Up in the T-Dot (Toronto), fellow traveler Laina Dawes gives her take on a definition of Black rock:
Much of this post, it seems, was prompted by the Rolling Stone cover story on Lil' Wayne and the hoopla surrounding his foray into rock. And in the true spirit of the phrase "writing is fighting" Laina isn't shy about letting you know where she stands:
I get where she's coming from. For me, the issue has always been bigger than Afro-punk or the Black Rock Coalition. The ongoing question for me is this: When it come to Black music, what constitutes excellence? And I think we're at a point now when we can have those discussions. Before, it was about just getting the music out there. It's clear we've achieved that. Now what?
We all know that there's a level beyond just being "dope". After all, nobody talks about Toni Morrison, Duke Ellington, or even Jimi as just being "dope". Know why? Because we know in our guts that there is a level beyond dope. We don't see it very often. Yes, it's something that few achieve. But, it'd be great to know that more folks were trying to get there.
Anyway, here are some remarks I made on the subject:
