Flaunting any excessive or anti-social behavior is considered brazen. When it is no longer considered brazen it is proof that it has become embedded as part of our culture. Not to say this is a good thing, after all headhunting was considered a cultural norm in some societies. The question to ask here may be, was rap ever truly a part of our culture? Will it eventually run out of steam and go the way of things like doing the twist, afro haircuts or break dancing? I for one would argue that it is not truly a part of the American cultural scene, but is a forced, twisted and contrived money machine that appeals to only the basest passions of the youth in our country.

Long before the gangsta element slid over to hip hop the reasoning for the whole genre and style was generally purported to be, to show what life in the hood was like. That worked for a while and it even drew more sympathy from the otherwise estranged. But as lower passions would have it, the style and language of rap began more and more to take on a life and purpose of its own, namelysex. If by some magic stroke sex were temporarily extricated from every rappers thoughts and vocabulary, the entire industry would collapse quicker than the stock market in 1929. Now thats brazen!

Referring to rappers as artist and giving them full press doesnt guarantee that it is really an art form, all it says is that its here. But was it here before? Does it really have anything to do with the African American background, culture or heritage? I propose that it does not. Very few whites have succeeded in rap but even that does not prove that it is necessarily a black cultural thing. Growing up as a boy there were only two black families in our town. One of the boys from those families was my best friend. But to say that gave me even a basic knowledge of the African American culture would be an exaggeration. Later I arrived in the city of New Orleans just after the civil rights laws were passed. My exposure to the black culture increased exponentially. Finally I attended two seminaries the last of which was part of the National Baptist Convention a purely African American denomination. What I discovered about the African American culture will always be one of the greatest excursions of my entire life.

Our entire class would sit before some of the most dignified black gentlemen, professors and wait for the streams of their thoughts, opinion and knowledge to flow down to us. Most exciting was when they shifted their emphasis away from the curriculum and began to divulge elements of their private lives and their past. Life in New Orleans as a black man or women was no easy thing. Stories of their upbringing and their struggles would leave anyone with their heart in their throat. These old gentlemen for me were living examples of courage dignity and the best human qualities. What I learned about black culture in short is this. African Americans have a deep and ancient past; they are people with a lasting heritage.

I am sure that the blatant indulgence of sexual descriptive and four letter words that is raps most prevalent aspect, is not part of their ancient culture and history. It does not accurately depict their culture, their history or any other part of their experience. I dont think my protesting is such a big deal. But Id guess that if my old seminary professors could see and hear todays rap, you would hear the roar raising up from their graves and billowing down many an American avenue.

Rev Bresciani has written many articles over the past thirty years in such periodicals as Guideposts and Catholic Digest. He is the author of two books available on Amazon.com, Alibris, Barnes and Noble and many other places. Rev Bresciani wrote, Hook Line and Sinker or What has Your Church Been Teaching You, published by PublishAmerica of Baltimore MD. He also wrote a book recently released by Xulon Press entitled An American Prophet and His Message, Questions and Answers on the Second Coming of Christ. Rev Bresciani has his own website at http://americanprophet.org

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Released in 2003, Pass the Flask turned this little quintet from Tucson, into a mainstream success overnight. Classifying this band as ?metalcore? or ?indie? or ?hardcore? is quite futile, because for every genre you pick, someone is going to disagree, and have a solid backing for their view. Everyone however can agree that whatever The Bled are doing, they are doing it well.

This album bursts into action from the first song, and doesn?t let you down for 38 minutes. Personally I would like to see a longer album, but releasing a short disc like this sure does make you long for more. The album is very tight throughout, featuring a ?machine gun? riffing section in nearly every song. If you love the stereotypical ?hardcore? breakdowns, you will love every minute of this album.

As with all bands in the ?metalcore? genre, the guitar work on this album is fantastic, a great blend of soothing indie tones, contrasted next to dissonant riffing doubled by the bass guitar and kick drums. Showcased best in ?The sound of sulfur? guitarists; Jeremy Tally and Ross Ott put on a spectacular performance highlighted by the breakdown section half way through the song. Building slowly with one hard panned guitar, the riff slowly progresses over 8 bars, culminating in a machine gun section with a 4/4 crash beat forcing you to nod your head. ?I hope he loves you like I did/ when you needed me / I came for you that night?

The vocals on this disc are nothing short of phenomenal, the band manages to turn a simplistic guitar melody and soothing vocal line ?and I?d burn alive to keep you warm/when you?re alone/shiver under blankets in the basement? and slowly turn it into a thrash symphony that Metallica approve of. The most important aspect of music is dynamics; there is no use in playing something heavy unless you can juxtapose it next to something quiet. The band knows this, and they have crafted their songs masterfully using this concept.

Known for their intense stage show, the music conveys a sense of urgency, as if the band knew they need to have this music heard, and they aren?t going to sit down until you?ve heard exactly what they have to say. You will hear it, especially since I you?ll find yourself turning up your speakers periodically as the album progresses.

One of the most memorable moments on this disc comes on the 9th track, ?we are the industry? after 3 minutes of heavy riffing and screaming, the song slowly degrades into a simple guitar melody with calm, matter of fact vocals whispering ?we are the industry / the birth and the death? while the drumming and guitar slowly grows over the next few bars; adding a simple change every 4 bars gives the song an epic buildup, eventually the music, and vocals reach a fevered pitch and then drop off, into static.

If you?re looking for a solid album with heavy guitars, solid drumming and excellent screaming vocals, there is a damn good chance that you will enjoy the bled. If not, you have terrible taste in music, and you should be shot! Well, perhaps that isn?t the case, but I really like this disc, and I hope you do as well.

Overall: 8.4

Chris Elkjar is the founder of ‘trust.me’ an online music magazine for the enthusiast. He spends all of his spare time immersed in music, be it writing reviews, interviews with leading bands or writing his own music.

For more of his writing, check out Trust-Me.ca – Music for robots

Fifty years ago, the music used at a funeral home service and at memorial services was limited to the available talents of an organist or pianist or a vocalist. More elaborate funeral services might use larger musical groups such as string quartets or even small woodwind or brass ensembles. Rarely did funeral directors think about whether they were following the strict regulations of copyright infringement law, because typically the music was being played by actual human beings instead of on a recording. And more often than not, the funeral music selected was religious or spiritual in nature rather than secular.

The introduction of new technology and the boom of the recording industry has brought forth hundreds of thousands of pieces of recorded funeral music, both secular and spiritual. Modern funeral industry professionals at the request of families are often asked to choose more progressive and complex music that previously that fits the many different types available and fully captures the personality and life of the deceased. The music chosen for modern day celebrations of life express not only the decedent?s spiritual convictions, but often even more importantly the values of the life he/she lived. Funeral directors continue to individualize services and choose more secular music to truly reflect the uniqueness of the individual that has passed. While the availability of unlimited pieces of funeral music for the funeral industry has improved the quality and appropriateness of funeral services, it has made the process of selecting the perfect funeral music for unique memorial services and funerals much more time-consuming and expensive for loved ones and particularly funeral home directors that must pay exorbitant fees to avoid committing copyright infringement.

Developed in 1984, United States Copyright Law required funeral homes to be licensed in order to play music published by the large music providers such as ASCAP and BMI at all services. While this copyright infringement law made it initially difficult for many funeral homes, the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) made things easier by establishing a group licensing program for U.S. funeral homes and other establishments within the funeral industry that would cover royalties for all the major music providers.

While the NFDA?s program to help with the costs of many types of funeral music improved the burden of licensing a bit, many funeral home professionals still find themselves paying thousands of dollars per month to use certain types of music, both secular and religious, at their services. Since the license from the NFDA must be obtained for any funeral music used within the funeral home, funeral homes also must front the cost of all background music piped into the home as well as for music on-hold for their telephone systems, and this can certainly prove to be costly, which raises costs for grieving families and can make the death of a loved one even more difficult and expensive than it already is without worrying about the music for either the memorial service or the funeral.

To help ease the process of creating and maintaining a large enough music library to represent the vast range of musical tastes and personalities involved in the funeral industry, many funeral home professionals are seeking other lower-cost options that will not force them to compromise on the quality of the more expensive funeral music and will still help them adhere to copyright infringement law. Buyout music is one such option, and companies such as Royalty Free Music off such services

http://www.RoyaltyFreeMusic.com offers hundreds of well-crafted, unique sounding funeral music tracks that will help capture the spirit of the decedent and bring some joy for families during the grieving process.

Scott Johnson is a writer on various topics.

Minor pentatonic scales are used extensively in modern and classic rock. A strong understanding of how pentatonic scales work, and can be used for soloing and creating riffs, is extremely important. They are also the easiest and generally the first scales most people learn.

Minor Pentatonic Basics:

I assume you know how to read basic TAB format for this lesson. If you have not been exposed to TAB then you should review our lesson on reading guitar TAB before moving on.

The Minor Pentatonic scale consists of the following intervals: 1 b3 4 5 b7 1. In the key of A the intervals would be the notes of A C D E G A. There are 5 scale shapes in ?box? patterns for the pentatonic scales. For the A minor pentatonic the box shape follows:

E-5——–8—-
B-5——–8—-
G-5—–7——-
D-5—–7——-
A-5—–7——-
E-5——–8—-

The 5 is the fifth fret and is the root note, thus the name of the key and scale is A, the intervals determines the type Minor or Major. This scale shape above is the most scale and is used in rock, blues and most styles of music. If you move this entire shape up to positions on the guitar and play the same shape you will have a B minor pentatonic. Likewise if you slide the entire shape down two potions you have a G minor pentatonic. See Below:

E-3——–6—-
B-3——–6—-
G-3—–5——-
D-3—–5——-
A-3—–5——-
E-3——–6—-

Practice this scale shape several times a day, moving it into different positions or keys, for variety. Many of rocks most famous licks are derived form this shape. If you are going to play guitar learning this one basic shape is mandatory.

Next up ? The Major Pentatonic Scale.

Bill McRea is the publisher of The Guitar Warehouse and Guitar Playing Techniques. Both sites offer free lesson and product sales.

The origin of hip-hop can be traced back as far as the ancient tribes in Africa. Rap has been compared with the chants, drumbeats and foot-stomping African tribes performed before wars, the births of babies, and the deaths of kings and elders. Historians have reached further back than the accepted origins of hip-hop. It was born as we know it today in the Bronx, cradled and nurtured by the youth in the low-income areas of New York City.

Fast-forward from the tribes of Africa to the ghettos of Kingston, Jamaica in the late sixties. The impoverished of Kingston gathered together in groups to form DJ conglomerates. They spun roots and culture records and communicated with the audience over the music. At the time, the DJs comments werent as important as the quality of the sound system and its ability to get the crowd moving. Kool Herc grew up in this community before he moved to the Bronx.

During the late sixties, reggae wasnt popular with New Yorkers. As a DJ, Kool Herc spun rhythm and blues records to please his party crowd. But, he had to add his personal touch. During the breaks, Herc began to speak to his audience as he had learned to do in Jamaica. He called out, the audience responded, and then he pumped the volume back up on the record. This call and response technique was nothing new to this community whod been reared in Baptist and Methodist churches where call and response was a technique used by the speakers to get the congregation involved. Historians compare it to the call and response performed by Jazz musicians and was very much a part of the culture of Jazz music during the renaissance in Harlem.

Hercs DJ style caught on. His partys grew in popularity. He began to buy multiple copies of the same albums. When he performed his duties as a DJ, he extended the breaks by using multiple copies of the same records. He chatted, as it is called in dance hall, with his audience for longer and longer periods.

Others copied Hercs style. Soon a friendly battle ensued between New York DJs. They all learned the technique of using break beats. Herc stepped up the game by giving shout-outs to people who were in attendance at the parties and coming up with his signature call and response. Other DJs responded by rhyming with their words when they spoke to the audience. More and more DJs used two and four line rhymes and anecdotes to get their audiences involved and hyped at these parties.

One day, Herc passed the microphone over to two of his friends. He took care of the turn table and allowed his buddies to keep the crowd hyped with chants, rhymes and anecdotes while he extended the breaks of different songs indefinitely. This was the birth of rap as we know it.

Hip-hop has evolved from the days of the basement showdowns to big business in the music industry. In the seventies and eighties, the pioneers and innovators of the rap record was the DJ. He was the guy who used his turntable to create fresh sounds with old records. Then, he became the guy who mixed these familiar breaks with synthesizers to produce completely new beats. Not much has changed in that aspect of hip-hop. The guy who creates the beat is still the heart of the track. Now, we call him the producer. Even though some DJs work as producers as well as DJs (quite a few start out as DJs before they become producers), todays title DJ doesnt carry the same connotative meaning it did in the eighties. Todays hip-hop producer performs the same tasks as the eightys DJ.

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