Consig's Corner: A Weekly Column

I don’t know what it is, but I can’t really remember a time when mixtapes were more prominent than now. A lot of people, to me, have run after 50’s model of doing other artists’ songs and beats over. Drake might not like it, but I liked it then, and I love it now. 50 may be the king of this model, but other artists are definitely doing their thing with re-doing other artists’ songs and making them into their own. This takes a lot of creativity. Maybe you want to sound like the original song, and maybe you don’t.

Easily one of the most anticipated albums of the decade, D’Angelo’s James River is expected to be released (fingers crossed) some point this year. Nearly ten years in the making, it is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Voodoo, released in 2000 to rave reviews by listeners and industry professionals alike. The rumors surrounding its content and structure, the reclusiveness of the artist, as well as a myriad of legal troubles have propelled the album to an almost mythical status. Rarely making any appearances since 2000, refusing to give interviews and issuing virtually no solo material, D’Angelo himself remains shrouded in mystery. Over the past ten years the focus has shifted from his art to his many legal battles, yet what we have heard from him has been nothing short of phenomenal. In 2006, he contributed to J Dilla’s The Shining, performing with Common on the track entitled “So Far to Go”. In 2008, he lent his voice to Q-Tip’s The Renaissance, singing the chorus on “Believe”.  Seen by many as the one man to stand alone with the likes of Marvin Gaye and Al Greene, James River is anticipated by fans the world over more than the second coming of Christ. Not too surprising coming from an artist rock critic Robert Christgau has dubbed “The R & B Jesus”.

Five years after Katrina, Louisiana hit by oil spill

On April 19th, the Louisiana coastline was filled with annual visitors enjoying the beauty of its beaches. Little did anyone know that in just 24 hours an explosion at an offshore drilling rig would transform the coastline into an ecological crisis of historical proportions.

As the flames bellowed into the air from BP’s oil rig, the Deepwater Horizon, the U.S. Coast Guard scrambled to rescue over 100 workers from the platform, 17 of them injured and taken to hospitals. 11 workers went missing, and a search-and-rescue mission was underway to try to locate them.

While we applaud the efforts to rescue BP’s workers, what is being done to rescue Louisiana from another catastrophe that in many ways is unrecoverable?

I often wonder what the Notorious B.I.G. thinks about some of the things that take place in the industry today, so I decided to do a weekly column about what some of his thoughts might include.  No better day to introduce the column then on the birthday of Christopher Wallace.  I mean no disrespect by the column, just a Brooklyn legend's thoughts transcribed through a Brooklyn man.