The Real Reason Whitney Houston was booed at the Soul Train Music Awards

Whitney Houston being interviewed by Don Cornelius on Soul Train.

The year 1989 began as another strong one for singer Whitney Houston. The New Jersey native was celebrating back-to-back multi-platinum albums, including her self-titled debut that sold $15 million copies.
These accomplishments made it all the more shocking to many in the music industry when the “Greatest Love of All” singer received a thunderous jeering when her name was called as a nominee for Best R&B/Urban Contemporary Single –Female at the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards. Many who cover the entertainment industry couldn’t understand how such a popular artist could get booed at just the mention of her name.
Since her death in 2012, many have pontificated on Houston’s musical career. For some, the jeering displayed black music fans’ feeling she wasn’t black enough.

But in order to gain a better understanding as to why Houston was booed at that year’s Soul Train Music Awards, one must thoroughly examine the state of black music at that time, and more importantly the broader black community.
First, music is not only a form of entertainment, but a part of culture. Music that becomes popular during a certain time period reflects the attitudes, politics, and concerns of a generation. Many of the hit songs in the late 1960s and early 1970s dealt with themes of racism, feminism, and the War in Vietnam because those issues were at the forefront of society at that time.  In 1989 Whitney Houston’s style of middle-of-the-road pop, sprinkled with dashes of pre-techno dance music were becoming out of step with black music audiences. By the late 1980s when Houston reached mainstream superstardom, a major shift was happening within African American culture. Black people were becoming more culturally aware again.

Clothing such as Kente cloths, African medallions, and T-shirts with slogans like “You Wouldn’t Understand… It’s a Black Thing” were the latest fashion craze among young African Americans. This new mood of Afrocentrism and semi-militancy was mostly driven by the growing popularity of rap music. The once fledgling art form that started in the South Bronx in the mid-70s had grown into the leading voice of young Black America by 1989.
Hip-hop’s influence also began to permeate R&B music. Many R&B artists once looked down at rap as a passing fad that represented the worse in the black community. But as the 80s progressed, younger R&B artists like Keith Sweat and Al B Sure skyrocketed to the top of both the Soul and Pop charts by adding hip hop beats and style to traditional R&B crooning. The joining together of R&B and Rap was dubbed New Jack Swing.  One act that really epitomized the merging of hip hop and R&B was New Edition. The teenage quintet from Boston burst on the music scene in the early 80s combining throwback 1970s Jackson 5-esque doo wop with the emerging rap music. Many of New Edition’s hits featured a rap, primarily by members Ronnie Devoe and Michael Bivins, who would display their emcee talents more prominently in offshoot group Bell Biv Devoe. When Bobby Brown embarked on a solo career after being voted out of New Edition he furthered his hip-hop tendencies on his sophomore album Don’t Be Cruel, which went on to become the biggest selling album of 1989. On songs like the album’s title track and “Every Little Step” Brown would sing in one verse and rap entirely in the next.  Many of the black music artists who became popular at that time either dabbled in a little rapping themselves or hired a bona fide emcee to spit a hot 16 in the middle of their song.

Jody Watley became a huge crossover solo act by the end of the 80s after serving as a secondary member of the group Shalamar. Watley surprised many of her mainstream fans when she invited virtuoso rapper Rakim to rhyme on her single “Friends.”
Janet Jackson also took a similar route by embracing Hip Hop/New Jack Swing aesthetics on her fourth album Rhythm Nation 1814 by featuring hard beats that sounded like it belonged on a Public Enemy or N.W.A. album. The LP also featured lyrics about racism, illiteracy, and social injustice, the very thing rappers like Ice Cube and KRS-One were screaming about on their records. Janet’s videos also featured choreography that was obviously influenced by dance styles that originated in hip hop culture.

By the time Houston arrived at the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards her music contained none of these visuals or sounds. To the mostly young black audience at the award show Houston wasn’t only out of step with the time, but was seen as someone who was culturally unaware. In the late 80s racial incidents such as the Tawana Brawley case and the murder of young African Americans in white New York neighborhoods dominated headlines and songs like “How Will I Know” and “I Want To Dance With Somebody” didn’t address those issues. While her soon-to-be husband’s music didn’t feature lyrical musings on the plight of black people, the fact Brown wore African medallions while singing “My Prerogative” sent a wink and nod to black audiences that “I might not be doing songs like ‘Fight The Power,’ but I’m in solidarity with those who do.”  Brown also used his mainstream success to bring more awareness of hip hop to his audience.  In a 2021 interview with the nationally syndicated radio program The Breakfast Club, rapper Big Daddy Kane said at the end of his concerts Brown would bring Kane, Heavy D, KRS-One, Rakim, and Kool Moe Dee on stage to bust a freestyle.

Houston’s image and music never gave any inclination that she was aware of artists like Public Enemy, what they stood for, or was in agreement with their message.  But in one way Houston was actually a bigger help to the broader black community than her other black musical peers.  Houston was a staunch supporter of Nelson Mandela’s efforts to end apartheid in South Africa, and gave her time and money to support the cause.  She also donated to the United Negro College Fund.  But one must also consider that while rap music was growing in popularity in the 1980s, most rappers weren’t doing the record sales that would have afforded them to be big donors like Houston.

Also in the late 80s/early 90s, artists were being celebrated more for their dancing abilities in their music videos versus their vocal skills on their albums.  Artists who weren’t as vocally gifted as Houston were able to compete with her on the charts because of their dance heavy sound and well choreographed music videos.  The television program In Living Color mocked Houston in a music video parody titled “Rhythmless Nation” making fun that she lacked prowess in the dance department.

Another reason for the loud jeering Houston received was her lack of presence on black radio and television programs. From the get-go, Houston was marketed by music impresario Clive Davis as a mainstream pop star. Houston made her national television debut on The Merv Griffin Show.  Much of the songs she recorded while signed to Davis’ Arista Records could have easily been hits for white artists like Bette Midler, Barbara Streisand, or Celine Dion.  Houston only performed on Soul Train once to promote her debut album. So when she arrived at the Soul Train Music Awards in 1989 it was like having a family member who hadn’t communicated with her loved ones in years and unexpectedly appears at the family reunion looking to be embraced.

Much of this wasn’t Houston’s fault. Davis said in the BBC documentary Soul Deep that he never saw Houston as simply an R&B/Soul artist.  He described her as a pop star with soulful roots.  Davis didn’t put much consideration into the mores and expectations of the black community Houston was a part of, and nurtured her before her rise to fame.  Looking back on this strategy, Davis admitted in his 2013 memoir, The Soundtrack of My Life, that he made a mistake.  “Frankly, I was color-blind, and perhaps a little naïve in that I didn’t try to find pure R&B songs that only black-oriented stations could claim for their own,” Davis recalled.

However, in a 2020 interview on the podcast Truth in Rhythm, former music journalist Nelson George stated that much of the songs Houston sang, especially on her first two albums, were selected by Houston herself and didn’t require much prodding from Clive Davis.  George said he interviewed Houston several times throughout her career.  George said Houston was just as big of a fan of bombastic pop ballads as she was of more soulful sounds.  George added that Houston’s mother, Cissy Houston, didn’t want to see her daughter pigeonholed as being another black R&B singer and was a major influence on her daughter’s song selections.

Critics and music fans shouldn’t only view Houston’s jeering at the Soul Train Music Awards as  another example of some black people’s “crabs in a barrel” mentality, but also as a reluctance on the part of Houston and her team of being aware of the opinions, tastes, and changes in black music in 1989.

Many people weren’t surprised in 2003 when The Chicks, formerly known as the Dixie Chicks, were blacklisted from country music radio after lead singer Natalie Maines criticized then President George W. Bush for invading Iraq.  Country music is a genre known for being popular with mostly rural, white conservatives and for Maines to publicly criticize a sitting Republican president wasn’t going to sit well with most country music fans.  Just as Whitney Houston’s image, sound, and presentation was perceived as troublesome or contradictory to the R&B/Hip Hop fans at the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards.

Saunders goes on musical journey

R&B singer William Saunders at his alma mater, Camden County High School.

When rap superstar Kanye West performed his new single “Ultralight Beam” on “Saturday Night Live” in February 2016, he was joined on stage by several other music artists.

They included gospel recording artist Kirk Franklin of Fort Worth, Texas; rhythm and blues singer Kelly Price of Queens, N.Y.; Chance the Rapper of Chicago; R&B singer The Dream of Atlanta; and dancer Fonzworth Bentley of Atlanta.

Also on stage was William Saunders of Camden County. The 2003 Camden County High School graduate was part of a chorus of singers who provided background vocals for West’s soul-stirring song.

The former Bruin, who got his start singing at New Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, got to demonstrate his vocal chops to the audience at Studio 8H in New York City and the millions watching on TV.

“SNL (Saturday Night Live) was amazing,” Saunders said Saturday, recalling the performance during an interview at his alma mater. “It’s still surreal to me because he’s (Kanye West is) such an amazing person. All of them are – Kelly Price, Chance the Rapper, The Dream, Fonzworth Bentley – they are so amazing artists and amazing people.”

Saunders, 31, said Franklin was especially generous to him and the other singers appearing on the show.

“He (Franklin) would check on us in the green room and ask, ‘Are you guys OK? What do you need help with?’” he recalled. “He’s (Franklin) that humble spirit that people love and enjoy working with.”

Saunders’ opportunity to perform on SNL was spur of the moment. He said a friend who works in the music business sent him a message requesting he be a part of the choir scheduled to perform on the NBC sketch show.

He described the run-up to the performance as hectic. He had to learn the lyrics and choreography in just days.

“We learned choreography we weren’t aware of until the day of (the performance),” said Saunders. “It was a learning experience.”

The SNL performance is just one of many stops Saunders has made since starting his journey to a professional music career.

The rhythm and blues singer has spent the last several years living in the Big Apple working as a background vocalist for several artists and performing in contests, including two stints as a contestant on “Amateur Night” at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.

Saunders just released his debut single “Amazing Love,” available on iTunes. He also gave a solo performance at the Virginia Dare Apartments in Elizabeth City on Saturday night.

But it was his educational aspirations, not his musical ones, that brought him to New York City.

After earning a degree in marketing at N.C. A&T State University in Greensboro, Saunders took a teaching job in Guilford County. But he thought if he went to New York and taught school, it would expose him to a more diverse student body and make him a better educator. He currently teaches business administration at P-Tech STEM School in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Although he had sung in college as a member of A&T’s gospel choir, music was always a side project.

He said it wasn’t until he arrived in New York and one of his co-workers at P-Tech, Zakiyyah Ali, heard him singing in the halls that music became his focus again.

When Ali first suggested he pursue a career as a musician, he said he laughed. But she was serious, and started taking him to local clubs across the city to perform at open mic nights. The nightclub performances would lead to musical gigs in New York.

Unlike many musicians who arrive in New York hoping to get signed to a major label, Saunders plans to remain an independent artist. He said that will allow him to set his own course and develop the style and sound that he wants.

He admitted it’s tough being an independent artist.

“It’s a personal sacrifice,” he said.

Saunders spends just as much time scheduling his own bookings and promotion, as he does on perfecting his vocal skills. But he said he is willing to put in the extra work in order to keep the integrity of his music.

Saunders is grounded in his faith that started at New Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church.

Saunders’ mother, Arelia Sawyer, believes her son can handle whatever the music business throws at him because of his level of maturity. She’d be more worried about him, she said, if he was pursuing his musical aspirations at 18.

“I tell him to humble himself and put God first,” she said.

Saunders said he also receives a lot of encouragement from his sister, Tyrelia Sawyer-Mercer.

Saunders said the members of New Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, including its pastor, the Rev. William T. Davis, have also been big supporters.

“They’re my family too,” he said.

He said the church is always keeping him in their prayers.

While attending Camden County High School, Saunders was a member of the band where he rose to captain leader. He played the trumpet and bass drum in the band, but one teacher recalls he didn’t show much interest at first.

“I taught William in grades 7-10,” said former teacher Rose Taylor Lee. “In middle school, he was not a fan of practicing his instrument. I do remember that his grade in band would suffer because he was not turning in practice records. But I do remember that in high school marching band he did take his role on the drum line serious and took great pride in what he was doing.”

Another former teacher, Karen McPherson, said she was pleasantly surprised that Saunders is pursuing a career in music.

“In high school, he was a member of our gospel choir, in which I co-advised,” said McPherson. “This group volunteered their time during lunch at least once per week to practice. Since his ‘Saturday Night Live’ debut, I have shown the video to my current students and I remind them that they can pursue their dreams. I also remind them that he was not an overnight success, he has struggled and paid his dues.”

Another former teacher, Ina Lane, said she was aware of Saunders’ musical talent, but not the extent of it. She’s not surprised, though, that he became a teacher.

“He was always a people person, and he has a compassionate heart, so teaching seemed to be a career in which he would find satisfaction,” she said.

For more information about Saunders, visit his website at http://www.revernation.com/willsaunders.

This article was originally published in the April 24, 2016 edition of the Daily Advance in Elizabeth City, NC.

The film that got the party started

Twenty-five years ago the world was invited to a party that got one kid a beating, left one dancer passed out, and the host a toilet that wouldn’t flush.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the hip-hop classic “House Party.”
The movie not only spun off several sequels and launched the careers of Martin Lawrence and Tisha Campbell, but also helped the mainstreaming of hip-hop culture and provided rappers with acting careers to fall back on.
The film starred rappers Kid n’ Play, playing fictitious versions of themselves.
Kid was a teenager who wanted to attend a house party his friend, Play, was throwing.
But the protagonist had to deal with a stern father who forbid him from going, school bullies, and two girls he was debating to date.
Teen comedies had been a staple in Hollywood for decades, but not since the 1975 movie “Cooley High” had a film honestly examined the lives of African American adolescents.
“House Party” expanded upon the clichéd teen plotlines of getting the girl and sneaking out to parties.
The recurring presence of two white police officers harassing the characters of Kid, Full Force, and Pops showed the tension between African Americans and law enforcement.
Other scenes dealt with Kid debating whether to date a girl from the projects versus one from a middle-class neighborhood; displaying class differences within the black community.
“House Party” was also one of the few films at the time of its March 9, 1990 release that showed two teenagers discussing safe sex.
“House Party” arrived during a perfect storm in African American culture.
A few years prior to its release, filmmaker Spike Lee unveiled his debut movie, “She’s Gotta Have It.”
The success of the film set off a chain reaction of independent movies by black filmmakers, including Mario Van Peebles, Robert Townsend, the Hughes Brothers, and John Singleton.
Rap music was gaining momentum with acts as varied as Queen Latifah, Too Short, Public Enemy, and MC Hammer making a mark on the pop charts.
There were more black sitcoms on television at one time since the 70s heyday of programs like “Sanford & Son” and “Good Times.”
The difference between the New Jack Swing era of the late 80s/early 90s, and the Soul era of the 1970s was the diversity of the work.
“A Different World” was a television sitcom set at a historically black college at the same time rap group N.W.A. rhymed about life in the streets of Compton.
For a moment, it seemed African Americans finally cracked opened Hollywood’s glass ceiling, and sky was the limit.
But “House Party” wasn’t constructed to follow-up on Spike Lee and rap music’s successes.
The film’s director, writer, and co-producer, Reginald Hudlin, concocted “House Party” as a short film as his senior thesis at Harvard University.
But by the time he completed the full-length feature in 1989, black was back.
Jheri curls were turning into high-top fades, African medallions once again became popular jewelry, and Cross Colours were the latest fashion craze.
The play down your race 80s was giving way to wearing your black culture on your sleeve 90s.
Most people don’t think twice when they see a rapper starring in a movie, but Kid n’ Play’s appearance in “House Party” came as a mild shock.
While movies before it like “Krush Groove” featured rappers in lead roles, “House Party” was not a film where the plot revolved around the rap music industry, but a coming-of-age story that happened to star two rappers.
Coming off the heels of “House Party” were movies starring emcees like Ice Cube in “Boyz In the Hood” and Ice-T in “New Jack City.”
Film critics took notice of “House Party” when it was first released.
In his thumbs up review for the “Chicago Sun Times” Roger Ebert said, “In the case of ‘House Party,’ the musical is a canvas used by the director, Reginald Hudlin, to show us black teenagers with a freshness and originality that’s rare in modern movies. We hardly ever see black teenagers at all in films, and when we do they’re painted in images that are either negative and threatening, or impossibly clean-cut. His teenagers are neither.”
Ebert went on to say, “Like his older contemporary Spike Lee, he [Hudlin] is a black filmmaker who is concerned with his black characters on their own terms, and doesn’t feel the need felt by an earlier generation of directors to relate his characters and plots to white society.”
The movie won the Filmmaking Dramatic Trophy and the Excellence in Cinematography Dramatic Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
“House Party” managed to gross more than $26 million at the box office on a budget of $2.5 million.
More movies depicting the life of black teenagers followed like “Juice” and “The Inkwell.”
But it was “House Party” that set the whole thing off, making it the original cinematic yearbook for the hip-hop generation.

Pharoahe Monch Gives Insight Into Heavy Topics On P.T.S.D.

http://www.xxlmag.com/rap-music/reviews/2014/04/pharoahe-monch-ptsd-album-review/

Styles P Gives Consciousness To The Street Life In ‘Phantom And The Ghost’

http://www.xxlmag.com/rap-music/reviews/2014/04/styles-p-phantom-and-the-ghost-album-review/

Cormega Sticks to Hip-Hop’s Roots On Mega Philosophy

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Kool Daddy and the Kool Pops reunite

Kool Daddy and the Kool Pops members from left, Henry Caster, Thomas Ruffin, James Bell and Shermite Cordon outside the Tritone Recording Studio in Windsor where they rehearsed for a charity show.

From left, Shermite Cordon, Thomas Ruffin and James Bell rehearse Sly and the Family Stone’s “Dance To the Music” at the Tritone Recording Studio in Windsor, N.C.

Henry Caster sings “Dance To the Music” while playing the drums.

By Barry Ward
Windsor – After completing his guitar solo on a cover of Sly and the Family Stone’s “Dance To the Music” James Bell said, “That’s why I come back here from Philly.”
The Bertie County native has made the city of Brotherly Love his home for several decades, but he returned to his old stomping grounds to bring some funk back to the area.
Bell, along with Thomas Ruffin, Henry Caster and Shermite Cordon were the main attraction in Bertie County in the late 1960s and early 70s as Kool Daddy and the Kool Pops.
The band has reunited after a three to four year hiatus to perform at the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. annual Scholarship Celebration and Dance. The show will be at 9 p.m. Saturday, June 7 at Quinton’s Restaurant and Lounge in Ahoskie.
In their heyday, Kool Daddy and the Kool Pops performed their blend of Soul, Funk and R&B throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.
“When we played we would come uptown and when we came everybody would follow us,” said Ruffin.
“Everybody would follow us,” reiterated Caster. “Everywhere in Bertie County. They saw us in Aulander everybody would be saying ‘They’re coming, they’re coming, they’re coming.'”
Ruffin said the venues they played would be packed every Friday and Saturday night.
“When we walk by today it brings back memories,” said Bell.
Audiences were thrilled by the band’s musicianship with Ruffin on vocals and keyboard, Cordon on bass, Caster on vocals and drums and Bell on saxophone and guitar.
But a lack of attention planted the seed that got the band growing.
Ruffin said in school he was not very popular.
“They were teasing me at school, calling me Gomer Pyle,” Ruffin recalled. “I had like an inferiority complex and all the girls were crazy about the rest of the guys, but nobody was crazy about me. So Gary Cordon put me on an exercise program, help build my muscles and everything, and the next thing you know, Gary who plays the guitar and the piano, his baby brother, Shermite, we started a band.”
He said the original members of the band were himself, Caster, Shermite and Gary Cordon on vocals and guitar.
The band would soon be joined by Bell and Butch Berry on trumpet and rhythm guitar.
The group’s original name was The Mixed Up Souls, but Caster thought it needed to change.
Ruffin said when he started to show progress as a result of Cordon’s fitness regimen, his classmates went from calling him Gomer Pyle to Cool Daddy.
“So when they started calling me Cool Daddy I tried living up to the name,” said Ruffin. “Then one night Henry said, ‘Man, we got to do something about that name because that name’s not cutting it.’ So Shermite said ‘They got the Mamas and the Papas, so we said we can call ourselves Kool Daddy and the Kool Poppas.’ Then Henry said, ‘You cut Poppas to Pops and that’ll be the name.'”
The group played a combination of covers and original tunes like “Baby Ruth” and “Somebody Tell Me.”
The band got its start playing after high school football and basketball games.
“The people around here really didn’t have any outlet, especially the high school students,” Ruffin recalled. “We didn’t have any outlet after the ball games, just go to the game and go home because there wasn’t anything really to do.”
The band was told by a woman that their shows kept a lot of young people from getting into trouble because they gave them something to do.
“So we look at it that we made a contribution besides just enjoying music,” said Ruffin.
Caster said all these years later the band continues to make a contribution, playing at the charity dance that hopes to provide $300-500 worth of scholarships to three or four students.
“We’re still trying to keep kids out of trouble and now we’re trying to get them in college,” said Caster.
In addition to playing nightclubs and high schools, Kool Daddy would also play gospel songs at area churches on Sundays.
The band’s constant move between secular and spiritual music didn’t sit well with everyone.
Ruffin recalled, “The people out there were saying, ‘They out there playing for the devil Saturday night. We don’t want them in here playing.’ And a man by the name of Elder Davenport, he stood right up and he said, ‘If they out there playing Saturday night let them play here. I know that’s what they’re doing, but they come in here the next day and play.'”
Ruffin said Davenport believed his acceptance of the young men to play in church was the right decision in the long run.
Gary Cordon would eventually leave the group to go into the ministry where he currently resides as pastor of Victory Temple Church of God in Christ in Windsor.
According to Ruffin, Davenport said, “Look what happened, you want to kick them out of church now you see he’s preaching.'”
Cordon’s departure led to the end of Kool Daddy and the Kool Pops.
Caster described Cordon as the mastermind of the band.
“He taught everybody how to do something,” said Ruffin.
But his brother Shermite said when the Lord calls you can’t argue against that.
The band tried to find someone to replace Cordon, but couldn’t find a musician as gifted as him.
Another reason for the group’s disbandment in 1974 was their inability to secure a record deal.
In the beginning, Kool Daddy and the Kool Pops only played for fun.
“We didn’t have that kind of [business] sense,” said Ruffin. “We really didn’t go in with a set price [to charge for performances].”
Caster said they only cared if they made enough money to fill their vehicles up with gas to get back home.
“We loved music so much we didn’t think about money,” said Caster.
But all the praise and attention they received started to get them thinking about a professional career.
“We actually thought we were going pro,” said Ruffin. “The opportunity was there that if we played somewhere like the Norfolk Scope somebody would pick us up, but it never happened.”
The band recorded some demo tracks at local radio station WBTE 990.
“We go in there and put something on tape and lay down some tracks and stuff like that,” said Caster. “We weren’t at the right place at the right time. The timing was just wrong. People were saying we were just a little bit ahead of our time.”
Caster said the only thing other similar sounding professional bands had on them was good equipment and a manager.
But the group has no sour feelings.
Caster went on to play in several bands in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, while Bell continues making music in Philadelphia.
But they always return to Windsor for another jam session.
Bell said there isn’t a particular show he can pinpoint as his favorite because he loved them all.
“Every time you played you ended up in the zone,” said Bell. “Every time you ended up in the zone, you were having a good time.”

This article was published in the April 30, 2014 edition of the Bertie Ledger-Advance in Windsor, N.C.

Kelly shares his culture with others

Marvin Kelly sits at his desk in his study.

By Barry Ward

Windsor – Growing up, Marvin Kelly spent his childhood summers working on his uncle’s farm in Bertie County.

“That was a pivotal experience for me,” said Kelly. “I hated it when I was here, but I learned so much from that. It was hard work. It was the hard work our ancestors did. The generation who worked on the farm is unstoppable because there’s nothing that they would encounter for the rest of their life that would be harder than the work that they did.”

That’s why Kelly believes his generation and the ones that followed should have little to no trepidation about achieving their dream, and moving forward in the struggle for racial equality.

The self-described “cultural activist” always has been in tune to the issues facing African Americans.

Kelly said there wasn’t a time in his life when he was not a part of an organization working to bring the African American community forward.

A few years after moving from Washington, D.C. to Windsor in 1995, Kelly joined the Bertie County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

“In Bertie County there was a real civic void,” said Kelly describing his arrival.

He said during his years working on his uncle Tim Bazemore’s farm he not only witnessed hard work and perseverance, but also a loving community.

He said when the agricultural industry slowed down in Bertie County, it not only ended many jobs for African Americans, but also the sense of community the people who worked in the fields had with each other.

Kelly said once the farming jobs dwindled the only space blacks in Bertie had in which to commune were the churches.

But Kelly said some of the churches isolated people instead of bringing them together.

“Each one of them [the churches] has their little individual pocket of people. There’s nothing really to kind of bring people out of those individual pockets together,” he said. “So that was what I thought was a good thing about the NAACP.”

For Kelly, the issues the NAACP and all African Americans should be addressing today are entrepreneurship, relaying information and improving the image of blacks.

“Now that we have the freedom to operate, we need to operate in our own best interests,” said Kelly. “We’ve got to create the mindset of creating our own enterprises, not just relying on the corporations as an economic opportunity.”

Kelly practices what he preaches as the proprietor of Windsor Artworks.

The Brooklyn, N.Y. native designs and sells purses and other clothing accessories made out of leather.

While he started the company when he was in Washington, D.C., Windsor Artworks has always had a foot in Bertie County.

Louise Heckstall, a local seamstress, assembled the purses in Windsor and shipped them to Kelly in D.C. to finalize the artwork and other finishing touches.

Working closer to Heckstall was one of the reasons that made the New Yorker move to Windsor.

Kelly said he also moved to be closer to his retired parents.

Most of the art on Kelly’s purses features African and African American faces and symbols.

“The way I create my work is really kind of culturally focused,” he said. “I use a lot of African art, textile designs. My signature piece, what I’m really known for, is rendering images of black women.”

He said white women have always been the standard of beauty in America.

“For them [white women] that’s great, but what about us? Women who are particularly proud of their culture and their heritage gravitate to this [his purses] because it’s a way of making a statement as they step into the world for the entire community that I’m proud of myself, I know who I am and I’m bad, ain’t I.”

Kelly feels the reason today’s youth are more passionate about sports and entertainment than an education is because the history and culture of African Americans isn’t being passed from one generation to the next.

“The media piece is key,” said Kelly. “The NAACP came in to stop lynching. This generation’s mission is to create a media platform so the media is telling it, the music is telling it, soap operas, the poetry is telling it and the classroom is telling it.”

One of the major gripes he has with education today isn’t over money or grades, but what isn’t being taught.

Kelly recalls in the sixth grade when he was transferred from a public school to a predominately Jewish school in New York.

He said after the Jewish students received their daily lesson in reading, writing and arithmetic, they would go to a room for Jewish studies.

He said that would be great if black students could have a class or space to learn about their culture.

He said he saw first-hand how learning and understanding their culture gave his Jewish classmates a sense of pride that they can be the best in all things.

“It is infused in them that culture is essential to their life,” he said.”

Kelly said, “I consider myself a cultural activist in the sense that I’ve always believed that a culture is the most important thing for black people, and it’s the most important thing for human civilization.”

He said too many times people complain that groups like the NAACP aren’t doing anything to advance social justice, but that’s a misconception.

“I can tell you from traveling city to city to city there’s more activism and activity now than any time in our history,” said Kelly. “People in the same city doing the same thing who don’t even know each other. So we have no system of internal communication to inform ourselves about ourselves. So the only lens we have on ourselves is through white people’s perspective of us, and their perspective of us is that we’re a problem. So all you see is there’s this problem with them, there’s that problem with them and that problem with them. When you look at international coverage, whenever you see anything about Africa there’s a problem. You don’t see any of the development work that’s being done or the social organizations. It’s just war here, conflict, drought and famine.”

That’s why he encourages blacks who work in the media to use their clout to change the perspective of African Americans.

“Through music, through art, through the news, through the conversations, new ideas. Gradually, we can turn this thing around. You can turn it — it just takes time to turn,” said Kelly.

Locally, Kelly encourages young people who go off to college to return to build a better Bertie County.

He understands the attraction of relocating to a bigger city, but while they’re fulfilling their dreams in Chicago, Los Angeles or New York, individuals should keep one foot in Bertie County to help it grow.

“You can’t win if all of your best players are sent to play for your opposition, which is what we’re doing,” he said. “Who’s left here: the elderly, the infirmed and those who couldn’t get away. In the harvest, why are we planting on the other side of the fence, in somebody else’s yard? When the harvest comes in they get all the crops. Let’s plow here, let’s grow here, let’s develop here. One of the great things here is that anything is possible. There’s nothing in the way.”

Kelly said life is not a sprint, but a marathon.

“When I was in my 20s I didn’t realize I was in a 40 year journey,” he said. “It didn’t occur to me until I was about 50 and I sat with the mother of one of my friends, she was in her 80s, and she said, ‘Son, you’re just starting.’”

To find out more or purchase Kelly’s leather art visit www.marvinsin.com or call 252-794-9764.

This article was originally published in the Bertie Ledger-Advance newspaper, located in Windsor, NC.

Marvin Kelly shows off some of his African and African-American themed purses he’s designed.

This purse features the image of a black woman, which is what Kelly’s work is largely known for.

Carter’s thankful for long life

Robert Carter.

Robert Carter shows a toy steam engine he purchased for his kids.

By Barry Ward

Windsor – Although Robert Carter will be turning 93 in October, he does not have any depressing tales of life as a black man in Bertie County.
“I had a happy life in Bertie County. It was great,” said Carter.
Carter was born on Oct. 15, 1920 to Rhodes and Lillie Carter.
He said living half his life in the Jim Crow South did not leave any scars of bitterness or resentment.
“White people [in Bertie County] were good to us,” he recalled. “My daddy was always loved

Robert Carter shows a radio he keeps in his home that dates back to the early 1900s.

by white people. They liked the way he conducted himself.”
He said when he was a child if a white kid called him the n-word that kid’s parents would reprimand him or her.
“During segregation we knew how to live,” he added. “We knew what we were supposed to do and where we were supposed to go and where we weren’t supposed to go.”
Carter said his father farmed on the land of a white man named Tom Austin, but stressed he was not a sharecropper.
He said Austin and his father worked the land together and split everything 50/50.
“We got half of what we made,” said Carter. “We had 40 acres of land and two mules.”
He dreamt of being a farmer like his dad.
“I loved watching the crop grow,” he said. “My dream was having a big dairy farm.”
But the Bertie County native’s first job, outside of working on his father’s farm, was cutting timber for a lumber company.
Carter said he took the job at his father’s insistence.
“He said I could make money,” Carter recalled.
Carter began his job cutting timber at age 18. He never made it past fifth grade.
“I was working on the farm,” he explained as to why he never finished school. “I stopped early because I would get behind in class,” he said.
But he didn’t let the absence of school hinder getting an education.
“When I wasn’t in school I learned a lot from the children who went to school,” said Carter.
One would not know he didn’t complete school talking to Carter.
The Bertie County native’s home is filled with antiques that date back to the 1800s.
Carter can name the year those antiques were made, which include a radio, ice cream freezer and toy steam engine.
He also enjoys spouting a historical fact when discussing a particular item.
One of those items is a black pot used by his great-grandfather, Peter Carter.
Peter was a slave.
But Peter did not work on a plantation like most slaves.
“He hewed railroad ties. That’s all he did,” said Carter.
Carter learned about his great-grandfather from his grandmother, Mary Carter.
While Mary knew about their relatives who lived during slavery and some of the things they did, she was never too explicit in her stories.
“She [Mary] was never a slave, but her mama was a slave,” he said. “She told me a little bit about it, but she never told me too much about it.”
Carter left his job at the lumber company after three years and took jobs at the naval base in Norfolk, Va., a logging company as a truck driver and longshoreman.
He eventually settled in Washington, D.C. in 1953 where he worked for the Bureau of Wastewater purifying water in the nation’s capital, Maryland and Virginia. He said his brother, Rhodes Carter Jr., who was doing the same work for the bureau got him the job.
Carter said he loved the job where he worked for more than 30 years.
“All the people on my job liked me,” he said.
During that time he received several accolades like a certificate for his efforts in cleaning up the grit chamber and one recognizing his first 20 years of service.
It was while he was in Washington, D.C. that the Civil Rights Movement began.
Carter said while he supported the efforts of those who fought for equality he did not take part in it.
“I couldn’t march cause I had to be at work,” said Carter.
He said he had friends who participated in demonstrations and sit-ins.
Although his life as a black man wasn’t unbearable, he still recognized the need to end segregation to enhance the life of all Americans.
“What Martin Luther King Jr. did helped us a lot,” he said. “I called him a Moses.”
Carter said he was thrilled to see segregation end, particularly in Bertie County when he returned to retire in 1989.
Carter said he thought he’d never live to see the day when segregation ended or the country elected an African American to the presidency.

Published in the Feb. 27, 2013 edition of the Bertie Ledger-Advance.

The Curious Case of Lupe Fiasco

Rapper Lupe Fiasco.

One of the hottest songs of 2010 was “Nothin’ On You” by rapper B.o.B. featuring singer Bruno Mars.
The song rocketed to number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Chart and boosted the Decatur, Ga. native’s debut album The Adventures of Bobby Ray to the number one spot on the Billboard Album Charts.
Suddenly B.o.B. was everywhere; in high demand as a live act, working with top name rap artists like Eminem, gaining a coveted spot performing at last year’s BET Hip Hop Awards and being ranked number nine on MTV’s list of the “Hottest MCs in the Game” for 2010.
B.o.B. scored another hit single with “Airplanes” and his debut album was certified gold by March 2011.
But the song that bolstered him to the echelons of hip-hop was originally meant for someone else.
Lupe Fiasco had already built up a somewhat established career before his label, Atlantic Records, presented him with “Nothin’ On You” to record.
The Chicago Muslim born Wassalu Muhammad Jaco had already released two studio albums and several mixtapes.
Fiasco’s debut album Food & Liquor debuted at number eight, eventually selling over 300,000 copies, while his second album The Cool went gold thanks largely to its lead single “Superstar” that broke the top 10 on the Billboard Singles Chart.
Fiasco seemed destined for rap superstardom with his gift for storytelling, intricate wordplay and immaculate flow.
But true mainstream success seemed to elude the couture emcee.
As he was making steady gains in popularity, Fiasco’s hip hop contemporaries were striking the top of the charts at lightening speed with songs that praised drug dealers Big Meech and Larry Hoover in Rick Ross’ monster hit “BMF (Blowing Money Fast),” celebrating the joys of material success as in Drake’s “Over” and bragging about one’s invincibility as with DJ Khaled’s “All I Do Is Win.”
The rap, R&B collabo song has been a popular formula for success within the past few years. Plenty of rappers have scored sizable hits doing a song with an R&B artist singing the hook, or rapping a couple of bars on an R&B song. The Grammys even has a category now called “Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.”
So Lupe’s record label thought it would be the perfect thing to bring the borderline famous emcee to real mega stardom. But after hearing the Chicago rapper’s version of “Nothin’ On You” Atlantic decided to take it from him and give it to label mate B.o.B.
The song’s producer, Jim Jonsin, told MTV that he thought the track would sound better with B.o.B. instead of Lupe Fiasco.
“I told Craig [Kallman, Atlantic Records chairman] ‘I like the song a lot. It’s a smash and could be somebody’s single. But it’s not Lupe’s record,'” Jonsin said. “‘I need this record for B.o.B. Please give this record to B.o.B.’ I guess they went through whoever they went through, convinced whoever they needed to, and it got to B.o.B.”
Lupe was incensed and felt betrayed.
He told the British magazine The Guardian, “It was less about the bruised ego but more the audacity of it. It was mentally destructive. I say it with a certain laissez-faire now because I’m past it, but back then, hearin’ that s**t, it f**ked me up.”
Fiasco was introduced to mainstream audiences spitting several bars on superstar Kanye West’s “Touch the Sky.”
One of the biggest names in hip hop, Jay Z, not only was the executive producer of Fiasco’s debut album, but he was widely quoted in the press as saying that Fiasco was a “breath of fresh air” to the rap game.
Many hoped Jay Z’s words and a featured spot on West’s multi-platinum selling Late Registration would make Fiasco a mainstream star whose rhymes dealing with social issues and stories of everyday struggle would make him the perfect balance to the drug, gun, sex and party talk dominating hip hop radio and music video channels.
But unlike his peers, Fiasco was never water cooler discussion as it related to his work, performing on an awards show or building a multi-media empire, and his songs couldn’t be heard blasting from the vehicles of most motorists cruising through the streets.
To the music industry, the loss of “Nothin’ On You” seemed like sentencing Fiasco to the musical purgatory of the socially-conscious emcee, one who is respected by his peers and music critics, but receives little to no entrance into the gates of commercial hip hop heaven.
But to the many fans of what some deem as “alternative hip-hop,” Fiasco having “Nothin’ On You” stripped from him kept the rapper from having to compromise his artistic integrity to cater to the masses.
As he discusses in the song “Dumb It Down” from his second album The Cool Lupe rhymes about the pressures the music industry puts on rappers to suck the intellect out of their lyrics to appeal to a much broader audience.
The track is laced with a monotone buzz, sounding like its giving warning to a natural catastrophe as the hook features a man pleading with Lupe that he’ll sell more records if he “dumb it down.”
But what had originally began as a suggestion for success from friends and street cats became a mandate from a major corporation to increase its profits.
In an interview with Complex Magazine Fiasco said the record label constantly interfered in the making of his third album Lasers.
He said the label instructed him, “Don’t rap too deep on this record – That was a specific order from the top. ‘You’re rapping too fast or too slow, or it’s too complex.'”
This had not been a problem when Lupe recorded his first two albums as he told Complex Magazine, “The Cool, which is more my own blood, sweat and tears, and my own control.”
Once it was complete, some saw Atlantic Records constant delay of Lasers as punishment for Lupe not being eager to switch his formula.
By late 2009 Lupe had stated that Lasers was finished and he was waiting for Atlantic to release it. A song for Lasers called “Shining Down” was intended to be the album’s first single, but its early leak caused Fiasco to head back into the studio to record more tracks.
Soon the album was finished yet again, but Atlantic still had not set a release date.
Lupe became frustrated and discouraged. He even contemplated suicide.
“I was super-depressed,” he told The Guardian. “Lightly suicidal, at moments medium suicidal – and if not suicidal, willing to just walk away from it all completely.”
But as Lupe felt like he was a populist politician no one was listening to, a grassroots group of supporters rose to the surface to let their voices be heard.
Lupe Fiasco fans started an on-line petition to force Atlantic Records to release Lasers.
The fans even set a date to camp out at the headquarters of Atlantic and demand its release.
Once Atlantic executives saw the love and passion for Fiasco’s music they had little choice but to give in to the will of the people.
The release date of March 8 was given for Lasers.
“It was amazing, humbling and inspiring, to the point where I went back in the studio and did more records,” Fiasco told New York Magazine. “It [the petition] made everything real, that your music is actually something that people want. And it’s something that is successful, not in selling records, but the way it moves people and inspires them to do better for themselves.”
Once a release date was set, the Lupe Fiasco Lasers Campaign kicked into high gear.
Songs from the album were used in commercials for ESPN. The album’s lead single “The Show Goes On” steadily gained rotation on radio and was joined by a flashy music video played on MTV and BET.
The song sounded similar to several rap songs getting major airplay with its computerized instrumental, most notably Kanye West’s “All of the Lights.”
“The Show Goes On” samples indie rock band Modest Mouse’s “Float On.”
But while the track’s instrumental sounded modern, its lyrics were pure Lupe.
In the song Fiasco encourages young people to never give up on their dreams and steer clear of negative vices that could limit one’s potential.
“So no matter what you been through/No matter what you into, no matter what you see when you look outside your window/Brown grass or green grass, picket fence or barbed wife/Never ever put them down, you just lift your arms higher/Raise ’em til your arms tired, let ’em know you here/That you struggling, survivin’, that you gon’ persevere,” he raps in “The Show Goes On.”
The song could be seen as a metaphor for the struggle and ultimate triumph of Lasers finally getting released.
But just as throughout his entire career, commercial success for Lupe Fiasco’s Lasers remained a longshot.
Hip-hop radio was still being dominated by the likes of Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj and Waka Flocka Flame.
And while the protests to get Lasers released showed that Fiasco has a loyal following, it was still questionable if that fan base was large enough to produce the kind of numbers that would make Atlantic’s stock holders happy.
When March 8 finally arrived, any naysayers Lupe had that he could not become a commercial force were silenced.
Lasers debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard Album Charts, selling 204,000 copies in its first week. This was not only Fiasco’s first number one album and debut, but the most copies of a CD he has sold in its first week.
Lasers was also the first rap album of 2011 to top the album charts.
“Words I Never Said” was quickly announced as the second single, while DJs and fans alike were raving about the song “All Black Everything” from the LP and many predicted that 2011 would be the Year of Fiasco.
But a funny thing happened on the way to number one.
At least a week before Lasers was officially released the entire album was leaked on the Internet.
And the enthusiasm for it didn’t signal the success that followed.
Lupe fans ranted on Facebook and blogs that the album was sub par compared to his first two LPs. Music critics said some of the album’s tracks lacked the lyrical depth and uniqueness of The Cool and Food & Liquor, pointing to songs like “Out of My Head” featuring R&B superstar Trey Songz.
Some journalists accused the songs’ beats of being formulaic and generic.
Even Lupe himself criticized the album, claiming it to be both his best and worst work.
“One thing I try to stress about this project is, I love and hate this album,” Fiasco told Complex Magazine. “I listen to it and I’ll like some of the songs. But when I think about what it took to actually get the record together and everything that I went through on this record – which is something I can’t separate – I hate this album. A lot of the songs that are on the album, I’m kinda neutral to. Not that I don’t like them, or that I hate them, it’s just I know the process that went behind it. I know the sneaky business deal that went down behind this song, or the artist or singer or songwriter who wrote this hook and didn’t want to give me this song in the first place.”
Lasers‘ commercial success seemed to prove Lupe’s own theory that a rapper sells more records when they “dumb it down.”
Although reviews of Lasers have been lukewarm, some of the same critics who bemoaned it for not having the same strength as its predecessors also applaud it for carrying more muscle than most rap albums that attain mainstream attention.
In a review for All Music Guide Andy Kellman said, “Lasers offers more substance when the reins are loosened. If there is one MC whose rhymes should not be dulled for the sake of chasing pop trends, it’s Lupe Fiasco.”
The most positive remarks from both journalists and fans are that at least half of Lasers is steeped in classic Lupe.
The second single, “Words I Never Said” has Lupe commenting on the tragedies of the world and the failure of people to speak out against injustice.
Probably the most celebrated track on the LP, “All Black Everything,” has Fiasco imagining a world where racism never existed, W.E.B. DuBois pens the U.S. Constitution, Eminem is black, while 50 Cent is white and conservative television commentator Bill O’Reily is a Muslim who proudly reads from the Koran.
Fiasco admits that the album was a compromise between him and the record label.
“I had to create this commercial art that appeases the corporate side. I had to acquiesce to certain forces,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Hopefully within that I snuck in some things I actually wanted to say any way I can.”
The commercial success of Lasers signaling a change in rap music to become more creative, which many have been crying for since rapper Nas pronounced “Hip Hop Is Dead,” still remains to be seen.
As for Lupe, he seems content in fulfilling his contractual obligations to Atlantic Records, while he ponders a new career as an author.
He told the Village Voice that he is interested in writing a novel about a window-washer.
When he was on the nationally syndicated radio program The Rickey Smiley Morning Show to promote Lasers, Lupe responded to a question on whether he was serious about past comments of retiring from the rap game.
Fiasco answered that when he made those remarks he meant that if he did retire it would be from the mainstream music industry, but he would continue to make music as an independent artist.
If Fiasco makes this move, will his recent success drive the masses to his independent work, will his current label plead with him to stay and give him more promotion to sit alongside hip-hop heavyweights like Jay Z, Ludacris and T.I., while allowing Lupe the freedom to do the work he wants or will he simply fade into the underground?
Maybe like the up and down trajectory of Lasers Lupe Fiasco’s future will come with many twists and surprises.

Copyright Barry Ward 2011