Eddie Hazel, A Primer on How to Blow the Roof Off

Eddie Hazel, A Primer on How to Blow the Roof Off

Eddie Hazel

What can said be about Eddie Hazel that hasn’t been already said before? This man was a living legend, a man to carry the torch that Jimi Hendrix lit, pioneer of the Funk-Metal fusion sound that laid the ground that many were influenced by and not even realized it. Many Funkateers and guitar players who know the real deal, know about Eddie Hazel, but, there are a good amount who should know. Like Spacey T said in the black rock documentary “Electric Purgatory: The Fate of the Black Rocker”, “Nobody talks about my man Eddie Hazel.“ For those who are familiar but not aware of the genius of Eddie Hazel this is the article for you.

Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1950 as Edward Earl Hazel, Eddie grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey because his mother, Grace Cook, didn’t want her son growing up in an environment without the drugs and crime that she felt was prominent in New York City. Hazel was given a guitar as a Christmas gift by his older brother. At 12, Eddie became friends with the person to be known as Billy “Bass” Nelson. Both Eddie and Billy sung and played guitar and soon added drummer Harvey McGee to the mix.

In 1967, The Parliaments, a Plainfield-based doo wop group headed by George Clinton, had a hit record with “(I Wanna) Testify.” On this tour, Clinton recruited a backing band, hiring Billy “Bass” Nelson on bass. Billy recommended Hazel for the guitar position. But, due to Hazel working with George Blackwell in Newark, New Jersey. After Nelson returned from touring, he tried to recruit Hazel. Naturally, Eddie Hazel’s mother vetoed the idea of Eddie playing since Hazel was only seventeen at the time. But, Clinton and Nelson changed her mind and let Eddie join the band.

In late ‘67, The Parliaments went on tour with both Nelson and Hazel. In Philadelphia, Pa, Hazel met and befriended Tiki Fullwood, who replaced the Parliaments drummer. With this, Nelson, Hazel and Fullwood evolved from the backing band of the Parliaments to the backbone of Funkadelic. The familiar Doo-Wop sound of the Parliaments quickly began developing into the soul-inflicted hard rock of Funkadelic, Funkadelic was influenced as much by Frankie Lymon as much as Jimi Hendrix. With the addition of Tawl Ross on rhythm guitar and Bernie Worrell on keys, Funkadelic was born.

Now that you’re aware of the basic origins of Eddie Hazel and Funkadelic, I’m going to start off with the first three Funkadelic albums. Remember, this isn’t the definitive Eddie Hazel discography by any means whatsoever. But with these three albums, this should give you a glimpse on the underrated guitar genius of Eddie Hazel.

“Funkadelic”

A phenomenal album recorded in Detroit with contributions from the Motown house band “The Funk Bros.” This album needs a review of all of it’s own. but, in this case we’re going to focus on Eddie Hazel‘s best moments on this phenomenal album.

“I Bet You”

This track asserts itself as a soulful jam that begins with a drum break from Tiki Fulwood and a funky opening riff by Eddie. But as the songs develops, some keyboards and spacey synthesizer action and at 2:07 Eddie’s guitar solo “hits the scene” and brings it on home. The tracks breaks down into a juxtaposition of a science fiction soundtrack, Eddie’s fuzzed out guitar but anchored by the earthy sounds.

Guitar Solo

“Music For My Mother”

“Music For My Mother” gives you a down home southern feel that they refer to as “way back yonder funk.” A track that builds into a call and response with driving drums by Brad Innis and some tasteful licks from Eddie. In this case, Music For My Mother has a grounded feel in the midst of the afro-science fiction funk that’s common throughout the album.

“Good Old Music”

Good Old Music lives up to it‘s name. Eddie Hazel is playing a fuzzed out guitar solo that throughout the song, sews the rhythm section together. In the grand scheme of things, Eddie’s sharp fuzzed out tone is reminiscent of audio embroidery. With Eddie’s soloing he created an audio equivalent of needlepoint that sewed together an already great rhythm section.

“Qualify and Satisfy”

“Qualify and Satisfy” is a down and dirty blues number with suggestive lyrics sung by Calvin Simon. What first starts off as a “gut bucket” blues number develops into a spacey funk jam. Eddie Hazel’s greasy blues licks that develops from a satisfying greasy blues guitar solo into an echoed, fuzzed out call to the cosmos.

Guitar solo

Thanks to the contributions of Dennis Coffey, Earl Van Dyke and other members of the Motown records house band The Funk Bros., this self titled debut was a juxtaposition of screeching Post-Hendrix, Proto-Heavy Metal guitar licks and the “Motown” sound.

“Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow”

The way this album was mixed, the output of the album has this primal crunchy distorted sound that gives you the feeling of pandemonium but still controlled. There have been various legends of George Clinton’s intention regarding this album. One legend is, George Clinton wanted to see if you can record an album on acid and the other legend is that George Clinton wanted to emulate the feeling of an acid trip on a record.

“Free Your Mind…”

The title song kicks off with a mix of fuzzed out guitars, weird chants, synthesizer madness that urges you to elevate your mind from the shackles of yourself to a higher conscious. In this song, Eddie rips a heavy fuzzed out guitar solo that just weaves through out the song like the intricate needlework on a “coat of arms“.

“Friday Night”

A loud, kick to the face to an all around crunchy track with drums by Tiki Fulwood, bass by Billy Nelson, organ by Bernie Worrell and rhythm guitar by Tawl Ross and lead work by Eddie Hazel. Like Good Old Music, Friday Night is a loud jam with proto-metal lead work by Eddie Hazel that sounds like a contemporary to Black Sabbath guitarist, Tony Iommi. Amidst the chaos of this free for all, the song ends on a jazzy outro.

Guitar Solo

“Funky Dollar Bill”

With the band getting across the message of the potential evil that money can buy. A shining moment for not just Eddie Hazel but the band as an entity.

“I Wanna know if it’s Good To You”

“I Wanna Know…“ is a great example of controlled chaos, this is a psychedelic gut bucket R&B tune, the best way to describe it is, soul food fried in LSD. Although as humans, the band are separate entities but, it sounds as if they’re fused together sharing one spiritual entity playing as one. The complimentary licks of Eddie Hazel’s guitar amidst the band sound like racing thoughts that make you break out in a sweat. This song is taken home by a mammoth solo by Eddie Hazel that gives you the feeling of going through time and space.

Maggot Brain

This album is full of amazing guitar work by Eddie, but, I’m going to focus on the title track and “Super Stupid” due to there cultural significance.

“Maggot Brain”

What can you say about this 10 minute epic that hasn’t been said before? I remember, getting into a disagreement with a friend of mine once because they felt this song was a rip off of “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd. Trouble is “The Wall” was released in 1979, meanwhile Maggot Brain was released in 1971. So unless, Eddie traveled in time to get that “Pink Floyd’s The Wall” vibe, I think it’s safe to say after listening to “Maggot Brain“, time travel is possible.

“Super Stupid”

If anyone tells you that black people don’t play rock, get that guy and crank this jam to the highest volume until there hair stands on end like an anime character and there eyes pop out like a cartoon! Eddie rips this track like cheese to a grater! With a quick guitar sketching that is merely a call to the gates, the song breaks into the no nonsense opening riff that’s the audio equivalent to a punch to the face! Words can’t describe this classic head banger, do yourself a favor and listen for yourself.

Guitar Solo

To reiterate, these three albums are just phenomenal examples of an underrated guitar genius and troubled soul but also the bricks on the road me know as modern rock. If you’re looking to get into the origins of “Funk-Rock”, “Groove Metal“, “Nu-Metal” “Rap-Metal” etc. Funkadelic is one of those definitive bands along with Mother’s Finest, Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys and countless others to pioneer the sound. Remember this, you can’t known where you’ve been if you don’t know how far you’ve gone.

Moments in Black History They Don’t Teach You in School!

Moments in Black History They Don’t Teach You in School…

Whenever February rolls around, I get a bittersweet feeling. Like in most history classes, you’re taught about important events in the past. But, after February, there isn’t any mention of black history makers. This bothers me, so, I guess it’s time to start class.

The first model for “Playboy” to feature pubic hair and full frontal nudity was actress/dancer Paula Kelly. I can’t type anymore without having a goofy smile on my face.

 

Mark Dean and his co-inventor Dennis Moeller created a microcomputer system with bus control means for computer periphreal devices. This invention paved the way for the potential growth in the information technology industry. If it wasn’t for this creation, peripheals like disk drivers, video capture cards, speakers, keyboards, basically anything with a SCSI or USB wouldn’t exist or be useless without this.

Jerry Lawson was the director of engineering and marketing for Fairchild Semiconductor’s Video Game division. Fairchild Semiconductor drafted him for the highly classified project to bring a game from an Intel 8080 processor over to the Fairchild’s F8-the CPU of the Channel F. Jerry Lawson designed the Channel F. The Fairchild Channel F was the first programmable ROM cartridge-based video game console.

A year later, Atari released their console, With this, Jerry Lawson is considered, if not, the father of “Cartridge Based” gaming. If it wasn’t for him, all of your memories of staying up late trying to “save the princess” wouldn’t exist.

Cliff Vaughs and Brother Ben Hardy created “The Captain America” and “Billy” choppers for the film Easy Rider. After seeing those choppers, do I need to say more?

This list is short for now, but, that’s because there’s more to uncover. I’ve heard rumblings of Black History should be changed to just American History. Which I agree with, but, until people start talking about the creators as well as the inventions, Black History Month is going to be necessary.

Just a nugget of “You’re Kidding Me?”

I’m not going to do a lengthy tirade this time. Just a nugget of “You’re Kidding Me?”
In Cambridge,MA., Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. was wrongfully arrested for suspicion of breaking and entering even after showing proper ID that it was his house. The arresting bigot–I mean officer’s name James Crowley. Think of this, Jim is a popular nickname James and the first four letters in Crowley is C-R-O-W. So in a way, Jim Crow still gives shit to black America.

The Boosh on Jimmy Fallon

After wading through the asinine comedy stylings of Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Fallon interviewed Mighty Boosh members Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. The Boosh were there to plug all three seasons (series for the UK fans) of The Mighty Boosh that has been released on DVD. Amongst the witty banter, the interview contained…

* The Myspace Bowery Gig and how it went.

* A treat of a 3-way crimp with Jimmy Fallon.

* Mention of a new Mighty Boosh album, movie and series in the works.

*The success of “The Mighty Boosh” in the U.S. on Adult Swim.

* The online popularity of Old Gregg.

The Mighty Boosh will be appearing at Comic-Con in San Diego,CA July 24th.

Sketch Malkus’s Urban Renewal

Here are some tracks from my upcoming album “Urban Renewal”

Mash-Ups

Here are a few mashes from awhile back from my Jack Da Riffer Project

Time Travel isn’t necessary as long as there’s bigotry.

Tyler Perry sends kids who were snubbed by a private swim club known as the “Valley Club” swimming pool in Huntingdon, Valley, PA to Disney World. Popular playwright Tyler Perry is flipping the bill for 65 kids to enjoy the “happiest place on earth.”

I remember hearing about these kids in Pennsylvania getting denied access in at a predominatly white swim club. Knowing that these kids were denied access and some members of the Valley Club making racial remarks I’m thinking “You’re going to make racial remarks to a group of kids?” That’s just low, but, racism is low. “The Valley Club” which had contracted with the daycare “Creative Steps” (the inner city day care) to allow it’s kids to swim there, refunded the camp’s money without anykind of explanation. Later, In a statement to NBC Philadelphia, The Valley Club President, John Duesler “The kids might change the complexion…and the atmosphere of the club.” Wow, change the complexion?

But, there is a good ending to this story. After playwright, Tyler Perry, creator of this hit stage plays “I Can Do By All By Myself” and “Meet The Browns” got wind of this story, Perry was outraged and disgusted by this blatant bigotry. So, with his money he’s funding a trip for the kids of “Creative Steps” to Disney World in Orlando,FL. Also due to the discrimination, Creative Steps is pursuing a Federal Civil Rights law suit against “The Valley Club” swim club. This is a heart warming ending to a story with a cold beginning and I say with a smile, I hope Creative Steps” sues “The Valley Club” until they’re considered “Neighborhood Get Together.”

Pwnage 101: Today’s Lesson, Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarett

*cues up Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and uses BBC Documentary English Accent for the effect of being pompous* Okay class, we’re going to be starting our lesson in “Pwnage 101″ Pwnage or it’s variants, “owned, pwned!pwnage and many more.” To paraphrase Urban Dictionary:

Verb. Owned

Def. To be made a fool of, to make a fool of or embarassing someone in public.

It seems that wrestlers Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett have legitimate *heat! Okay, to non-wrestling fans, you’re probably wondering who are Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle? Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle are wrestlers that work for Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling or “TNA:Impact” as it’s know colloquially. It seems that on July 15, 2009, a caller on controversial radio show Bubba The Love Sponge who worked with “TNA:Impact” and who demanded to have his voice “protected” for the sake of his anonimity dropped the bombshell of Karen Angle (Kurt’s ex-wife) and Kurt and Karen’s two kids are now living with Jeff Jarrett. The other alleged bombshell is Kurt had no idea this was going on between Jeff and Karen!

Due to the obvious tension between Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett matter, Dixie Carter (president of TNA Entertainment) has suspended Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett from all “TNA:Impact” programming. I hate to tell you folks, but this isn’t the first time this has happened in the world of wrestling. Now defunct federation, WCW (World Championship Wrestling) had a similar issue. Those two wrestlers were Kevin Sullivan and Chris Benoit …and we all know what happened to Chris Benoit.

*Heat is defined as reaction from the crowd, but, can also be used as to refer to tension between two or more individuals.

Chris, just stop it…just…stop it.

Chris Brown recorded a public apology that he uploaded on Youtube regarding the domestic abuse case with his girfriend, and celebrity in her own right, Rihanna. His apology was so insincere, that he probably would have been better off, not doing it. Yes, it was a good attempt at “righting” his “wrong”, but at best, he could have tried a little harder to “act” like he meant what he was saying.

If you don’t know, on Feburary 8th, Rihanna’s Grammy performance was cancelled due to an altercation with, then, boyfriend Chris Brown. When I first heard about it, I was stunned because it hit the media, but then made light of it. I mean, it’s freaking Chris Brown! I’d heard about his temperment, so I wasn’t surprised, and I really don’t think Rihanna was surprised either because it wasn’t the first time he’d hit her. So, big deal, what’s next? Trey Songz organizing a dog fight? or D’Angelo smoking cra– okay, maybe it is more believable than I thought.

A month later, thanks to the vultures of the paparazzi, I change of heart because I saw pictures of a beaten woman, and then realized it was Rihanna…that’s when my jokes stopped because when looking at those pictures, I looked past the Rhianna persona, I just saw pictures of a beaten woman.

When it comes down to it, I’m not a big fan of either Chris Brown or Rhianna, but, when it comes to domestic abuse, it more or less confirms that Chris Brown can more or less “Kiss Kiss” my ass! Another thing, after watching “This Christmas”, a movie in which Chris Brown played a pretty major part, you can tell that he isn’t that great of an actor, so, him doing a reading of a public apology was a bad idea because, due to his insincerity on the video, he had to rely on his acting skills, and it didn’t cut it. Seriously, I’ve seen infomercials more sincere than his freaking apology! Dude, you know that was bullshit especially with the “oops” chain he has been wearing lately. He paid $30,000 for a chain that completely made light of the whole situation, that was his idea, so it expressed his true feeling about the situation. I’m sure this act further tarnished his image, thus, the video to hopefully repair thing, again. C’mon! An asshole is an asshole, I don’t care how you try to dress it up, and Chris Brown’s weak attempt to apologize confirmed his assholeness.

Here’s the deal, you’re in the public eye and an image has to be maintained! Chris got to know the real Rihanna, real name being “Robyn Rihanna Fenty”, and forgot that he was messing with a person in the public eye. Celebs are just regular people, when they’re out of the limelight, and they are looked upon, as regular people by those close to them. It’s pretty easy to forget about image and celebrity, when you’re home doing regular things like the rest of us do, so to Chris, Rhianna was just his girlfriend, whose known to have a kind of rough edge, due to having been the only girl growing up with a lot of brothers, the side of Rhianna, we never saw, or will see. To Chris Brown, he was just doing the same thing he’d done, and got away with before, punching his girlfriend, while she tolerated it. But, to the rest of the world … Chris Brown, you knocked the daylights out of “Little Miss Sunshine”, kid!

That’s my opinion and I welcome yours. On this site, I’m going to get personal, not necesarily about celebs, but also with what I’ve been through and seen. Like a lot of people, I come from a tumultuous background and some of those wounds are healing, finally. So, I won’t tolerate any man hitting a woman, for any reason. Don’t give me that lame excuse, “I saw domestic abuse, while growing up, so that’s my reaction”, that’s bullshit! Piece of advice, if you want to be better than your past, be the opposite of your past.

Looks like “Rebirth” might be overdue

According to allhiphop.com, it seems that Lil’ Wayne’s “rock” album entitled “Rebirth” release date has been pushed back.

Okay, I truly have mixed feelings about this whole thing, the first feeling is
confused yet but civil about the matter.

As we know, Lil’ Wayne has been successful in the rap world. With various mix tapes and the juggernaut of an album “The Carter III”, Lil’ Wayne has been declared as “best rapper alive”. But, like many established artists, Lil’ Wayne, real name DeWayne, wants to branch out into another genre to express himself, in this case, thru rock music. I can imagine the distribution label and marketing department being confused, in a panic about what to do with a “Lil Wayne rock album”. Aside from Lil’ Wayne being a fan of Nirvana, I’m not sure why he’s going into the rock realm as of now.

Now it’s time to hide the kids, here’s the raw version of what I really think.

The whole “Lil Wayne mania” is lost on me. I guess I’m kind of like those old school wrestlers who couldn’t figure out what was so good about Hulk Hogan. The thing that pisses me off about Lil’ Wayne is that I feel he’s jumping on this “party like a rock star” poser bullshit that The Shop Boyz started two summers ago. When I was younger, people such as myself were persecuted and made fun of for our varied taste in music. To those outside of the realm of AfroPunk, rock was “white boy shit” or it was “how can you listen to that stuff?” Now, you have the same people who attacked our varied taste in music wearing fuckin’ band tees and have never even heard of the group that’s on their chest. To me, that’s like wearing a family reunion T-shirt and not being apart of that family, or not know their history.


Don’t get me wrong, there are tons of other rappers, past and present, who have rock-tinged rap music … because they’re fucking fans of rock! Those artists include, Esham, Ice-T, Run D.M.C. ,Tech N9ne, DMX, Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, Method Man, Three Six Mafia, Outkast, Beastie Boys (they were a hardcore punk band, but got into rap), Snoop Dogg, and the biggest surprise but non-surprise, Lil’ Jon! Lil’ Jon is a big fan of rock music, namely The Ramones, Sex Pistols, and Bad Brains. Lil’ Jon even had the rhythm section of Bad Brains (Darryl Jenifer, Earl Hudson and Dr. Know) play “Re-Ignition” on his remix for “Real Nigga Roll Call”. In fact, Jonathan Smith, also known as Lil’ Jon, was a skate punk. With all that combine, Lil’ Jon’s rock credibility has been validated, and I await the release of his rock influenced album “Crunk Rock”. But, like Lil’ Wayne’s “Rebirth”, the release date for “Crunk Rock” has been pushed back as well.

Random Fact: The Beastie Boys were a hardcore punk band, but they didn’t start out that way. They started the band as a joke, and chose the name Beastie Boys as a tribute to Bad Brains (Double B’s).

After reading my rants, have you noticed the common trend? If you’ve watched the documentary “Electric Purgatory”, then you learned most record labels see color first, and music second when it comes to their black artists. Even though I have my doubts on the genuineness of a rock album from Lil Wayne, I do see it as the label putting race first and music second. When will the madness end?

Update: Rebirth has been released and it sucked and Lil Wayne is now in Riker’s Island…for weapons charges not being a sucker MC.