Still Spittin’: Rah Digga Interview

In an environment where image and visibility are as vital as an artist’s output, allowing ten years to pass before delivering new material to a fickle audience can be considered assisted suicide. A fan’s deaf ears and blind eyes amass dust as swiftly as a shelved album and undoubtedly ensure label limbo in the afterlife.

On the other hand, an emcee with the ability to “spit a million rhymes in 240 seconds” can remain relevant when everyone else has long been forgotten. Rah Digga is that class of emcee and Soul Culture recently spoke with her about her Classic album, giving back to the community and why loving your craft is ultimately more important than sales. Read more

At Your Best: What Made Aaliyah A Great Singer

“So who is your favourite vocalist/artist/singer male and female?”

That’s the question that is fired out in most interviews. Sometimes it gets jazzed up, for example “Who would you most like to work with?” but the essence of the question is the same.

I think on it for a minute and then the usual answers come out..

“Male… I’d have to say Marvin Gaye or Stevie Wonder… And Female… Aaliyah”.
And it’s at this point I’m usually met with a blank stare, followed by the statement “Aaliyah? Really??”

Yes, REALLY.

Let’s skip past the formulaic R. Kelly offerings of “Back’n’Forth”, “Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number” etc..

The Aaliyah we know and now miss came into existence when she teamed up with Missy Elliott and Timbaland, in my opinion. It was a partnership on the same scale as that of Jam and Lewis working with Janet Jackson. They didn’t just come up with songs or grooves; they came with a style unique to the artist, which is what all great teams deliver.

Like Janet, her voice wasn’t the strongest or most powerful. So why was she – why is she still to this day my favourite? Read more

Kelly Price Returns: Letting Go Of Failure, Fear and Depression | Interview

R&B music in the mid-to-late ’90s was heavily dominated by make-up to break-up songs with soft beats and smooth melodies by the likes of Babyface, Aaron Hall, Blackstreet and Dru Hill, with Keith Sweat, R. Kelly and Mariah Carey dominating the airwaves. Mention the name Kelly Price and expect to recall a string of hits and chart-topping singles.

“Friend Of Mine” (ft. Ronald Isley and R. Kelly), “You Should Have Told Me” and of course the R&B classic “Heartbreak Hotel,” with singing legend Whitney Houston and Faith Evans, are to name only a few of the great work done by the multi-talented mother.

With a new self-titled album on the way in 2010, Soul Culture recently spoke with Kelly on her four-year break from the charts, weight loss, her new album and her admiration for Diddy. Read more

BP In Deep Water: A Bird’s-Eye View Of The Oil Spill

For the past four months, a grandiose ecological problem exists in the waters located in the Gulf of Mexico. On April 20, 2010, the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill took place in the Gulf of Mexico. British Petroleum (BP) has claimed responsibility for this environmental disaster, but has blamed Transocean Ltd. and Halliburton for their hand in building the rig and the well casing exploding and causing the oil to leak out into the Gulf at an unfathomable estimate of 100,000 barrels a day.

BP has a long history of committing transgressions against nature sanctuaries and paying dubious fines for their disregard of policies and regulations protecting these valuable commodities. Mother Jones Magazine named BP as one of the “ten worst corporations” in 2001 and 2005 based on its environmental and human rights records.

According to Sharon Beder, ‘bp: Beyond Petroleum?’ in Battling Big Business: Countering greenwash, infiltration and other forms of corporate bullying, “In 1991, BP was cited as the most polluting company in the US based on EPA toxic release data. In July 2000, BP paid a $10 million fine to the EPA for its management of its US refineries.”

According to PIRG research, “between January 1997 and March 1998, BP was responsible for 104 oil spills in the Arctic alone.”

As recently as October 2007, four BP energy traders in Houston were charged with manipulating prices of propane and as a result they settled with the US government for a record breaking $303 million.

How are they still in business? Read more

Mystro: Comedic Spurts, Thesaurus Flow | Interview

As much as the no-nonsense, super lyrical rappers are applauded, what most Hip Hoppers love is someone who isn’t afraid to tickle one’s funny bones; someone who can also give us a good laugh amidst the breathless flows and Thesaurus referenced wordplay.

It’s these attributes which have indefinitely made Mystro one of the most admired UK spitters of today. With a career spanning over ten years, the microphone assassin has enough lyrical capabilities to wow all – yet it is his charismatic approach and effortless flow which distances him from the chasing pack.

As the release of his Digmund Freud EP approaches, Mystro sat down with SoulCulture to discuss the growth of UK Hip Hop and its general shift towards a more commercial sound, his views on the listeners’ individual roles in influencing which music becomes popular and flexing his presenting skills away from music on Spine TV.

SoulCulture: Can you identify one difference between UK Hip Hop now and when you first came out some years ago?

Mystro: When I first came out, I’d say there wasn’t very much of it [Hip Hop] as there is now. I really remember London Posse, Cookie Crew, Silver Bullet - all those kind of artists at the time were Read more

Filling A Void In The Industry: Arrested Development Interview

Since the group’s founding in 1988, Arrested Development has been blessing the world with their infectious melodies and grooves. Their first album, 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days…in the Life was released in 1992. The album’s title was a reflection on how long it took them to establish a record deal.  During the same year, they became one of the major success stories in the music industry.

Founded in Atlanta by rapper Speech and DJ Headliner, the group were described by Rolling Stone as a “progressive rap collective fusing soul, blues, Hip Hop, and Sly & the Family Stone-influenced funk with political, socially conscious lyrics.” At that time, they mutually agreed to make the transition to a more positive, Afrocentric theme after hearing the legendary Public Enemy.

This album went onto spawn the hit single “Tennessee,” a strongly spiritual track that hit #7 on the US pop charts and #3 on the R&B charts and sparked the album to sell over four million copies. The two follow-up singles, “People Everyday” (a rewrite of Sly and the Family Stone’s “Everyday People”) and “Mr. Wendal” performed extraordinarily well. With accolades pouring in from all sides, Arrested Development ended up winning Grammys for Best Rap Album and Best New Artist, going on to be named Rolling Stone’s Band of the Year. After breaking up in 1996, the group reunited in 2000 and since then they’ve been releasing music internationally.

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of speaking to Speech, co-founding member of Arrested Development about what the group has been up to recently and to speak on their brand new album, Strong. Read more

Neo Soul Pigeon-holes, Online Connections & Dirty Laundry: SoulCulture Interviews Dwele

Four albums deep and on the promo run for his latest LP, W.ants W.orld W.omen, this week SoulCulture caught up with a certain Mr Andwele “Dwele” Gardner.

He needs little introduction; something of a figurehead for today’s Soul music – “neo” or otherwise – the Detroit-based singer, songwriter and producer became a staple voice in the next soul wave ever since his first single “Find A Way” dropped in 2003 from his debut release on Virgin Records, Subject.

Today’s subjects are the pros and cons of being accessible online – namely, how the singer reacts to blunt fan feedback on Twitter and how social networking sites present useful opportunities for him to connect with those who’d like to work with him, with no other means of contacting him.

He also talks about his feelings on watching the current sagas among his friends and several time collaborators Slum Village unfold publicly online.

But first, we start with the new album…. Read more

“America is beat up, confused”: Antoine Fuqua Interview

On the eve of the worldwide release of Brooklyn’s Finest, SoulCulture’s Hugo Salvaterra delved into the cinematic motivations of director Antoine Fuqua – exploring why he wants to tell us another Street story and its contrast with other projects, his choice of actors and his perspective on America. From Hollywood L.A. to London, let’s gets into Antoine Fuqua’s mind…

Hugo Salvaterra: First of all, after the success of Training Day why another movie in the same genre, why would you want to explore that again after all the accolades that you got?

Antoine Fuqua: Read more

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