In Prison: Afroamerican Prison Music From Blues To Hiphop

[coll]: In Prison: Afroamerican Prison Music from Blues to Hiphop (Trikont)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 11/13/06
Exactly what the title says – the stuff in between Blues and Hip Hop includes jazz and a fair amount of 60’s soul. Some really sad and hard hitting stuff here, and a lot of important messages to hear.
FCCs on track 2, 9 and 15, and the dreaded “n-word” on 6 and 17. All tracks have value, lots of different tastes can be satisfied.
1. *deep folk blues – one steady beat signifies chopping a tree, male call and response.
2. ***FCC (lots of FCCs, alas). Downtempo hip hop with sirens, disturbing reality tale. Clean this up and play it.
3. ***Midtempo bluesy soul ballad with slide guitar from 1969.
4. ***Slow acoustic folk blues, minimalist and menacing guitar, great blues singing.
5. ****slightly downtempo swingy electric blues sashay, lots of spoken word about the Texas prison system, strong female blues singing, direct message.
6. ***Random talking intro, slightly downtempo hip hop, serious rap with an amazing story, some in Spanish. Occasional “nigga” but no FCCs.
7. ****Downtempo, classic Mayfield soul sound, falsetto vocals. Great bit of percussion in second half of song.
8. ***jazz beat poetry/proto-hip hop. Amazing lyrics.
9. **** FCC: “bullshit”. Bluesy intro, then midtempo old-school style hip hop with a great beat, standup bass.
10. ***Swing jazz from the 60’s, great female vocals.
11. *a cappella folk blues, male call and response chant. Recorded in prison in 1959, off-key but gripping vocals.
12. ***long random intro, midtempo hard hitting hip hop.
13. ***soul from 1969, complex orchestration, Tempations-style soul group vocals recorded in prison, morality tale.
14. ***Downtempo bluesy hip hop with singing.
15. ****FCC right off the bat… midtempo hip hop by its biggest star. Incredible lyrics, but they ain’t pretty.
16. ***Slightly uptempo sparsely instrumented Chicago blues shuffle.
17. ****amazing Temptations number about White fear – “the niggers are coming!” – beware the n-word, but it’s an awesome number.
18. ***Spoken intro with formless music for 40+ seconds, then midtempo hip hop about the execution of a good man.
19. **Solo male vocals and acoustic guitar folk blues. Very folky - you can hear birds singing in the background.