EURweb |
THE PULSE OF ENTERTAINMENT: Jazz/Hip-Hop saxophonist Mike Phillips featured on 'Unwrapped: The Collipark Cafe' Sessions'
Also, The Africa Channel gets deal with Time Warner Cable
Hip-Hop saxophonist Mike Phillips is featured on ‘Unwrapped 5: The Collipark Café’ Seasons,’ a Hidden Beach release
*“I’m from the streets” Jazz saxophonist Mike Phillips said about his style. “Hip-Hop comes from the streets (from) Miles Davis to A Tribe Called Quest. The trend started from the street up. Guys in suits and ties sit in their offices and say, ‘This is good!’ But people in suits can’t make a trend.”
It is that Hip-Hop trend with a twist of Jazz that the new Hidden Beach release “Unwrapped 5.0: The Collipark Café’ Sessions” captures with the help of featured Jazz musicians like Mike. As with the style of Mike Phillips fusing together Hip-Hop and Jazz, producer Mr. Collipark (Lil’ Jon, Ying Yang Twins, Soulja Boy), the brainchild of the project, wanted to combine Jazz with Atlanta’s Crunk. Collipark and his attorney/partner Karl Marcellus approached Hidden Beach Recordings with the idea.
Hidden Beach launched in 2001 its “Unwrapped” series of Jazz interpretations of popular Hip-Hop songs. By then Collipark and Washington had enlisted the help of Abdul Ra’oof to help assemble a group of noted Atlanta-based musicians and producers, but somehow they couldn’t get it off the ground.
Initially Steve McKeever, president of Hidden Beach Recordings turned them down because he had done four series of “Unwrapped” and he felt the market-place was flooded with carbon copies of what they were doing.
When the right time came Steve contacted Collipark and “Unwrapped: The Collipark Café’ Sessions” was completed. It has eleven tracks of which Mike Phillips is on three: Hurricane Chris’ “Ay Bay Bay,” T-Pain’s “Shawty,” and Soulja Boy’s “Crank That.” Artists featured on the CD include Phillips, Peter Black, Jeff Bradshaw, Jimmy Brown, Kofi Burbridge and the albums executive producer Abdul Ra’oof.
“The young rap movement I can’t stand,” Mike says about current-day Hip-Hop. “Be responsible and make…something my 10 year-old can listen to.”
Well, the Hidden Beach CD, “Unwrapped: The Collipark Café’ Sessions,” doesn’t have that problem because it is mainly an instrumental album. You will also find Lil’ Jon and the Eastside Boyz’s “Get Low,” with Jimmy Brown on Sax, flute and trombone; The Ying Yang Twins’ “Salt Shaker,” with Reginald Jones on keyboards and guitar; Akon’s “Soul Survivor,” with Abdul Ra’oof on trumpet and vocals, and a Mr. Collipark original “Bridging the Great Divide,” with Darryl “Wiz” Rouse on Keyboards and Abdul on vocals.
“There’s one thing that will never change, people are looking for music that stirs the soul,” Mike said as our interview concluded, and I totally agree.
The African Channel gets deal with Time Warner Cable
The U.S. – based television network, The Africa Channel, announced the launch of its Time Warner Cable channel 176. The Time Warner agreement will provide The Africa Channel national reach to 14 million households.
The Africa Channel features 1,800 hours of programming that spans from news and information to travel and lifestyle. It has music and talk shows, and reality and special event shows.
“My plan is to bring to the entire planet, Africa,” Co-founder and CEO James Makawa said when asked why he took on this major project, a channel of nothing but African programming, done by Africans. “There’s a misunderstanding. The media presents one image and there is nothing positive, only war, famine and AIDS. Africa is the cradle of mankind! What America doesn’t see is places to visit, golfing, mountains (climbing), biking, surfing, the incredible food and let me not forget, the people.”
Some of the shows on The Africa Channel include the travel series “Africa Within” and “Studio 53;” reality series “Project Fame Africa” and “All You Need is Love;” dramas “Generations,” “Jacob’s Cross” and “Isidingo;” news program “African Journal,” and the music program “Africa Music.”
“We now are in the UK on Sky B, on Comcast, Cox and Charter,” James added. He went on to tell him of his background experiences. “I studied broadcasting and was a correspondent for NBC News. Richard (co-founder) worked in marketing and promotions for Paramount Studios.”
The Africa Channel was launched in 2005 with an initial partner in United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young. For the first time the U.S. audience was able to experience the successes, celebrations and challenges of Africa. It also airs English-language programs.
Check out more on the network and its programs at www.theafricachannel.com.
Click for the latest Obama - Political headlines
Share and Bookmark |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
