Sometimes what we need is a little cheer
At least a version of it
Greetings,
Today, I don’t have much to say by way of thoughts or commentary. There’s so much going on in the world and in life, sometimes it feel impossible to see the wood for the trees. Sometimes you are up, sometimes you are down and sometimes you feel up and down at the same time.
1.
Global lockdown has birthed some really dope experiences, especially online. Somehow, I missed DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic. A friend recently sent me the link to the BET Edition and I went down the rabbit hole - fortunately, it isn’t too deep, there are four of them. I have been playing them repeatedly for the last two weeks, starting with Volume One. The music of my youth.
2
Do you ever wonder what happened to musicians, artists and bands that you listened to growing up? The story of Roland Gift of Fine Young Cannibals is both a little sad and strangely comforting to know that he has is still out there.
3
I usually wait for the hype to die down before I watch or listen to something but I followed The Last Dance, the documentary series on Michael Jordan’s last season with the Chicago Bulls, from when it was launched on Netflix. I was never a big Jordan fan; although one has acknowledge his true greatness and his place in history, there are aspects of his personality and his approach, which come out in the documentary, that are not in line with my view of the world.
The Last Dance is a brilliant documentary series and the one thing that stood out for me was the music. After watching, I came across a Spotify playlist with ‘music from and inspired by’ The Last Dance.
Interestingly, for all the classic hip hop in the docu-series and on the playlist, it seems Jordan wasn’t much of a rap listener in those days. Rap Soundtracks the Michael Jordan doc. The N.B.A. wasn’t Always That Way.
4
Black Thought is underrated and I have never understood why. He is a lyrical beast and there are few spaces that demonstrate this as perfectly as his freestyle on Funkmaster Flex’s show which, it seems, happened three years ago.
5
In his essay, Zoom and Gloom, Robert O’Toole, sets the stage for a discussion around the role and impact of video meetings with the following: “Technology exists to expand and sustain our capabilities. Therefore, doing technology well contributes to our hopes for leading an ethically good life: developing the right capabilities in the right ways – and using them for good ends. Videoconferencing could make a significant contribution to this. However, the essential capability I’m concerned about is not videoconferencing in itself, but rather the humanisation of technologies for everyone’s benefit.”
6
The Passion of Diego Armando Maradona
‘"Soccer," said Borges, who famously despised it, "is one of England's biggest crimes." (He also said – "Soccer is popular because stupidity is popular"). As a colonial sport, it was frequently used to force European ideas of hierarchy, discipline, and white superiority down brown and black gullets; once adopted by the colonized, though, it became a potent space for indigenous resistance.’
7
One of the things that has helped me navigate this year with a semblance of sanity is routine and ritual. I reread Mason Currey’s Daily Rituals: How Artists Work to reconnect with this. Finding your daily ritual in work + life.
That’s it for this week. If you enjoyed, please share. If it was shared with you, please subscribe.
And a thank you to the people who have reached out and shared their thoughts on both Zebra Culture by Kojo Baffoe and some of the stories shared.
Easy
Kojo