Book-It 'o14! Book #6
The Fifty Books Challenge, year five! ( 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013) This was a library request.
Title: Mo' Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and Ben Greenman
Details: Copyright 2013, Grand Central Publishing
Synopsis (By Way of Front and Back Flaps): " Mo' Meta Blues is a punch-drunk memoir in which Everyone's Favorite Questlove tells his own story while tackling some of the lates, the greats, the fakes, the philosophers, the heavyweights, and the true originals of the music world. He digs deep into the album cuts of his life and unearths some pivotal moments in black art, hip hop, and pop culture.
Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson is many things: virtuoso drummer, producer, arranger, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon bandleader, DJ, composer, and tireless Tweeter. He is one of our most ubiquitous cultural tastemakers, and in this, his first book, he reveals his own formative experiences--from growing up in 1970s West Philly as the son of a 1950s doo-wop singer, to finding his own way through the music world and ultimately co-founding and rising up with the Roots, a.k.a., the last hip hop band on Earth. Mo' Meta Blues also has some (many) random (or not) musings about the state of hip hop, the state of music criticism, the state of statements, as well as a plethora of run-ins with celebrities, idols, and fellow artists, from Stevie Wonder to KISS to D'Angelo to Jay-Z to Dave Chappelle to...you ever seen Prince roller-skate?!?
But Mo' Meta Blues isn't just a memoir. It's a dialogue about the nature of memory and the idea of a post-modern black man saddled with some post-modern blues. It's a book that questions what a book like Mo' Meta Blues really is. It's the side wind of a one-of-a-kind mind.
It's a rare gift that gives as well as takes.
It's a record that keeps going around and around."
Why I Wanted to Read It: While I've only been slightly aware of the Roots' music (I've seen them perform on various shows and demonstrate some impressive skills on Jimmy Fallon and I've also seen them live with John Legend at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear), I've appreciated their clear talent and came to especially like Questlove, who always struck me as the kind of person you'd love to have a long conversation with, picking his brain and his experience. This seemed like the literary equivalent of that.
How I Liked It: I cringed when I saw a co-author, despite the fact I've seen evidence that co-authors can help books without overshadowing them and/or becoming a ghost-writer.
The book does indeed mostly read like a long conversation with Questlove and it's frequently charming, fascinating, and entertaining. The book stumbles when it runs over exactly which format it wants to take. Back and forths between Questlove and the Roots' manager Rich Nichols, a straight-forward first person account with Questlove, a straight-forward first person account with Questlove but with footnotes by Rich Nichols commenting on Questlove's reminiscences, emails between the book's co-writer Ben Greenman to the book's editor Ben Greenberg about the status of the book, Questlove's truly impressive "Quest Loves Records" which details his favorite albums through the years and his memories/commentary to go along with them... it all makes for a very disjointed read which too often squanders the intimacy and connection created between the authors and the reader in portions like Questlove's unabashed mashnote-esque dissection of his favorite artists and musical memories.
One of the much-touted highlights of the book are Questlove's much beloved celebrity stories, which once you hear a few, you understand why they're beloved. They manage to somehow blend an authentic feel of meeting celebrities (whether an idol or just a big name) but without the tedious-feeling of name-dropping. You get a far more human sense of iconic figures without either sainthood nor a hatchet job, no matter the person.
For its flaws, it still holds as not only a devoted enthusiast allowed to gush, but a love letter to and reminder of the importance and power of music.
Notable: One of my pressing questions was Questlove's Michele Bachmann debacle. The Roots have raised the "walk out" to an art form with their selection of frequently obscure musical choices (one example that sticks in my mind is Christina Applegate came out to "Christina's World", a song her mother wrote before she was even born, about the Wyeth painting of the same name). Controversy erupted when Michele Bachmann made an appearance and entered to "Lyin' Ass Bitch".
Questlove explains his decision (and the justifiable blowback) came from his want for a song with "lies" in the title but with a minimum of lyrics. He didn't make the "bitch" connection since according to him, "bitch" is so frequently used as a gender neutral term in hip hop. He laments not using Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World", which contains the "don't know much about history" line that would've been perfect for Bachmann.
He tells the story thusly:
“I learned that at one point, fact-checkers had set a limit for themselves on how many of evasions and misrepresentations they were going to catch. That was my starting point, and I set out on a mission to find the best song about politics and evasion and untruth. I considered "Lies," either the En Vogue one or the McFly one, but we don't generally sing any lyrics, so I ended up picked Fishbone's Lyin' Ass Bitch, a ska number from their 1985 debut. It has a good little melody and lots of energy. It seemed funny to me. I figured it would be another exhibit in Ahmir's Hall of Snark, and not much more than that.
So that's what happened. Michele Bachmann came out on to the show and spoke to Jimmy. She didn't know what song we were playing. I'm sure almost no one knew what song we were playing. That was part of the fun of it. I felt satisfied to the point of smugness. We had pulled one over on the man.
Then, the next day, satisfaction and smugness turned to ego. I was sitting around at home thinking that I had done something historical, something political. I had struck a blow for truth. I wanted credit. When you want credit for something and you don't want to operate via traditional channels, where do you go? In this day and age, you go to Twitter. That's where I went. Someone tweeted me a question: "Was that 'Lyin' Ass Bitch'?" I answered like someone in the grip of ego, which is exactly what I was: "Sho' nuf." That was it. The fuse was lit. The news began to spread. ” (pgs 261, 262)
He then goes on to detail the fall-out, including almost losing his job (and the Roots' job), and being narrowly saved by the fact Bachmann made one of her bigger blunders at a Republican debate shortly after, and the news overshadowed the Fallon appearance. Also, Questlove claims to have had some friends at Fox News at the time who shared that "people over there had combed through every last lyric of every single Roots album, looking for a smoking gun-- something violent, something misogynistic-- and found nothing. There was no story there."
Except that's not quite what happened.
Granted, wouldn't anyone tell a different story in their account to look better? Isn't that kind of human nature and we do it without thinking about it?
Except that the lead up to the appearance went something like this.
Before the show, he Tweeted "aight late night walkon song devotees: you love it when we snark: this next one takes the cake. ask around cause i aint tweeting title."
After several people guessed the title correctly, he provided a link to buy the song on iTunes.
I can understand why he (or his co-writer) would frame the story that way, but it still then makes you wonder how many other stories may have gotten fuzzy in the details.
Title: Mo' Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and Ben Greenman
Details: Copyright 2013, Grand Central Publishing
Synopsis (By Way of Front and Back Flaps): " Mo' Meta Blues is a punch-drunk memoir in which Everyone's Favorite Questlove tells his own story while tackling some of the lates, the greats, the fakes, the philosophers, the heavyweights, and the true originals of the music world. He digs deep into the album cuts of his life and unearths some pivotal moments in black art, hip hop, and pop culture.
Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson is many things: virtuoso drummer, producer, arranger, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon bandleader, DJ, composer, and tireless Tweeter. He is one of our most ubiquitous cultural tastemakers, and in this, his first book, he reveals his own formative experiences--from growing up in 1970s West Philly as the son of a 1950s doo-wop singer, to finding his own way through the music world and ultimately co-founding and rising up with the Roots, a.k.a., the last hip hop band on Earth. Mo' Meta Blues also has some (many) random (or not) musings about the state of hip hop, the state of music criticism, the state of statements, as well as a plethora of run-ins with celebrities, idols, and fellow artists, from Stevie Wonder to KISS to D'Angelo to Jay-Z to Dave Chappelle to...you ever seen Prince roller-skate?!?
But Mo' Meta Blues isn't just a memoir. It's a dialogue about the nature of memory and the idea of a post-modern black man saddled with some post-modern blues. It's a book that questions what a book like Mo' Meta Blues really is. It's the side wind of a one-of-a-kind mind.
It's a rare gift that gives as well as takes.
It's a record that keeps going around and around."
Why I Wanted to Read It: While I've only been slightly aware of the Roots' music (I've seen them perform on various shows and demonstrate some impressive skills on Jimmy Fallon and I've also seen them live with John Legend at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear), I've appreciated their clear talent and came to especially like Questlove, who always struck me as the kind of person you'd love to have a long conversation with, picking his brain and his experience. This seemed like the literary equivalent of that.
How I Liked It: I cringed when I saw a co-author, despite the fact I've seen evidence that co-authors can help books without overshadowing them and/or becoming a ghost-writer.
The book does indeed mostly read like a long conversation with Questlove and it's frequently charming, fascinating, and entertaining. The book stumbles when it runs over exactly which format it wants to take. Back and forths between Questlove and the Roots' manager Rich Nichols, a straight-forward first person account with Questlove, a straight-forward first person account with Questlove but with footnotes by Rich Nichols commenting on Questlove's reminiscences, emails between the book's co-writer Ben Greenman to the book's editor Ben Greenberg about the status of the book, Questlove's truly impressive "Quest Loves Records" which details his favorite albums through the years and his memories/commentary to go along with them... it all makes for a very disjointed read which too often squanders the intimacy and connection created between the authors and the reader in portions like Questlove's unabashed mashnote-esque dissection of his favorite artists and musical memories.
One of the much-touted highlights of the book are Questlove's much beloved celebrity stories, which once you hear a few, you understand why they're beloved. They manage to somehow blend an authentic feel of meeting celebrities (whether an idol or just a big name) but without the tedious-feeling of name-dropping. You get a far more human sense of iconic figures without either sainthood nor a hatchet job, no matter the person.
For its flaws, it still holds as not only a devoted enthusiast allowed to gush, but a love letter to and reminder of the importance and power of music.
Notable: One of my pressing questions was Questlove's Michele Bachmann debacle. The Roots have raised the "walk out" to an art form with their selection of frequently obscure musical choices (one example that sticks in my mind is Christina Applegate came out to "Christina's World", a song her mother wrote before she was even born, about the Wyeth painting of the same name). Controversy erupted when Michele Bachmann made an appearance and entered to "Lyin' Ass Bitch".
Questlove explains his decision (and the justifiable blowback) came from his want for a song with "lies" in the title but with a minimum of lyrics. He didn't make the "bitch" connection since according to him, "bitch" is so frequently used as a gender neutral term in hip hop. He laments not using Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World", which contains the "don't know much about history" line that would've been perfect for Bachmann.
He tells the story thusly:
“I learned that at one point, fact-checkers had set a limit for themselves on how many of evasions and misrepresentations they were going to catch. That was my starting point, and I set out on a mission to find the best song about politics and evasion and untruth. I considered "Lies," either the En Vogue one or the McFly one, but we don't generally sing any lyrics, so I ended up picked Fishbone's Lyin' Ass Bitch, a ska number from their 1985 debut. It has a good little melody and lots of energy. It seemed funny to me. I figured it would be another exhibit in Ahmir's Hall of Snark, and not much more than that.
So that's what happened. Michele Bachmann came out on to the show and spoke to Jimmy. She didn't know what song we were playing. I'm sure almost no one knew what song we were playing. That was part of the fun of it. I felt satisfied to the point of smugness. We had pulled one over on the man.
Then, the next day, satisfaction and smugness turned to ego. I was sitting around at home thinking that I had done something historical, something political. I had struck a blow for truth. I wanted credit. When you want credit for something and you don't want to operate via traditional channels, where do you go? In this day and age, you go to Twitter. That's where I went. Someone tweeted me a question: "Was that 'Lyin' Ass Bitch'?" I answered like someone in the grip of ego, which is exactly what I was: "Sho' nuf." That was it. The fuse was lit. The news began to spread. ” (pgs 261, 262)
He then goes on to detail the fall-out, including almost losing his job (and the Roots' job), and being narrowly saved by the fact Bachmann made one of her bigger blunders at a Republican debate shortly after, and the news overshadowed the Fallon appearance. Also, Questlove claims to have had some friends at Fox News at the time who shared that "people over there had combed through every last lyric of every single Roots album, looking for a smoking gun-- something violent, something misogynistic-- and found nothing. There was no story there."
Except that's not quite what happened.
Granted, wouldn't anyone tell a different story in their account to look better? Isn't that kind of human nature and we do it without thinking about it?
Except that the lead up to the appearance went something like this.
Before the show, he Tweeted "aight late night walkon song devotees: you love it when we snark: this next one takes the cake. ask around cause i aint tweeting title."
After several people guessed the title correctly, he provided a link to buy the song on iTunes.
I can understand why he (or his co-writer) would frame the story that way, but it still then makes you wonder how many other stories may have gotten fuzzy in the details.