Issa Rae is on hella radars and now she’s utilizing that spotlight to pay homage to some of the women who influenced her.

In an editorial spread for Hannah magazine, Issa dressed up as three black woman who has major contributions to music. In the spread published on Wednesday (Jul 26), Issa depicts artists Missy Elliott, Solange, and Nina Simone in an iconic photo shoot by photography Elton Anderson Jr.

After the photoshoot hit the web, everyone was a fan, including Missy who gave her stamp of approval to Issa via Twitter saying, “Yoooo @IssaRae nailed this pic! Big up!!!! You did that???????”

Yoooo @IssaRae nailed this pic! Big up!!!! You did that🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🔥 https://t.co/kRRRKkGC6S

— Missy Elliott (@MissyElliott) July 27, 2017

Issa who recently kicked off the second season of her hit HBO series, Insecure, will also be working on her first full-length project loosely based on one of author David Foster Wallace‘s books later this year

The new film titled after the book, Empress of Serenity, will feature Bill Hader as an animal rights lawyer who is shocked by the news of his mother passing away. Encouraged to go on a 45-day cruise to heal by his estranged father, Hader’s character ends up befriending Rae’s character Michelle, who is described as a reclusive kindred spirit. Production on the film is slated to begin sometime in August.

Check out the photos below.

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The post Issa Rae Pays Homage to Black Girl Magic by Honoring Missy Elliott, Nina Simone and Solange appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Set to release this April, Nina will follow the ‘Priestess of Soul’s’ life after her exile from France, showcasing her troubled reputation, alcoholism, and determination to get back into the spotlight.

Despite the powerful depiction of one of the Civil Right’s Movement most influential forces, controversy swarms around Saldana’s appearance. ‘The Guardian’ asserts that critics have taken shots at Saldana’s lighter complexion and Hispanic roots, suggesting that the role has been “awkwardly miscast” due to her prosthetic nose and darkened skin; some have insinuated that Saldana was depicting blackface.

Simone’s estate isn’t too pleased with the casting either. When Saldana first received the role in 2012, daughter Simone Kelly wrote “I love Zoe Saldana, we all love Zoe… From Avatar to Colombiana, I’ve seen those movies a few times. But not every project is for everybody. And I know what my mother would think. I just don’t get it.”

Kelly’s discontent of Saldana’s casting led to her suggesting ‘HTGAWM’s’ Viola Davis and ‘Diary of a Mad Black Woman’s’ Kimberly Elise, women who exhibit features as strong as her mother’s.

“My mother was raised at a time when she was told her nose was too wide, her skin was too dark,” Kelly said in her interview with New York Times. “Appearance-wise, this is not the best choice.”

To add more fuel to the fire, Nina Simone’s estate recently blasted  Saldana on the Twitter, telling her to “Keep Nina’s name out of mouth [for] the rest of her life.”

As a response to the Simone’s estate, Saldana uploaded the poster to movie on Instagram, leaving it captionless.

Since landing the role, Saldana has continuously combated critics. ‘The Guardian‘ noted that during her 2014 interview with HipHollywood, the ‘Avatar’ actress explained her decision by stating that she “knows who she is” and “she knows what Nina Simone means to her.” “It doesn’t matter how much backlash I will get for it,” Saldana told Allure in 2013. “I will honor and respect my black community because that’s who I am.”

Check out the trailer below to see Zoe Saldana in Nina.

The post Nina Simone’s Legacy Captured by Saldana, Family Disapprove appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on February 21, 1933, in Tryon, North Carolina, Nina Simone took to music at an early age, learning to play piano at the age of 4 and singing in her church’s choir. The sixth of seven children, Simone grew up poor. Her music teacher helped establish a special fund to pay for Simone’s education and, after finishing high school, Simone won a scholarship to New York City’s famed Juilliard School of Music to train as a classical pianist.

Simone began recording her music in the late 1950s under the Bethlehem label, releasing her first full album in 1958, which featured “Plain Gold Ring” and “Little Girl Blue.” It also included her one and only top 40 pop hit with her version of “I Loves You Porgy” from the George Gershwin musical Porgy and Bess.

As the 1960s drew to a close, Simone tired of the American music scene and the country’s deeply divided racial politics. She lived in several different countries, including Liberia, Switzerland, England and Barbados before eventually settling down in the South of France. For years, Simone also struggled with her finances, and clashed with managers, record labels, and the Internal Revenue Service.

Around this time, Simone recorded cover songs of popular music, putting her own spin on such songs as Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin'” and the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun.” She also showed her sensual side with the song “I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl.” She then took a break from recording, returning in 1978 with the album Baltimore. The title track was a cover version of a Randy Newman song. Critics gave the album a warm reception, but it did not do well commercially.

In many ways, Simone’s music defied standard definitions. Her classical training showed through, no matter what genre of song she played, and she drew from many sources including gospel, pop and folk. She was often called the “High Priestess of Soul,” but she hated that nickname. She didn’t like the label of “jazz singer”, either. “If I had to be called something, it should have been a folk singer because there was more folk and blues than jazz in my playing,” she later wrote.

In her final years, Nina Simone battled with health problems. Some reports indicate she was battling breast cancer, but that claim has not been officially confirmed. She died on April 21, 2003, at her home in Carry-le-Rouet, France.

While she may be gone, Simone left a lasting impression on the world of music. She sang to share her truth, and her work still resonates with great emotion and power. Simone has inspired an array of performers, from Aretha Franklin to Joni Mitchell. Her deep, distinctive voice continues to be a popular choice for television and film soundtracks.

The critically-acclaimed documentary on the musician’s life, What Happened, Miss Simone?, was released by Netflix in 2015, with the project directed by Liz Garbus and offering commentary from daughter Lisa, among other luminaries. What Happened, Miss Simone? received an Oscar nomination for best documentary the following year. Check out the Netflix Trailer below.

The post #RESPECT: Black History Moment with Nina Simone appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Kanye West’s sixth studio album, Yeezus, leaked four days before its official release on June 18^th, 2013. Guess who didn’t give a fuck? Kanye West. After months of anticipation, a star-studded listening party at NYC’s Milk Studios, and a brash and refreshing marketing strategy of public video projections, Yeezus reached the masses early and illegally, yet the world got almost no response from the Chicago MC.

This nonchalant reaction not only solidifies Mr. West’s opinion about the leak – as well as the album cover itself – but it also represents his approach to the new LP as a whole. “How much do I not give a fuck? Let me show you right now, ‘fore you give it up,” West raps in his exaggeratedly nasal voice, just one minute into the album’s opener, “On Sight“. ‘Ye is already letting everyone know that he’s going to do what he wants on this album, with no apologies. And as the above lyric cues “On Sight”‘s techno barrage to let up and reveal a sweeping soul-ish melody reminiscent of his past work, West’s brash aversion to convention pays off. Beautifully.

“On Sight” gives us a little taste of the Kanye we’ve known in the past, easing us into his new world with a head-nodding, futuristic-sounding banger à la “Stronger” that quickly changes directions as the track morphs into a sharp and warbled electronic shrill. Once this discomfort has slightly set in, “Black Skinhead”  comes at us full throttle. The track is the highlight of the album, effortlessly combining gut-wrenching electric guitars with militant, almost ceremonial drums.  Better yet, Kanye’s flow is in a rare double-time that makes his neurotic shrieks even more compelling. (Trivia: he probably hasn’t flowed that fast since “Get Em High“)

The third track, “I Am A God” continues with the same strength as “Black Skinhead“, with ‘Ye declaring himself a “close tie” to Jesus. Understandably, the song has raised a bit of controversy, with many opposed to Kanye presenting himself as a deity. But listening closely to his tone as he snarls those four words, it seems as though Kanye is declaring his status as a god to both the listeners and himself. Furthermore, beyond those four words, it’s important to note the line, “Until the day I get struck by lightning, I am a God.” Even when he’s elevating himself to the heavens, Kanye still seems to be wary of going too high because maybe there actually is someone above.

The production on the album is constantly complex and often schizophrenic, weaving both seamlessly and abruptly between dark House music, distorted dancehall and maximal EDM. This raging mixture of blown-out bass and disparate noises is honestly like nothing else we’ve ever heard from the Chicago rapper. It is not uncommon for rappers to attempt to cross genre-boundaries and it is very common for producers to violate these boundaries (if they even believe in them), but Kanye genuinely seems to have built this album’s soundscape with pure openness. The production credits for Yeezus are notably extensive for an album without live instrumentation. Moreover, artists with very loose hip-hop affiliations seem to have had significant roles.

Nevertheless, perhaps this openness should have been reined in a little bit. Take “Blood on the Leaves,” for instance. Sampling Nina Simone‘s cover of “Strange Fruit,” a song about lynchings of Black males in the South, Kanye samples TNGHT‘s “R U Ready” and creates a song that’s chilling, yet impossible not to dance to. It’s easy to view the sample as the work of a provocateur, but if nothing else, the album is absolutely a gesture in sincerity. In other words, Kanye actually does think it’s okay to conflate lynching with relationship problems. If that sounds absurd to you, that’s because it is. But how could Kanye think that comparison is okay?

That question brings us to Yeezus‘ lyrics. Lyrically, Yeezus isn’t particularly evocative.  Kanye familiarly raps about luxury life on songs like “Send It Up”, women on cuts like “I’m In It” and “Hold My Liquor”, and loss on “Guilt Trip.” Even when these familiar topics are paired with new interests like the youth of Chicago and the contradictions that come with being a black celebrity, the lyrics aren’t particularly rewarding. The real reward of the album is its affect. Even when Kanye is comparing lynching to relationship problems, despite the absurdity of this comparison, the atmosphere of the song, how it makes you feel, is overwhelming. In fact, Kanye seemingly makes the comparison because of how he feels. For him, affects, feelings, can be equated in ways that words (or realities) cannot. Thus, he doesn’t ask us or convince us to feel a certain way by using clever lyrics: he makes us feel a certain way by pairing two disparate sounds and forcing them to work. That is the strength of “Blood on the Leaves” and the overall strength of the album. Kanye has learned to use sound to command listeners to feel a certain affect regardless of how that affect was created.  A cynic might say he really is a God.

The last track on the LP, “Bound 2”, is a journey into nostalgia. From the moment the sample of Ponderosa Twins Plus One‘s song “Bound” begins playing, it’s like time- traveling into the 70’s. This final song is a true treat, because it takes us all the way back to ‘Ye’s College Dropout days, when he pulled samples from some of the greatest singers to bless our ears, including Chaka Khan and Luther Vandross.  Mr. West’s rhymes are what we’d expect from him, but the singing throughout the track is what makes it exceptional. To put the icing on the cake, ‘Ye lets Charlie Wilson belt out, “I know you’re tired of loving…with nobody to love.” It’s a very comforting ending, especially in comparison to the atmosphere that preceded it.

Yeezus lacks a teddy bear or anything closely resembling one, but Kanye West remains embraceable. In fact, Kanye has grown even colder since “Cold,” but perhaps that’s the point. Yeezus doesn’t have have to give a fuck about us for us to give a fuck about him. He’s a god.

The post Album Review: Kanye West – Yeezus appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.