UM’s First Birthday!

It’s been a whole year, and I’ve been keeping score.

Most Hard Luck Uppity Music Artist:

Q-Tip had the indignity of having not only his second album shelved (Arista Records’ Kamaal The Abstract) but his third one as well (Dreamworks’ Records Open. Has anybody even heard this one?) His fourth album is due from Motown this year but even Tip’s accountant thinks its release is iffy.

Most Popular Uppity Music Review:

By an extremely wide margin the most popular review has been (ta-da!) Q-Tip’s Kamaal The Abstract. Shockingly I’ve received several emails thanking me personally for sharing this album. At this point I can’t see Arista Records ever releasing it unless:
A) Q-Tip bites the big one, or
B) they think they can sell half a million MP3s of it in the iTunes Music Store.
Neither scenario is very likely.

Richard Pryor’s Craps and Divine Styler’s Spiral Walls Containing Autumns of Light were also quite popular. Hey that’s interesting, these albums aren’t in print either.

Best Uppity Music Label:

V2 Records bravely signed both New Kingdom and Chocolate Genius to multi-album deals, although all their albums have since been deleted Stateside, unlike Little Axe-soundalike Moby and retro-blues duo The White Stripes. Nothing says “fortune” like aping Black music.

Most Prolific Uppity Music Producer:

When pop producers The Neptunes aren’t creating hit songs for Snoop Dogg and Britney Spears, they’re having their feeling hurt by shepherding excellent but low-selling tracks for Cee-Lo, Common, and Kenna.

Best Uppity Music comeback:

Cee-Lo’s Soul Machine flopped silently like a ninja in the marketplace, but as one-half of Gnarls Barkley he scored a #1 single in England this year with “Crazy”, a song that’s poised to become the overplayed song of the summer.

Most Public Uppity Music Supporter:

Trent Reznor, aka Nine Inch Nails, slotted both TV On The Radio and Saul Williams as support acts on his recent tour. Maybe Trent wears black on the outside cause that’s how he feels on the inside.

In closing, I’m humbled that you come back every week to read my rantings. The first month of Uppity Music garnered 82 page views, and last month had over 20,000 page views, which is a helluva lot more. And since I have you, the audience, let me know what you’d like to see. Want an Uppity Music forum? Want to wear an UM T-Shirt? Drop me a line.

See you next Wednesday.

NEXT WEEK:

Miles Davis’ wife exorcises some demons.