The Post-Rockist

Considering that we left off last time on the subject of hip-hop soundtracks and “black superhero music,” it seems like the only logical place to continue our discussion.

The RZA Presents Afro-Samurai (The Original Soundtrack)

The RZA (feat. Talib Kweli, Lil Free, and Suga Bang) - “Certified Samurai”
(from Afro-Samurai)

I’ll give you two chances to guess what this show is about. If you guessed “sword-wielding samurai whose hairstyle of choice is an exaggerated ‘fro” then you’re off to a good start. If you took your answer one step further and added that this was an animated television series adapted from a Japanese manga comic for Spike TV featuring the voice-acting of Samuel L. Jackson and original music from the Wu-Tang Clan’s mad professor producer the RZA, then you already know way more about this program than I do. (Thanks, Wikipedia, for bringing me up to speed!)

Given RZA’s past scoring credits, including Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai and Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2 (also involving unlikely samurais in a modern setting), he was a natural choice for this role. What he does so well — aside from creating sparse, gritty beats that has spawned a whole generation of imitators — is that he taps into the pulpiest regions of our collective pop culture imagination and processes them into highly refined, edifying creations. Samurais, gangsters, sci-fi villains, comic book superheroes — all inhabiting the same world in a single beat.

On “Certified Samurai,” the intro kicks off with a diminished, digital bleat and menacing laugh — a classic cartoon sign of trouble on the horizon — right before a jazzy trumpet clears away all the smoke and daggers and makes way for Suga Bang’s neo-blaxploitation falsetto chorus. Already, in a matter of seconds, RZA’s set the (cartoon) stage for good confronting evil, and when Talib Kweli enters it’s obvious that it’s going to be a lop-sided fight: “What you craft with your heart or your weapon it’s a question / What you craft with, a glock or a message in a rhyme / I teach you little savage part of a lesson and choice / Between being a gansta and an artist is the start of your ending.” On what could have easily been a throwaway verse for Kweli, just a guest spot on an afro-anime soundtrack, turns out to be one of the strongest verses I’ve heard all year. He minces no words in laying out the ethical roadmap for the song’s protagonist, showcasing the causes of his imprisonment and brazenly offering up the pros and cons of possible escape plans. This track is my single biggest reminder that I’m a fool for not picking up Kweli’s Eardrum yet.

Ghostface - The Big Doe Rehab

Ghostface Killah - “Supa GFK”
(from The Big Doe Rehab)

While RZA’s black superhero might be a hero in more of a “classical” sense — beset by ethical dilemmas but ultimately in the pursuit of Good; super powers and/or skills — Ghostface Killah’s black superhero falls more into the ethically murky waters of Jay-Z’s celebrated hero. You won’t find this hero wearing a cape and mask, but you might find him in an ermine fur coat and brightly feathered fedora. And black-and-white terms like “Good” and “Evil” aren’t going to help much in this discussion either, since the objective at hand is becoming the richest hustler at any cost. And in fact, according to this album, Pretty Toney has been so successful in this regards that he needed to check in for rehab to cope with all his “big doe” (a.k.a. “dough,” or what you and I would call “money”).

While the whole conceit of this album is ridiculous, and it’s far more self-congratulatory than it actually merits, Ghostface’s unabashed cockiness does make for great entertainment at times. Like, for instance, the wonderful pimp-funk number “Supa GFK” (that stands for Super Ghostface Killah, if you didn’t pick that up), where he comes strutting on the speakers with this verse: “Aiyo, I’m coming up the block, got my hands on my ratchet, and these fucking little faggots don’t believe it’s Ghost. Well, surprise mothafucka! Starkey Love got breakfast, got some steaming hot biscuits, you can eat this toast.” Ah hell, did I just say that Talib Kweli delivered the best verse I heard all year, ’cause I could quote from this here song all day long. From his rhinestone drawers to his D.D.L. to the trail of baguettes he uses to find his way out of the Amazon, this is 24 karat comedy gold that Ghost is probably going to mine later and fashion into more glitzy rings and pendants.

While this may not be the sort of superhero that I grew up idolizing, in the end it’s all about gaining respect and success, and escaping the limits of your identity, even if it borders on caricature. Diff’rent strokes for diff’rent folks, I guess.

For further reading on the subject of soul, funk, and hip-hop music and black urban superheroes, I would highly recommend Jonathan Lethem’s Fortress of Solitude, for what it’s worth.

-Posted by Todd