TALK TO THE DADDY

Hello. Come on in. The daddy writes about current events, literature, music and, once in a while, drops something on you from back in the day to make you pause and ponder, stop and stare, and begin to wonder. Who knows? You may start to pace the floor, shake your head from side to side, then fall down on bended knees in a praying position and cry, "Lawd, have mercy! What is this world coming to?" Check yourself! But this blog is NOT about the daddy. It's about you: your boos, your fam, your hood, your country...our hopes and dreams of a better tomorrow. So let's make a pact: the daddy will put it on the track if you'll chase it down and hit him back. Together, we can definitely take it to another level. Shall we?"

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Isaac Hayes and Black Manhood

"In Africa, music is not an art form as much as it is a means of communication.
A Negro has got no name. Quite often, the words of the song are meaningless.
A Negro has got no name We are wearing the name of our master"

Perhaps the most interesting articles about the importance of Isaac Hayes to the black community, especially to black men, was written by Charles Duke. And it features a photo of Hayes with Chuck D from Public Enemy, the daddy's favorite hip hop group.

Isaac Hayes - RIP ("Black Moses")

Click Here to get more info about Isaac Hayes - RIP "My Musical Godfather...."
-Chuck D

This one hits me extremely hard.

I'm sitting here trying to get my thoughts together, trying to figure out how to say things that I want to say without possibly offending people, and trying to make it all cohesive. But I'll admit...the emotions and sadness are overwhelming me.

So if y'all don't mind, I'll just type out the feelings as they come to the fore.

Ike was such a vision and representation of African American manhood, that, as a Black man, you just couldn't help but feel strength from him. It wasn't just the music; it wasn't just the imagery of "the chains" or "Black Moses;" it wasn't just the association of "Shaft" and the power and strength and boldness of the music and the movie; it wasn't just the voice; it wasn't just the strength through the vulnerable emotions of a "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" or a "I Stand Accused" or the eventual (finally!) comeuppance of "I'm Gonna Make It Without You" from the album "Joy"...

It was ALL OF THAT....

And Ike gave us that. He was music to "make love to your woman to." He was a "soundtrack" for just walking down the street--especially in the early 70s, when all of this was coming together as far as an elevation of the Black man's image.

All of the Brothers could relate to Ike. There had been others (I'm not naming names--LOL!!!) who tried to (with the deep-voice singing), let's say, "approxi-mate" around that time--but the difference was that Ike and his music sounded like he came from "around the corner on Lenox Avenue & 138th St."--whereas, say "someone else" (LOL!!!) sounded like he was "down on Fifth Ave with plush white carpeting." One was "Bruno Magli" shoes; Ike was "Pro Keds." ...I shed an internal tear today...Ike was THE MAN!

Charles Duke
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Brothas may have called Hayes "The Man." But it was just another way of say amen to what Reid said: Hayes was the master; and many came along and imitated him. But, really, they were just wearing the master's name, the name of Isaac Hayes, the Man, the Black Moses.

For more articles about Hayes and soul music in general, the daddy says check
out the folks at Soul Patrol.com and sign up to get their newsletter. It's very informative.

2 comments:

Vertis said...

Great post,
Issac Hayes was a brilliant artist and will be missed!

A little off the subject, but I just tagged you, check my blog for details.

Peace

rainywalker said...

daddyBstrong,
Your blog is one of the few I read that has some sense of peace and normalcy.