SOUL SESSIONS Vol. 5

profit 💣f Rage

As the analog clock tiptoed towards 5am the Soundview residents were awakened to the early morning squealing of the 1947 elevator doors that raddled the 12-story, 225 door apartment building like a prison lockdown was taking place — in some ways it was.   All of the sardine-packed renters experienced the same mundane morning miseries...., hurrying through the whiskey-aromatic halls, to catch a rundown jail elevator, only to arrive in the graffiti-tagged lobby and finally exiting through two 22-foot steel doors that opened to the brisk morning dew.  

During the first leg of the rat race you could almost taste the coffee & bagels that slipped through the bodega’s iron gates. There weren't much chatter during the morning hustle.  The silence of the morning ritual is only interrupted by the clicking heels and toes of the mostly immigrant population that took turns tapping the concrete sidewalks trying not to miss the 5:44 train to Manhattan. 

Like most mornings, the sounds of the sanitation street sweepers sprinkled suds for the alternate side of street cleaning, while the buses and gypsy cabs wove pass the working-class sprinters and hurdlers who dodged each other like a cat’s tail in a room full of rocking chairs.  Such was life in the birthplace of Hip Hop.  

As dinner time approached, something started to feel a bit different.  Sure Charlie “C-Rock” Richardson was playing his massive boom box disturbing many of the three thousand tenants.  That was fairly routine.  Rock’s exaggerated—downright fictional—tales about his ‘hood chicks, cars, & crimes were pretty typical..., humorous too. 
Nonetheless, something felt a bit different.  I certainly remember the unusual pounding rain that blurred the sight of the shinny Pelham Bay-bound 6 train. In fact, it was the hammering rain that kept our crew nailed inside the urine-stained halls for countless hours slappin' knees to ‘Rock’s legendary tales.

About hour or so into the frolicking, John “G-L-O-B-E” Miller emerged from the 174th street side of the building.  John dapped the crew up, then handed C-Rock a raw sounding cassette.  It was a recording of the latest park jam that John’s crew, The Soul Sonic Force performed over the weekend.   John always had the "exclusives."  At this point, the graffiti covered hallways were echoing at a fever-pitch...,blaring the single of a soon-to-be megahit (one that I will reveal later).  Now the entire first floor hallways were littered with random residents and onlookers, who pushed & shoved their way into a somewhat neat semicircle to watch the impromptu break-dancing session that ensued.  It’s amazing that this level of raw entertainment was born in the halls of a blue collared, high-rised, hell-hole.

Perhaps, some of these indescribable moments were even captured on videotape…  after all [no one knew this at the time], a few short years later, it was uncovered that the Bronx River Housing Projects were the first housing projects in America to be placed under 24-hour police watch – thanks in large part to a pompous, punk-assed, politician named Rudy Giuliani.

It wasn’t until C-Rock’s 6-speaker boom box batteries failed that the crowd began to disburse into a disappointing haze..., as there was no clear winner to announce.  It was always hard to identify a winner in the projects.  But, as entertaining as the breakdancing battle was, there was still an unusual fog that clogged the halls and the city streets.  In fact, the rain continued to pound the pavement for hours and, to-date, May 11th, 1981, still stands as one of the wettest days in NYC history…
And it wasn’t long before the rainy Monday night turned into a tsunami…, of tears.  

WBLS' Frankie Crocker I Dionne Warwick I Bob Marley 

C-Rock had long ejected the Soul Sonic Force tape that John slid him earlier; he tuned the jumbo radio to W-B-L-S 107.5 fm.  Rock flipped the dial just in time to hear the iconic DJ, the Chief Rocker Frankie Crocker’s crumbling announcement that Reggae legend Bob Marley passed away.  The crew sat and stared into an unplanned huddle of silence.  All of the roaring laugher and frolicking completely stopped.  Our heads dipped like someone was about to perform the eulogy.  You see..., in many ways those hallway patrons felt Bob Marley was the father that gave birth to the rebellious Hip Hop culture that was just bubbling in the Bronx.  As such it felt like a part of Hip Hop died in the delivery room.  

It would be extremely difficult to build a Mount Rushmore of music legends that did not include the Trench Town messiah Robert Nesta Marley.   It would be downright blasphemous to build a record collection that every black household should have and not include Rastaman Vibration.
More on that in a second.

Bob Marley & The Wailers ⧫Rastaman Vibration ⧫ Island Records ⧫ April 1976

Very much like Hip Hop's early foundation, Reggae music is this rich combination of deep African drums and raw uncut melodies, sprinkled with Jamaica's inner city emotions and unleasshed through the lens of this Third World soothsayer.   It's interesting to walk the urban streets and peek through the  corporate suites to witness the sea of dreadlock hairdos.   Conversely, in the 50's & 60's  when you saw dreadlocks in Jamaica it signified a way of life.  A life that Rastafarians would rather die for than to simply grow for fashion’s sake.  The poster child for this Caribbean cruise movement is Bob Marley.  There are enough books, movies and documentaries that will highlight Marley’s amazing legacy, but not enough has been said about this 35-minute masterpiece -- but that's about to change.

"Roots, Rock Reggae" is probably the first time that Marley made a song aiming directly for the pop chart's satisfaction.  That fact speaks to the "karaoke-like" appeal of that song.  However if you purchase this LP looking for THAT sort of vibe..., you were in for a rude [boy] awakening! 

The pop vibe completely vanished on "Johnny Was" which is a song about a stranger that stopped to comfort a woman who lost her son to a senseless street shooting.  The stranger is attempting to help the grieving mother understand that there is life after death.  The woman, who continues to weep, wasn't able to see pass the obviousness and the injustice of moment. 

And..., Bob’s biblical biopic is just getting warm my friends!  

My National Anthem is "Crazy Baldhead" which sounds like a slave’s manifesto.

"Build your penitentiary/we build your schools/Brainwash education/To make us the fools/Hate is your reward for our love/Telling us of your God above..."

I remember listening to this song on my way to a job interview.  The lesson isn’t how terrible the interview went.  The more obscure message is how fortunate this nation is that black people are able to navigate  through this society without demanding the level of retribution that the mom on "Johnny Was" would've applauded.

Haile Selassie I 

The temperature on Rastaman Vibration ignites to an Inferno on second half of the LP with "War."   

If this single sounds like a press conference it's because it was literally ripped—Public Enemy style—from a speech made by Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie I.  This single is still laced in a tangled web of Prince-like controversies—the least of which is..., who deserves the credit for writing the song/speech.   And, if the song credit wasn't enough..., 16 years later, an Irish singer named Sinéad O'Connor would perform a selfie-styled remix of "War" on NBC’s Saturday Night Live.  O’Conner changed the lyrics to "highlight" child abuse instead of the original theme of the single which was racism.  You would think she'd stop there.  At the end of her performance, O’Conner tore in half a picture of (then) Pope John Paul to signify her disdain for the Catholic Church and their priests' involvement in child abuse.  

At this point this 1976 Rasta record could’ve wrapped here and still be considered a cultural classic.  But, one could make a very strong case that the needle hasn't touched the vinyl surface of the two best singles.  Marley saved the real rebellious beats of "Rat Race" and "Who the Cap Fits" for the newborn babies in the Bronx....,  and just like the tape that G-L-O-B-E handed C-Rock..., these two singles continue to "Rock the Planet."

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Ray Lewis