Black Milk, Fever Top 10 Influential Albums (w/ Kid A, Radiohead)

Day 10 Influential Album: Fever, Black Milk.


A word about Kid A.
The reason it went onto my 10 list initially was, I wrote a lot of my earliest Kolpar novel chapters, looping that Radiohead CD. (Kolpar is a utopian version of the world, existing in the far-flung future. Their problem now in those stories is the ravenous emotional devourer, Zavox.) That December was very Lovecraftian in tone. I guess Deep Forest is another one where I wrote as I listened, and Jean Luc Ponty- anyway, this one's big, because this is simply my most important work of fiction of my career, so what I have on will be a matter of personal record. I usually work in silence, but there are times a beat moves you, strings pull you, even a word drips onto the mental surface, pooling. This is a variation on the cut-up method: your consciousness "cuts up" your background experience while you envision your story.

This one might go on to greatly influence my new music. What landed it on my list, however, are the sheer hours I spent alone with Kolpar and Kid A.


This is one of several intentions I foresee for Black Milk's Fever. Released in February, 2018, it tussles with the all-star, Kendrick-curated Black Panther movie soundtrack for my favorite release of the year. They make cat-like noises, circling each other's stances.

I love "Pray For Me" like nobody's biz- ah-ya-la-la-la-la-la-la-lah-la!. I think I already find those songs tethered to the epic Black Panther story on film, but some of them are on my Butterfly Soundtrack queue. I hope I make some music for it, too.
In the case of Black Milk, factor in numerous instrumentals, like "Reunion," "Shut It Down," -or "Perseverance"- after all, some scenes need to play soulfully, not techno-magical." Great workout music, too!!! A protege of J Dilla, Black Milk's an ingenuous beat maker. That side of his work will help me a lot, because music matches my motivation (eventually). A close kin might be "That'll Work," by The Alchemist, also going in the cue, along with an evolution of selections.

So much more on hip hop.

But you can expect real lyrics, too, when you put on Fever-that's a subject unto itself. Techno-world audioscapes fused my craft and my listening experience, while his stories tell life from street level. Those audioscapes express a surprising array of emotions- it's more than a few vintage video game bleeps.

The book I'm writing is set in the future- not nearly so far away as Kolpar, though we're again in the same fictive universe- in 2022, as of this writing. So, I watch technology trends. Instead of forecasting the politics, I instead engage with issues I care about that are presenting themselves as adventure dramas in Butterfly. I expect to cross more ethical bridges than I even intended, for some readers. There's some overlap with the world of Black Milk's lyrics and aspects of my story. That was in place before I found this record. The music, though. I look forward to considering how it blends with and supports the lyrical story, because Black Milk is a storyteller I trust. His music, though. If you have heard more rap records at this level, hit me up. His instrumental skills and choices generate a new meridian. He's been killin' this since 2010's LP Album Of The Year. Right now Fever is riding high to top 2018. Bring on great contenders. But, I hole up with what I love a lot of times.


It's got heart and techonological wonderment, alongside lyrical captivation. What a good example for my book, and media interpretations going forward. I am feeding this effort what I've got to render my masterpiece to date. Over time, I wonder
what I'll learn of Black Milk's stories, how long some of them have been with them and do some of them pick up earlier ones, how he's continuing themes and settings. Joyner Lucas is the only mc I'm enjoying this much, out of the 21st century artists. But we're looking at LPs, not mixtapes, and original music presented at a masterful level. I knew from track one, this could be a keystone in the ongoing creation of Chrysalis of the Butterfly, this summer. I am 8 chapters in, but the outline for the remaining 2/3 of 8 and the projected 22 others has experienced shifts based on reviving characters, asking questions about relationships among the cast, and plot elements that render cool drama while thickening the mystery.
I want to say something a little different about heroism, but what a kickass ride I have in mind!

T'Challa acknowledges 'Fever' is the heat. "Listen with Ba'ast's blessing," says the king humbly.

Here's who else I considered:
Duke Ellington Take the 'A' Train" : Greatest Hist
Pink Floyd, The Wall
Joni Mitchell, Court and Spark

Matthew Sweet, Girlfriend
Ten by Pearl Jam


Bob Dylan, Blonde on Blonde
Elton John, Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road
Deep Forest, Deep Forest (another 'writing' one, but also: dancing!)
Stevie Wonder, Talking Picture Book
Tom Petty, Full Moon Fever

L.A. Woman by the Doors, The Chronic by Dr. Dre, Houses of the Holy by Zep, Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie, and This Year's Model by Elvis Costello
would round out my Top 25, for now.

A list of influential performers would be different yet. I pretty much bounced to Public Enemy, but my intrigue led me to Fear Of A Black Planet and It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back. System of a Down and Rage Against the Machine. And let's face it, a truly scholarly approach would reach different conclusions, if asked for ten albums that set the overall trends of popular music. Mine's a subjective experience and dedicated, in the end, to supplying my personal jukebox of hooks and breaks and transcendent tunes- intensely my own, music as a companion in my inner being.

A Tribe Called Quest, especially songs from Low End Theory, would have an album spot right behind it, but I tend to pull up songs from all over a career and so, haven't listened to the Tribe by album. Blue Oyster Cult''s another band I couldn't represent with an LP, but Agents of Fortune would do. As if I needed list more influences. Style and school of thought are more ways a musician influences people.

I spent most of last year writing and demoing our own music. For long periods, I gave little else a listen. That may have made my listening experience refreshing on a plateau similar to the ones where I encountered some of the music listed.

Be Chill, Cease ill, be safe, have fun, memorialize what you've done with your own freedom, so Freedom's not simply a thing you give lip service, but a celebration of choice! That's the way of life that inspired many an American soldier, whether they'd recognize the choices of 2018 or not. It's worth remembering people die in war, so long as we're going to ask people to serve in war. It's worth asking what sacrifice is worthy of human life.

A little of what you wanted to ask about hip hop (but were afraid to ask)?

When my friend asked me about rap last week, I had a couple of other things on my mind. Let's say she's just discovered rap. Here's a crash mix tape of the history, which stretches back to African traditional poetry and wakes up in a new body, dreaming somewhere in late 1970s Brooklyn.

This and "Rapper's Delight" by Sugarhill Gang are milestone singles to know, as well as "F*@$ tha Police" by NWA. Grandmaster Flash is probably the first big name MC to break, with Kurtis Blow to follow. (Even Blondie got in on the act.)

The album to hear is really Fear of a Black Planet or It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back , both by Public Enemy; that was perhaps the most seminal work of the day, lyrically. It speaks to a lot things still yet unspoken in newly integrating America.


"T.R.O.Y." is a favorite single, and Jay-Z and Snoop are MCs I like, though Mos Def is the more complete musician. Erik B. and Rakim are worth checking out. KRS-One is widely respected for his literacy, though some rather marginalized theories pop up behind his lyrics as well as Mos Def's. DMX is another master of the genre.

LL Cool J, 3rd Base and the Digital Underground and the New Jack Swing movement (Big Daddy Kane, Heavy D & the Boys) were the rage when I was coming up. The big pop sensation was the Fat Boys, a kind of comedy thing, starring the Human Beat Box. 2 Live Crew was the kind of vulgarity teenage boys like to pass around, if for nothing else but the lewdness. Willis Woods was working with Mark Chubb and Chad Owen at my school; they were the closest thing to a fully functioning band at Model High School, so I can't leave them out. The arts weren't something nearly as mainstream as sports and fighting and cars.

Run-DMC is how most white kids my age learned about rap, and if you're a little younger, it might've been Young MC or even...MC Hammer, who owed his groove to Rick James. He got ate up by the wave represented by Ice Cube: Gangsta Rap. Somehow, I almost left out the one band that gets lots of alt-rock play, the rap group that hit big in the wake of Run D.M.C.'s "Walk This Way" and never looked back: The Beastie Boys. The critic's choice there is usually Paul's Boutique, but I've yet to get that one and really enjoyed the follow-up with "Sabotage" and about half a dozen radio cuts.



Tupac and Biggie are worth checking out for their technique, and if you want to hear about a different way of life Tupac and Dre and his proteges are great. Some people really love Eminem, but he took a few records to grow on me; I was looking for something besides anger issues at the time, but his facility with words was undeniable. I'm very ticked off, but I live laid back and in all the peace the world will allow.

It wouldn't be right for me to forget Missy Elliot, nor even Salt-n-Pepa, but the woman who was way, way ahead of her time was Neneh Cherry. Her few top 40 hits don't do justice to her inventiveness.
Once you get to Neneh, you reach a crossroads with whole other types of sounds, like Soul II Soul, De La Soul, Sade, or Swing Out Sister, predecessors of a new soul coming out of Britain over the 90s, like Portishead.

That crossover songwriting appeal stands out in my favorite act to come out of the Dirty South: Outkast. Although "Ms. Jackson" and their album Stankonia was their buzz breakthrough, their monster commercial hit was the 2003 double album Speakerboxx/ The Love Below.

I didn't get off at first listen to M.I.A. and I'm actually full of questions about the Sri Lankan politics, as I have two actual Sri Lankans with sophisticated views of the country as reference, but sometimes, as with Kanye West, the production and the musical package as a whole might supercede someone's frustration with the lyrics or the public persona. There are many more political and socially conscious hip hop acts out there, but why not explore?

Finally, you'll find another category of musicians living in samples, which can come from anywhere. Parliament Funkadelic, Sly and the Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield and James Brown are probably the most commonly sampled groups of all time, along with many Stax artists, the Ohio Players, and Miles Davis.

I have probably met more aspiring rappers than any other type of professional musician. I would have to reach back a bit to come up with names, especially since some record labels and ideas have been duplicated since then (I met a rapper whose cd was called Dirty South back in 1998).

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