgettable writing"? Really? There are many ways to describe the career, work, and productions of Baraka from the late 1960s up until his death in 2014. But "forgettable writing" is not one.  

Packer's critique of Baraka's late 1960s and 1970s anti-Semitism  is necessary, and even Baraka would agree, given his self-rebuke of previous positions. Baraka also routinely acknowledged the limits of cultural nationalism in print and speeches. Those self-critiques were perhaps unknowable to Packer.   

Whatever the case, Packer's low regard for the work Baraka produced over the last few decades is startling and irresponsible. Baraka remains one of our most widely known, critically acclaimed, and yes, memorable writers. If his work is forgettable, what do we make of all -- the vast majority of -- black writers beyond Baraka? Or, was it the cultural nationalism and anti-Semitism that made his work forgettable?

The Warmth of Other Suns: (527 – 538)

[The Warmth of Other Suns]


By Ashley S. Cartman 

“All told, perhaps the most significant measure of the Great Migration was the act of leaving itself, regardless of the individual outcome. Despite the private disappointments and triumphs of any individual migrant, the Migration, in some ways, was its own point. The achievement was in making the decision to be free and acting on that decision, wherever that journey led them” (535). -- Isabel Wilkerson 

Sometimes, success is not measured by the outcome of the situation, but by the fight given during the journey. Sometimes the scariest part of deciding whether to act on something or not, is the haunting thought of “what if” one does not do it.

Based on this week’s reading of the Epilogue from The Warmth of Other Suns, what did you view as one of the notable overall results of the Great Migration beyond the “private disappointments and triumphs”?

Poets as Researchers: Tyehimba Jess and Robin Coste Lewis

For some time now, I've taken note of contemporary volumes that were the result of poets pursuing extensive formal study. You get the sense that the poets spent considerable time covering historical documents and other materials in order to produce works that are artistic but at the same time thoroughly researched. Although we've always had poets who were cognizant of history, rarely have we had so many poets participate in the production of such intricate, painstaking, and lengthy poetry projects.

These days, Robin Coste Lewis and Tyehimba Jess come to mind when I speak of poets as researchers. Lewis's Voyage of the Sable Venus and Other Poems (2015) and Jess's Olio (2016) typify and perhaps expand our notions of how poetry volumes can actively treat historical figures and events. In fact, while you'll likely find works by Lewis and Jess in the poetry category, it's not too much of a stretch to think about the ways that their works fit within or at least complement the "history sections" of bookstores and collections.

In the title poem for her volume, Lewis presents a narrative poem that "is comprised solely and entirely of the titles, catalog entries, or exhibit descriptions of Western art objects in which a black female figure is present, dating from 38,000 BCE to the present." It's one of our most extraordinary and ambitious long poems. 

In Olio, Jess narrates the experiences and inner thoughts of a wide range of historical figures, including Henry 'Box' Brown, Paul Laurence Dunbar, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, Sissieretta Jones, Edmonia Lewis, George Walker, Booker T. Washington, "Blind" Tom Wiggins, and Bert Williams. The ability to transform historical research into evocative poems is one of Jess's most powerful skills.

What Lewis, Jess, and various others are doing with these representations in verse of history constitute really distinguishing approaches to the production of poetry. Their volumes give us new possibilities for envisioning the capabilities of poets and researchers.

Related:
• A Notebook on Robin Coste Lewis
• A Notebook on Tyehimba Jess
• Black Poetry and the History Section: a partial list

Alondra Nelson and Root-Seekers

Among other things, Alondra Nelson's new book The Social Life of DNA introduced me to this cool, useful term "root-seekers" and "root-seeking." Root-seekers, as Nelson describes them, are those people, or genealogists, who search for information  about their familial or ethnic background. Alex Haley's Roots and the subsequent television mini-series prompted countless African Americans to begin assembling their family trees. In other words, they became root-seekers. 

The Social Life of DNA presents a variety of people who research their family histories through a variety of means, including tracing documents and records and also using genetic testing. Nelson is effectively offering a sociology of root-seekers in her book.  That leads her to different places where people engage in seeking out and celebrating their familial roots.

Each fall since 2008, I have coordinated a trip of 40 first-year, African American students to visit the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. The museum serves as a really important educational experience for students. The Family Search Center on the fourth floor of the museum is one of our most noteworthy destinations each year. Volunteers at the center provide assistance for students interested in constructing or extending their family trees.

Jay Z's Magna Carta Holy Grail (sampling sources)

By Kenton Rambsy

This post is part of our "Sampling & Signifying: The Music of Jay Z" series.

Magna Carta Holy Grail
Release Date: July 4, 2013

1. "Holy Grail" (featuring Justin Timberlake) (Runtime: 5:38)
Producer: The-Dream, Timbaland, Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon, No I.D.
Vocals/Lyrics:
• “ Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana (1991)

2. "Picasso Baby" (Runtime: 4:06)
Producer: Timbaland, J-Roc
Instrumentation and Composition:
• “ Sirens ” by Adrian Younge (2011)
• “ Il Consigliori” by Calibro 35 (2010)

3. "Tom Ford" (Runtime: 3:09)
Producer: Timbaland, J-Roc

Jay Z's The Blueprint 3 (sampling sources)

By Kenton Rambsy

This post is part of our "Sampling & Signifying: The Music of Jay Z" series.

The Blueprint 3
Release Date: September 8, 2009

1. "What We Talkin' About" (with Luke Steele) (Runtime: 4:04)
Producer: Kanye West, No I.D.
Instrumentation and Composition:
• “ Spirit ” by Frederic Mercier (1978)

2. "Thank You" (Runtime: 4:10)
Producer: Kanye West, No I.D.
Instrumentation and Composition:
• “ Ele E Ela ” by Marcos Valle (1970)
Vocals/Lyrics:
• “ Keys Open Doors” by Clipse (2006)

3. "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" (Runtime: 4:15)
Producer: No I.D.
Instrumentation and Composition:
• “ In the Space” by Janko Nilovic and Dave Sucky (1970)
Vocals/Lyrics:
• “ Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” by Steam (1969)
• “ You're Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You) ” by The Notorious B.I.G. (1997)
• “ Big Brother ” by Kanye West (2007)

Jay Z's American Gangster (sampling sources)

By Kenton Rambsy

This post is part of our "Sampling & Signifying: The Music of Jay Z" series. 

American Gangster
Release Date: November 6, 2007

1. "Intro" (Runtime: 2:00)
Producer: Chris Flames, Idris Elba (co.)

2. "Pray" (Runtime: 4:24)
Producer: Sean "Puffy" Combs, Sean C & LV for The Hitmen
Instrumentation and Composition:
• “ New Earth ” by Hank Marvin (1977)
Vocals/Lyrics:
• “ Hey Young World” by Slick Rick (1988)
• “ FX & Scratches (Vol. 5)” by Simon Harris (1990)

3. "American Dreamin'" (Runtime: 4:47)
Producer: Sean "Puffy" Combs, Sean C, LV, Mario Winans for The Hitmen (co.)
Instrumentation and Composition:
• “ Soon I'll Be Loving You Again ” by Marvin Gaye (1976)

Jay Z's Kingdom Come (sampling sources)

By Kenton Rambsy

This post is part of our "Sampling & Signifying: The Music of Jay Z" series. 

Kingdom Come
Release Date: November 21, 2006

1.The Prelude (Runtime: 2:44)
Producer: B-Money
Instrumentation and Composition:
• “ Keep the Faith ” by Mel & Tim (1974)
Movie:
• “ Gettin' Out of the Life Speech ” from Super Fly (1972)

2."Oh My God" (Runtime: 4:17)
Producer: Just Blaze
Hook/Riff:
• “ Whipping Post” by Genya Ravan (1974)
Vocals/Lyrics:
• “ We Don't Care ” by Kanye West (2004)

3. "Kingdom Come" (Runtime: 4:23)
Producer: Just Blaze
Instrumentation and Composition:
• “ Super Freak” by Rick James (1981)
Vocals/Lyrics:
• “ U Can't Touch This” by MC Hammer (1990)

The Warmth of Other Suns: (465 - 526)

[The Warmth of Other Suns]

"The transformation of the South Shore section of Chicago from an all-white neighborhood to a near totally black one was complete by the time the Great Migration ended in the mid-1970s" (506). -- Isabel Wilkerson

We've covered a considerable amount of time as we've read The Warmth of Other Suns. In the course of time, there had been considerable changes. During the section we read for this week, Wilkerson moves us well into the late 1990s.

What challenge or change did you find most notable confronting Chicago residents like Ida Mae Gladney during this time period? Why? Please provide a page number. 

Coverage of Ta-Nehisi Coates & Brian Stelfreeze’s Black Panther

The news dropped on September 22, 2015, that Ta-Nehisi Coates would pen and Brian Stelfreeze would draw Marvel's Black Panther series. Not surprisingly, a wide range of media began covering the news that Coates was moving into the world of comic books. 

I've been tracing the coverage of Coates's works for a while now. In 2012, I actually thought the coverage (14 articles) of Coates's "Fear of a Black President" was outstanding. Back then, I had no idea what coverage for his "The Case for Reparations" would look like and then the coverage of Between the World and Me.

The coverage of Black Panther extends the bibliographic work that I've been doing. The process has also allowed me to become aware of several comic book commentators and venues.

The following list, of course, is not exhaustive. I'll continue updating.  

2016
• July 11: Chris Sprouse Roars onto Black Panther - TJ Dietsch - Marvel
• June 30: Black Panther #3 (Marvel Comics) - Kit - The Lost Light House
• June 29: Black Panther #3 - Jideobi Odunze - Geeked Out Nation
• June 29: Black Panther #3 - Jeremy Radick - Nerdsunchained
• June 29: Best Shots Review: BLACK PANTHER #3 - David Pepose - Newsarama
• June 4: Ta-Nehisi Coates Apologizes for "Black Panther" #3 Shipping Delays - Brenda McGurik - Comic Book Resources
• May 20: Run the Jewels Get Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Black Panther Cover - Matthew Strauss - Pitchfork
• May 19: Ta-Nehisi Coates's Black Panther is superhero success story - Alison Flood - The Guardian
• May 16: Best Shots Reviews: Black Panther #2 - Robert Reed - Newsarama
• May 16: Ta-Nehisi Coates's Black Panther is the year's best-selling comic - Abraham Riesman - Vulture 
• May 16: Black Panther #2 - Marykate Jasper - Comic Book Resources
• May 13: Black Panther #2 Opens Dialogues Without Bolstering Opinions -  Arpad Okay - Doom Rocket
• May 13: Coates & Stelfreeze's "Black Panther" #1 Tops April's Direct Market Sales Charts - Stephen Gerding - Comic Book Resources
• May 13: Black Panther Is The Best Selling Comic In April 2016 - Rich Johnston - Bledding Cool
• May 12: Ta-Nehisi Coates talks everything that makes Black Panther cool - Rob Dean - A. V. Club
• May 12: Ta-Nehisi Coates Explores His Vision For Wakanda Backed By Run The Jewels  - Kieran Shiach - Comics Alliance
• May 12: Is Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Black Panther Too Opaque to Love? - Alexander Jones - Comics Beat
• May 11: Black Panther #2 - Jideobi Odunze - Geeked Out Nation
• May 11: Review: BLACK PANTHER #2 - Allen Thomas - Comicosity
• May 8: In Light Of Civil War, Black Panther #1 Sells For $20, Even Though Marvel Printed Over 300,000 Of Them - Rich Johnston - Bleeding Cool
• May 5: T’Challa stands up for his people in Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Black Panther #2 - Oliver Sava - A.V. Club
• May 5: Why Black Panther’s Debut in Captain America: Civil War Is So Important - Eliana Dockterman - Time
• May 4: Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet - Dan Wickline - Bleeding Cool
• May 3: Ta-Nehisi Coates to Narrate 'Black Panther' Marvel Recaps - Borys Kit - The Hollywood Reporter
• April 26: Son of the Black Panther - Jonathan W. Gray - New Republic
• April 14: Where Does Black Panther Fall on the Prose-to-Comics Learning Curve? - Shea Hennum - Paste
• April 14: In praise of trying to like Ta-Nehisi Coates’ mediocre Black Panther #1 - Noah Berlatsky - Random Nerds
• April 13: Love, Duty and Politics: Ta-Nehisi Coates Takes on Marvel’s Black Panther - Jason Johnson - The Root
• April 12: Black Panther, Marvel's First Black Superhero, Is Now the Star of the Year's Most Important Comic - Joshua Rivera - GQ
• April 11: Marvel's Black Panther, Wakandan Colors and the Forgotten Warrior - Joseph Phillip Illidge - Comic Book Resources
• April 10: Black Panther’s artist and editor on diversity in comics and relaunching the iconic superhero  - Anthony Ha - Tech Crunch 
• April 9: Black Panther #1 Review - Brian Cronin - Comic Book Resources
• April 8: Black Panther Is Back And - Martha Thomases - ComicMix
• April 8: How Coates, Smith, and Other Celebs Learned to Write Comic Books - Abraham Riesman - Vulture 
• April 8: The Battle for Wakanda Begins - Alexander Jones - The Comics Beat
• April 8: Ta-Nehisi Coates' 'Black Panther' Rules - Giaco Furino - The Creators Project
• April 8: Black Panther #1 And Empress #1 Sell Out - Rich Johnston - Bleeding Cool
• April 8: Coates’ 'Black Panther' Comic Book is Already Winning - Sydney Scott - Essence
• April 8: Ta-Nehisi Coates's Black Panther review - Isaac Butler - The Guardian 
• April 7: Everything you need to know before reading Black Panther - Charles Pulliam-Moore - Fusion
• April 7: Black Panther #1: The Dora Milaje Come Center Stage - L. E. H. Light - Black Nerd Problems 
• April 7: Coates’s Black Panther: A Powerful Symbol for the Black Lives Matter Generation - Stereo Williams - The Daily Beast
• April 7: Ta-Nehisi Coates' 'Black Panther' a Smart Take on Classic Hero - Abby Olcese - Sojourners
• April 6: Review: Black Panther #1 - Allen Thomas - Comicosity
• April 6: Black Panther and Ta-Nehisi Coates: What You Need To Know About These Two? - Maria Lileth Abejuela - The Bitbag
• April 6: Ta-Nehisi Coates' 'Black Panther': 5 Comic Runs to Help Understand the New Storyline - Graeme McMillan - The Hollywood Reporter
• April 6: Ta-Nehisi Coates Hopes 'Black Panther' Will Be Some Kid's 'Spider-Man' - NPR
• April 6: More from Ta-Nehisi Coates on Black Panther - Evan Narcisse - TMI
• April 6: Ta-Nehisi Coates Annotates His Black Panther Debut - Abraham Riesman - Vulture 
• April 6: Coates & Stelfreeze's "Black Panther" #1 Teases the Return of a Major Character - Meagan Damore - Comic Book Resources
• April 6: Ta-Nehisi Coates: 'Politics Are in the Background' for 'Black Panther' Reboot - Sameer Rao - Colorlines
• April 6: Marvel's New Black Panther Comic Will Surely Attract Hip Hop Fans - William Ketchum III - HipHopDX
• April 6: Marvel’s Editor on What You Need to Know About Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Black Panther - Eliana Dockterman - Time
• April 6: Marvel's Editor-in-Chief on Black Panther, superheroes of color - WBEZ
• April 6: Coates Is Trying To Do Right By Marvel Comics’ First Black Superhero - Evan Narcisse - Kotaku
• April 6: Ta-Nehisi Coates Fights the Power--Literally--with Black Panther - Mark Yarm - Wired
• April 6: Coates’s new Black Panther comic provides a debut fit for a king - David Betancourt - Washington Post
• April 6: Wakanda Gets Its Own Batman In Black Panther #1 - Rich Johnson - Bleeding Cool
• April 6:  Coates reimagines the Black Panther - Ty Burr - Boston Globe
• April 6: Black Panther by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze is brilliant.. -  Alex Abad-Santos - Vox

• April 5: Baltimore native Coates' 'Black Panther' comic out Wednesday - Quinn Kelley - Baltimore Sun 
•  April 5: Black Panther: the Wakanda story we've all been waiting for -  Gavia Baker-Whitelaw  - The Daily Dot
• April 5: Coates on ‘Black Panther’ and Creating a Comic That Reflects Black Experience - J. A. Micheline - Vice
• April 5: Wakanda has seen better days - Jesse Schedeen - IGN 

• April 5: Coates leads Black Panther comic for new readers - Scott A. Rosenberg and Ivan Pereira - AM New York
• April 5: Pull List Roundtable 4/6/2016 – Black Panther #1, Rough Riders #1, etc. - Mike Maillaro - InsidePulse
• April 5: Black Panther writer says new comic run is about 'the organization of power' - Trent Moore - Blastr 
• April 5: Marvel's Black Panther Leaps Higher In Highly Anticipated Comic Launch  - William E. Ketchum III - Ebony
• April 5: Black Panther #1: Politics, War, Identity, and Love - Jamie Broadnax - Black Girl Nerds
• April 4: Best Shots Advance Review: Black Panther #1 - Robert Reed - Newsarama
• April 4: Ta-Nehisi Coates opens up about Black Panther reboot - Brendan Gauthier - Salon
• April 4: A Conflicted Man: An Interview With Ta-Nehisi Coates About Black Panther - Jonathan Gray - New Republic
• April 4: Coates’ “Black Panther” Is Ushering Us Into The Age Of T’Challa - Alanna Bennett - BuzzFeed
• April 4: Coates’ New ‘Black Panther #1’ Is ‘Black as Hell’ - Darryl Holliday - In These Times
• April 4: Brian Stelfreeze Breathes Life Into the 'Black Panther' - Khal – Complex
• April 4: Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Black Panther is a human drama about power - Kwame Opam - The Verge
• April 4: Black Panther #1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates & Brian Stelfreeze - Toussaint Egan - Paste Magazine
• April 4: The New Black Panther Comic Is Off to an Amazing Start - James Whitbrook - io9
• April 4: Black Panther #1 - Matt Little - Comic Book Resources
• April 1: Take an early Peek at Marvel Comics Black Panther - Eric Alt - Co.Create
• March 31: Ta-Nehisi Coates Helps a New Panther Leave Its Print - Robert Ito - New York Times
• March 30: Marvel's new Black Panther comic series launches in April - Maggie Galehouse – Chron
• March 27: The Sadly Uncontroversial First Black Superhero in a Comic Book – Patrick Hamilton and Allan Austin - History News Network
• March 18: Black Panther #1 To Sell Over 300k - Jamie Lovett - Comic Book
• March 18: Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Upcoming Black Panther Debut Is Already a Sales Hit - Abraham Riesman - Vulture
• March 15: Ta-Nehisi Coates promises 'dramatic upheaval' in new Black Panther comic series - Alison Flood - The Guardian
• March 15: Ta-Nehisi Coates & Brian Stelfreeze’s Black Panther #1 - Alex Yarde - The Good Men Project
• March 13: Black Panther Series to Be Rebooted and Written By Coates - Khari Clarke - The Source
• March 9: Ta-Nehisi Coates' First 'Black Panther' Pages Released - Graeme McMillan - The Hollywood Reporter
• March 9: A Look At The First Six Pages Of Black Panther - Rich Johnston - Bleeding Cool

Jay Z's The Black Album (sampling sources)

By Kenton Rambsy

This post is part of our "Sampling & Signifying: The Music of Jay Z" series. 

The Black Album
Release Date: November 14, 2003

1. “Interlude” (Runtime: 1:22)
Producer: Just Blaze
Sound Effect/Other:
• “ Dizzy ” by Hugo Montenegro (1969)
• “ Rebirth” by Gershon Kingsley (1970)

2. "December 4th" (Runtime: 4:32)
Producer: Just Blaze
Instrumentation and Composition:
• “ That's How Long” by Chi-Lites (1974)
Vocals/Lyrics:
• “ Insane in the Brain ” by Cypress Hill (1993)

3. "What More Can I Say" (Runtime: 4:55)
Producer: The Buchanans
Instrumentation and Composition:
• “ Something for Nothing” by MFSB (1973)
Vocals/Lyrics:
• “ Keep Your Hands High ” by Tracey Lee feat. The Notorious B.I.G. (1997)
• “ The World Is Yours” by Nas (1994)
• “ Are You Not Entertained?” by Gladiator- Movie (2000)

Jay Z's Blueprint 2 (sampling sources)

By Kenton Rambsy

This post is part of our "Sampling & Signifying: The Music of Jay Z" series.

The Blueprint 2
Release Date: November 12, 2002

The Gift

1."A Dream" (Feat. The Notorious B.I.G & Faith Evans) (Runtime: 4:12)
Producer: Kanye West
Instrumentation and Composition:
• “ Stay” by Blackjack (1980)
Vocals/Lyrics:
• “Juicy” by The Notorious B.I.G. feat. Total (1994)
Drums:
• “ The Rainmaker” by The 5th Dimension (1971)

2. "Hovi Baby" (Runtime: 4:21)
Producer: Just Blaze
Hook/Riff:
• “ Diggin' on You (L.A.'S Live Remix)” by TLC (1995)

3."The Watcher 2" (Feat. Dr. Dre, Rakim & Truth Hurts) (Runtime: 5:55)
Producer: Scott Storch & Dr. Dre
Instrumentation and Composition:
• “ The Watcher” by Dr. Dre (1999)

Amiri Baraka and Tyehimba Jess: on the Music and Musicians

Back in October 2005, we hosted Amiri Baraka for a couple of readings here at SIUE. Late one evening at Eugene Redmond's home, Baraka and I had a conversation about contemporary poetry. He wanted to know who and what I was teaching. I informed him that the book at the top of my list was the recently published Leadbelly by Tyehimba Jess.

Baraka said that someone had just sent him a copy. "You should read it," I said, somewhat surprising myself by telling the Amiri Baraka what he should be reading. He said he would read it when he returned home.

A month after Baraka's visit, I hosted a reading by Jess on campus. I had already been thinking about the links between the two poets, but witnessing them give readings on campus a month apart solidified things for me. They are both dynamic readers, and deeply inspired by the histories of black music and musicians. 

I'm more inclined to place Baraka in the category of jazz poetry and Jess in the realm of blues poetry, though of course Baraka has produced considerable blues poems. With Baraka, I tend to think about his individual poems on select musicians. Conversely, Leadbelly and now Olio prompt me to think about how Jess produces a series of interrelated poems on a single figure.   

Taken together, Baraka and Jess have given my students and me much to consider concerning black history and culture, music and musicians, and the convergence of poetry and performance. 

Related:
• A Notebook on Amiri Baraka 
• A Notebook on Tyehimba Jess