SONGS IN THE KIA OF LIFE

"Music is love in search of the right words." --Sidney Lanier

About a month ago I was on my way home from a Jamaican restaurant, when a young lady, who probably won her driver’s license at a Ray Charles dart tossing contest, ran into the driver’s side door of my (now two-door) Acura Legend. Upon impact, my Omar CD skipped uncontrollably, while the Jerk Chicken (with extra gravy) hit the windshield. Lady Charles had three kids in the car (and one on the way). Her Boo seated next to her,jumped out the car--and I'm thinking he wants to add some beef. Instead he looked at the accident, then gave me the head nod, and went into I-HOP and never returned. And, I thought I was the one that wanted to choke her. Man marriage must be rough in these parts. Anyway, Sister Charles (thankfully) had State Farm insurance. And, in two days (on of them being a Sunday) they set me up in a fully loaded, KIA Sportage. Did I mention this was a KIA?

I asked the Enterprise Rental attendant, is a KIA all that you have? He said, yep, you'll love it. Okay, so now I am really pissed. In desperate need of a level-headed thinker to calm things down, I called my cousin Stephanie, who lives in Athens. Hell if you are black and live in Athens, Ga. you have to own a level head right? Besides, I figured I should inform a close relative of this pending beat down at the rent-a-car spot. And, I know Steph is the one relative that would bail me out with minimal questions. But, before I finished the story, (I got to the part about the KIA Sportage) Stephanie starts laughing louder than the AM radio. After three days of sporting the Sportage; I couldn’t take it anymore. I went back to Enterprise and said.., come on man, a Sportage? This time I had a brotha, who said I understand (you had an Ac), so I am going to give you an upgrade (as if you could be down graded from a KIA). I said cool. What’s the upgrade? He said a KIA Amanti. Any minute I was expecting the PUNKED cameras to put an end to this foolishness, then I remembered that I am a celebrity in name only.

When the attendant came back with the “upgrade.” He jumped out the new whip and says (with a straight face): this is KIA’s answer to the E-Class Mercedes. I said; my man, if this is the answer, what the hell was the question? In all fairness, the KIA headlights were the mirror image of the old Benz’ headlamps. So much so, that I pulled into a gas station and this dude pushing a stone-cold S-Class was right next to me. He was parking a black-on-black, cromed-up, 5 double O.. it was SICK. Anyway, he slid out the whip with his hand extended, ready to dap me up on my new Benz-looking whip. But as he walked closer, he caught a glance at the now visible KIA logo and withdrew the dap. He kept walking... I think he even smirked! Punk.
Too tired to put up with much more of this insanity, I simply turned up the heat on the KIA seats, then loaded five of the dopest CDs I own. This five (I feel) should be in everyone s collection: Listen Up:

Jewels – The Self Outside Project
If you like The Roots, then climb on board and ride with this independent label sensation. The virbrant lyrics and live music is simply sick. This is the ultimate driving vibe--no matter what your pushing. Jewels is bred from the VA and the CD made sitting in a KIA seem cool--the tinted windows helped too. One listen and you’ll search their archives for prior releases like: Sunz of Soul; The Situation, Anonanas and Truth Thru Fiction. One of the best kept secrets from the Commonwealth; along with my girl Joye B. Moore who will be a household name one day.

Esthero - Wikked Lil' Grrrls
You really cannot go wrong with any of Esthero's joints, but this one is pure hotness. This yet another one of Toronto's finest kept secrets, with timeless music and endless energy. She has a UK feel, an urban sound, and a Hip Hop groove. If you don’t like this joint, you should probably lease a KIA.... with 22's.

Omar – For Pleasure
There are three things I leave my house with: My keys, an alibi and an Omar disc. If I'm heading to Athens, you can add the 9mm glock to that list. In case you just met me, this is BY FAR my favorite artist. I played this For Pleasure CD at a cosmetology school in Decatur, Ga., and one of the students asked me what language was he speaking. If you are ever in south side of Decatur, Ga., keep driving.

Bob Marley & The Wailers – Rastaman Vibration
I believe this CD was Hip Hop before Hip Hop ever had a name. Classic in every literal sense of the word. This is the best of the Marley collection…even the Decatur students vibed to this one--and I know they had no idea of Marley's vibration. Every Jamaican household has this joint (on some format or the other), along with a picture of the Last Supper and a calendar with the wrong date showing.

Zaki Ibrahim – Once Black America understands that female soul extends far beyond the likes of Alicia, Mary, Faith, and Kelly they'll embrace the world vibes of this eclectic wonder. I could not think of a better place to start my trip than right here with another Roots inspired sister (she, like Esthero, is actually white from Canada too). The Toronto-bred Zaki has a down-tempo, acid soul style that strokes the essence of the heart.. Just close your eyes and picture a funky version of SADE.

T-Mobile wish they had a "five" like this. Now that I've turned in the KIA and got the Ac back..., the Legend continues.

1 love,
Ray Lewis

THE B SIDE

The beautiful thing about hip-hop is it's like an audio collage. You can take any form of music and do it in a hip-hop way and it'll be
a hip-hop song. That's the only music you can do that with.

--Talib Kweli

One night while channel searching, I stopped on CNN. I was frozen stiff when I witnessed Paula Zahn asking a Baptist preacher: “What's wrong with Hip Hop music?” And, to think, all this time I thought TBS was Turner’s comedy network. Watching Zahn analyze Hip Hop music is sort of like asking Ron Isley to do your taxes, while R. Kelly is watching the kids. Zahn wouldn’t know Kurtis Blow from a Clinton escapade. The industry word on the street (okay, my friend in New York) says: Zahn gained her Hip Hop credibility from the fact that Russell Simmons watches her show. Well, I sometimes watch HGTV; does that mean I want to date Tim Hardaway? Someone has to put an end to this foolishness—naturally, I volunteered.


I may be the only person on the post side of 40 that simply refuses to watch Hip Hop music get pilfered by the masses like Jazz, Reggae, and Rhythm and Blues. Sometimes I feel like a one gun army and I am ready to fight to the end. Man, my kids are in trouble. Let’s face it, my kids may never learn to solve for X, but they will certainly know who Big Bank Hank is. Maybe I’ll adopt.

Believe it or not I like Paula Zahn; in fact some of my best friends are white. You’d think one of my friends at CNN would tap Zahn on the ass like a Tip Drill Video or (more realistically) whisper in her earpiece: Zahn if you want to know what’s up with Hip Hop music, why don’t you ask: Chuck, Mos, Talib, Kris or Esco? Mos would probably point you in the direction of his latest joint “True Magic”. Now I would not expect Paula Zahn to flip that in her changer, but the fact that most black people couldn’t do that either is probably the root cause of TRUE Hip Hop music becoming a resident on a respirator.

Forget no ass Zahn, one day I was listening to The Tom Joyner Morning Show (what can I tell you traffic in Atlanta is just that bad). In any event, Joyner and New York-based Jackie Reid were having a similar debate about the decline of Hip Hop music (thank God for Black History Month). Reid attributed the decline to degrading lyrics (how deep); while Joyner blamed the 21% decline to pirating and bootlegging. Oddly neither thought to scan Uncle Thomas’ play list. Maybe HBCU's is where the fighting on that show ends—I just wish Hip Hop music wasn’t the formatted sacrifice.

And now for the featured presentation:

Reasonable Doubt June 1996, Jay-Z
Roc-A-Fella Records / Priority Records

Iconic is probably the best adjective to describe this Hip Hop classic. If you ever wondered why Jay gets a pass for all the commercial corniness from here to the first Blueprint—look no further than Reasonable Doubt. The Black Album the world’s first rap artist retirement party underscores this fact.

Right from the start, Mistress of Hip Hop, Mary J. stamps her Queen of Soul hook on “Can’t Knock The Hustle.” One track later Brooklyn Buddy Biggie rips a few verses—fresh from his two-year "Ready To Die" debut. Biggie's tag team with Jigga on Brooklyn’s Finest is about as close as you’ll ever come to a neighborhood anthem. The rest of this Hip Hop masterpiece depicts a rags to riches victory second only to that of John F. Kennedy’s White House run. Hip Hop enthusiast will argue that this time America killed the wrong president.

1 love,

Ray Lewis