The Wonder Year: Inspiring Soul with 9th Wonder

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The Wonder Year: Inspiring Soul with 9th Wonder

by Quentin B. Huff | Popmatters

The Elusive Middle Ground

9th Wonder does not subscribe to these divisions. He sees it happening between generations, not just in terms of how musical tastes create age-related rifts but also in the effects of polarizing opinions about hip-hop. When he talks about the generation gap where music is concerned, you can almost feel his profound love for all music that comes from the soul.

“I have so much respect for the ‘70s and the ‘60s,” he said, “because of my love for James Brown. If I’m listening to Edwin Starr and George Duke, not only do I want to listen to them, I’m thinking about how they lived. What was it like to be in the ‘70s? That’s the connection that we can preach. And that’s the thing about the generational divide. I think hip-hop can really change that to make both a kid and an adult understand [one another]. I look at most concerts on TV, a Mötley Crüe concert, you’ll see a granddad or a dad and a son. At a Rolling Stones concert, you’ll see a granddad, a son, and a 14-year-old, all watching Mick Jagger. Why can’t we have that for A Tribe Called Quest, man? Only a few people in our culture we can do that with. And there needs to be more.”

Not only does his ability to find the elusive middle ground inform his beat-making and his historical perspective, it also impacts the way he markets his music. “You got some people that’s stuck in the new and stuck in the old. The people that’s stuck in the old, ‘Man, I don’t do Twitter. Man, I don’t do that. I don’t do Facebook. I don’t be on none of that stuff.’ You don’t wanna sell no records then, friend! Like, in this day and time, you don’t want NO buzz. ‘Cause you’re tryin’ to reach the audience that can buy the records the most, and that’s them 14 through 18s. And if you want to sell anything to them, you gotta get on that Twitter, man. But then you got ones, the new kids, who are like, ‘I don’t wanna meet people’ and ‘I don’t wanna talk to people’ and ‘I wanna meet everybody through the internet.’ Naw, you gotta get out and talk to people, you gotta do in-stores, you gotta do interviews, ya know. That stuff still works.”

Some of that “middle ground” mentality emanates from his upbringing, as a child of the ‘70s. “I was blessed to be born when I was born, 1975,” he explained, “because we had the old school way of life, and we were young enough just when things started to change. We were lucky enough to understand both sides.”

Of course, the gravity of having a documentary about oneself, and screening it in one’s hometown was not lost on 9th Wonder. It was a moving experience, one that could not be compartmentalized in that middle ground. His children were in attendance, along with all manner of fans, friends, colleagues, and extended family.

Read More @ Popmatters

'Black Male Identity in the Age of Obama' feat. Cornel West, 9th Wonder & Mark Anthony Neal

Trailer: 'The Wonder Year'

The Wonder Year
A film by Kenneth Price

A year in the life of CEO, NAACP ambassador, Duke University professor, husband, father, son and Grammy Award winning producer 9th Wonder. The film follows one of soul music’s most dynamic figures from his childhood home to late nights in the studio and everywhere in between.

Featuring: Drake, DJ Premier, DJ Green Lantern, J. Cole, Murs, Phonte, Sha Money XL, Young Guru, The Alchemist & more.

MURS & 9TH WONDER - "I USED TO LOVE HER (AGAIN")

Directed by JON MAZYCK. From the Murs & 9th Wonder album FORNEVER, available at http://mursworld.com.

Sampling Soul--Duke University Fall 2011

Black Popular Culture—Sampling Soul (AAAS 132)
Mark Anthony Neal and 9th Wonder (Patrick Douthit)
Fall Semester 2011
White Lecture Hall 107
Tuesdays 6:00pm -- 8:25pm

***

Soul Music emerged in the late 1950s and became the secular soundtrack of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Artists such as Aretha Franklin and James Brown and record companies such as Motown and Stax, as well as the term Soul became symbols of black aspiration and black political engagement. In the decades since the rise of Soul, the music and its icons are continuously referenced in contemporary popular culture via movie trailers, commercials, television sitcoms and of course music. In the process Soul has become a significant and lucrative cultural archive.

Co-taught with Grammy Award winning producer 9th Wonder and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal, Sampling Soul will examine how the concept of Soul has functioned as raw data for contemporary forms of cultural expression. In addition the course will consider the broader cultural implications of sampling, in the practices of parody and collage, and the legal ramifications of sampling within the context of intellectual property law. The course also offers the opportunity to rethink the concept of archival material in the digital age.

'Left of Black': Episode #28 featuring Rosa Clemente and 9th Wonder

Left of Black #28
w/ Rosa Clemente and 9th Wonder
March 21, 2011

Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Rosa Clemente (via Skype), the 2008 Green Party Vice-Presidential candidate in a conversation about the historic Green Party ticket in 2008, contemporary Black activism and Hip-Hop. Later Neal is joined in-studio by producer, label head and educator 9th Wonder (Patrick Douthit).

***

→Rosa Alicia Clemente is a community organizer, journalist Hip Hop activist and the 2008 Vice-Presidential candidate with the Green Party. She has been a featured keynote speaker, panelist, and political commentator all over the United States. In 1995, she developed Know Thy Self Productions, a speaker’s bureau for young people of color.. Clemente is currently working on her first book, When A Puerto Rican Woman Ran For Vice-President and Nobody Knew Her Name and will begin pursuing her doctorate degree in Black Studies this upcoming fall.

→Patrick Douthit aka 9th Wonder is a Grammy Award winning music producer, who has worked with artists like Erykah Badu, Jay Z, David Banner, Destiny’s Child, Jean Grae, MURs and was a founding member of the group Little Brother. Douthit is currently the head on the Jamla Record label and It’s A Wonderful World Music Group (IWWMG). The Wonder Year, a film directed by Kenneth Price, featuring a year in the life of 9th Wonder will debut later this month at the RiverRun International Film Festival in his hometown of Winston-Salem. In the fall, he will co-teach the course “Sampling Soul” with Mark Anthony Neal at Duke University.

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Left of Black is a weekly Webcast hosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University.

New Video: Rapsody--"Imagination"

New Video by Rapsody (of Kooley High) and the "First Lady" of 9th Wonder's Jamla label.

Panel: Hip-Hop Planet w/ Chuck D, Mark Anthony Neal, 9th Wonder & Others

Edward McKay Artist and Author series at Hopscotch. Panel includes The speakers include Durham's 9TH WONDER, the Little Brother cofounder and Grammy winner who has gone on to make music with Jay-Z, Destiny's Child, David Banner and Murs; New York's CHRISTOPHER R. WEINGARTEN, "the last rock critic standing" and a scribe for Village Voice, Spin, Rolling Stone and the author of a new book on Public Enemy; Durham's MARK ANTHONY NEAL, a Professor of Black Popular Culture at Duke University and the author of several books on music and culture; Raleigh's CHARLIE SMARTS, a member of the exuberant, emerging hip-hop crew Kooley High; and surprise guest Chuck D of Public Enemy.

'Left of Black': Episode #1 featuring Zelda Lockhart and Stephane Dunn

'Left of Black'
w/Mark Anthony Neal
Monday, September 13, 2010

Guests:

Author Zelda Lockhart joins 'Left of Black' to discuss her new book 'Fifth Born II: The One Hundredth Turtle' and how the issues of homosexuality, violence and shame affect Black communities. Lockhart also discusses her decision to publish independently.

theLoop21.com columnist and Morehouse College professor Stephane Dunn discusses her recent essay 'When Mega Churchin' Fails' and the new ESPN 30 by 30 documentary 'One Night in Vegas.'

***

'Left of Black' is produced by Jason Doty and Catherine Angst for the John Hope Franklin Center.

Music provided by 9th Wonder of 9th Wonder Music

Q & A with 9th Wonder

9th Wonder w/Harry Weinger of Universal Music & Mark Anthony Neal

Q & A with 9th Wonder
by Sherron Shabazz

Recently I was lucky enough to meet Grammy award winning producer 9th Wonder at Rock the Bells in New York City. That meeting led to an interview that I've long coveted.

I've followed 9th Wonder since the release of Little Brother's 2003 debut album The Listening. Since then 9th has left the group Little Brother and gone on to produce tracks for Jay-Z, Ludacris, Destiny's Child, Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu, EPMD, and De La Soul among others.

9th Wonder follows in the footsteps of early 90's producers RZA and Pete Rock who injected soul music into Hip-Hop beats. Hip-Hop producers who still sample like Kanye West and 9th Wonder are head and shoulders above the bevy of synthed-out producers who pretty much all sound the same.

My chat with 9th didn't feel like an interview. It felt more like a chat between friends who both love the game of Hip-Hop. 9th's passion for the art-form comes through in this interview and I'm sure that everyone who reads it will feel it.

SS: How was it performing with Murs at Rock the Bells?

9th Wonder: Incredible stuff man. Murs and I have been friends since 2003. We're talking about becoming an official group now. It was fun. All of our influences were there. One of the biggest influences if not the biggest is A Tribe Called Quest and they were performing. Our next album is going to be like an ode to Midnight Marauders--we're excited about that. Rock the Bells was crazy. Everybody was there, Snoop, DJ Premier, Lady of Rage, Dave from De La Soul, Nas, Lauryn Hill, everybody was out there. It was a Hip-Hoppers heaven.

SS: My favorite song that you and Murs did was Yesterday and Today. That song got me through some hard times man and I never get tired of hearing it. Go back and talk about how you and Murs made that song.

9th Wonder: Yesterday and Today is a sample by William Bell. He's an old Stax musician that did the song I Forgot to be Your Lover which was re-made by Jahiem. I sampled that from him. That soul from the 60's and 70's gets people through. That's why I sample the works that I sample because it has that feeling in it man--its life music. I made the beat and let Murs hear it and he knew exactly what to write about. If you ever listen to Murs and 9th Wonder you know that we make music that drives people's emotions. We deal with real life situations, not your average, "We're over here partying," music. Nobody can party 24/7. You gotta be doing something else. That's where that inspiration came from. We got in and knocked it out during Murray's Revenge.

Read the Full Interview @ National Examiner

Panel Discussion: Hip-Hop Planet: Music and Its Work in the World

Hip-Hop Planet:
Music and Its Work in the World
SATURDAY, SEPT. 11 (Free/ 4–6 p.m.)
Raleigh City Museum
Briggs Building
220 Fayetteville Street in Raleigh, N.C. 27601

When people talk about the political importance and immediacy of hip-hop, perhaps no group gets mentioned more than Public Enemy, and perhaps no records more than their It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and Fear of a Black Planet. With Public Enemy headlining Hopscotch Saturday night, we decided to talk about the social impact that hip-hop has historically had and if that role might be changing.

The speakers include Durham’s 9TH WONDER, the Little Brother cofounder and Grammy winner who has gone on to make music with Jay-Z, Destiny’s Child, David Banner and Murs; New York’s CHRISTOPHER R. WEINGARTEN, “the last rock critic standing” and a scribe for Village Voice, Spin, Rolling Stone and the author of a new book on Public Enemy; Durham’s MARK ANTHONY NEAL, a Professor of Black Popular Culture at Duke University and the author of several books on music and culture; and Raleigh’s CHARLIE SMARTS, a member of the exuberant, emerging hip-hop crew Kooley High. Hopscotch Director GREG LOWENHAGEN and Curator GRAYSON CURRIN will moderate the discussion. Weingarten will spin his tribute set to It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back before the discussion begins.

Damn that Rap, Snoop Stole My Music

A discussion on intellectual property and the future of Black expression

Damn that Rap, Snoop Stole My Music
by Mark Anthony Neal

Most rap music fans are probably unaware of Michael Henderson and his rather formidable musical career. Henderson recently filed separate complaints against Snoop Dogg (Calvin Broadus) and producer 9th Wonder (Patrick Douthit) in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, charging both with copyright infringement.

In layperson’s terms, he’s accusing them of stealing his music.

The cases continue what has been a more than two decade struggle over hip-hop’s aesthetic principles and intellectual property law. At stake in these skirmishes is the future of Black cultural expression.

A Little History

At his peak, bassist Michael Henderson, was most known for his work as a sideman with Miles Davis during Davis’s electric funk period in the early 1970s appearing on albums like Tribute to Jack Johnson (1971) and Live-Evil (1971). An in demand session musician, Henderson also worked with and recorded with Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye. Like his peers Larry Graham and Stanley Clarke, Henderson was of a generation of electric bassists that were redefining the sound of the instrument in the early 1970s, furthering the funk revolution that James Brown initiated in the 1960s.

It was with James Brown in mind that Davis recorded On the Corner (1972), an album in which Henderson’s bass is prominently featured. The genius of On the Corner, was that even as Davis and his musicians liberally borrowed from the musical impulses of Brown, Sly Stone, Jimi Hendix and others, there’s little doubt that On the Corner offers singular evidence of Davis’s creativity and musical genius.

Critic Greg Tate has suggested that On the Corner’s production values were a prototype for later rap production. Indeed Davis’s last studio album before his death in 1992 was the hip-hop influenced Doo-Bop which was produced by Easy Mo Be (Ready to Die). In bringing suit against Snoop and 9th Wonder, Michael Henderson is ironically suing the children and grandchildren of On the Corner.

Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21

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Editor's Note: This past spring Neal co-taught the class “Sampling Soul” with producer 9th Wonder at Duke University.

Mark Anthony Neal is the author of five books, including the forthcoming Looking for Leroy. He teaches Black Popular Culture in the Department of African and African-American Studies at Duke University. Email Mark at mark@theloop21.com. Follow him on Twitter @NewBlackMan.

When 9th Wonder "Reminisce Over You"

9th Wonder “‘T.R.OY.’ is My Favorite Rap Song of All Time” [XXL VIDEO]

Knew there was a reason why I connected to this dude--MAN

OkayPlayer TV: David Banner & 9th Wonder (Part I)

For the latest edition of OKPTV, we get caught up with David Banner & 9th Wonder. The two emcee/producers plan on putting out a collabo album, Death of A Pop Star later this summer. Two weeks ago, Peter Rosenberg held a special event (which was open to the public), An Evening With…, to interview the duo, take questions from the fans, and to preview music off the upcoming LP. OKPTV was in the building to cover the event as well as get our own Q&A in. The two speak about how they linked up, their common background in education, some of the things they argue about, and 9th Wonder’s criteria for emcees to collaborate with. Shout out to Sidik and Yahya (director & editor) for putting this together. Look for part 2 coming soon. (Via Okayplayer)

9TH WONDER presents RAPSODY

GRAMMY Award winning producer, 9TH WONDER introduces RAPSODY. Be on the lookout all summer for mini-documentaries introducing the artist of IWWMG.

Exhibition: The Record--Contemporary Art and Vinyl

Fatimah Tuggar

The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl
Nasher Museum of Art
Sept. 2 – Feb. 6, 2011

A groundbreaking exhibition that explores the culture of vinyl records through 50 years of contemporary art will open Sept. 2 at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.

“The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl” features work by 41 artists from around the world, from the 1960s to the present, who use vinyl records as subject or medium. The exhibition includes sound work, sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, photography, video and performance.

“The Record” includes rising stars in the contemporary art world (William Cordova, Robin Rhode, Dario Robleto), outsider artists (Mingering Mike), well-established artists (Jasper Johns, Ed Ruscha, Carrie Mae Weems) and artists whose work will be shown in a U.S. museum for the first time (Kevin Ei-ichi deforest, Jeroen Diepenmaat, Taiyo Kimura, Lyota Yagi).

The Nasher Museum is the first venue for the traveling exhibition, which will be on view on Duke’s campus from Sept. 2 through Feb. 6, 2011. A preview week for local visitors will be Aug. 26 – Sept. 1.

“Since the heyday of vinyl, and through its decline and recent resurgence, a surprising number of artists have worked with vinyl records,” said Trevor Schoonmaker, curator of contemporary art at the Nasher Museum. “‘The Record’ presents some of the best, rarest and most unexpected examples. The artists in the exhibition use the vinyl record as metaphor, archive, artifact, icon, portrait or transcendent medium.”

The exhibition includes a broad range of works, such as a hybrid violin and record player, “Viophonograph,” a seminal work by Laurie Anderson; David Byrne’s original life-sized Polaroid photomontage used for the cover of the 1978 Talking Heads album “More Songs About Buildings and Food”; a monumental column of vinyl records by Cordova; and an important early work by Robleto, who transformed Billie Holiday records in an alchemic process to create hand-painted buttons. Works by Christian Marclay, who has made art with records for 30 years, include his early and rarely seen “Recycled Records” as well as his most recent record video, “Looking for Love.”

The Nasher Museum commissioned two works for “The Record.” Berlin-based artist Satch Hoyt created a 16-foot canoe made of red 45-rpm records with an original soundscape during a 2009 artist residency at Duke. New York artist Xaviera Simmons created photographs of the North Carolina landscape and solicited musical responses from musicians such as Mac McCaughan of Superchunk, Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio and Jim James of My Morning Jacket. The original songs will be pressed onto a 12-inch record and played with her installation.

Artists in the exhibition include Laurie Anderson, Felipe Barbosa, David Byrne, William Cordova, Moyra Davey, Kevin Ei-ichi deForest, Jeroen Diepenmaat, Sean Duffy, Yukio Fujimoto, Jack Goldstein, Gregor Hildebrandt, Satch Hoyt, Jasper Johns, Taiyo Kimura, Tim Lee, Ralph Lemon, Christian Marclay, David McConnell, Mingering Mike, Dave Muller, Ujino Muneteru, Robin Rhode, Dario Robleto, Ed Ruscha, Malick Sidibé, Xaviera Simmons, Mark Soo, Meredyth Sparks, Su-Mei Tse, Fatimah Tuggar, Alice Wagner, Carrie Mae Weems and Lyota Yagi.

The exhibition will be complemented by programs at the Nasher Museum, including Free Family Day events, an artist residency with Xaviera Simmons, a talk by Carrie Mae Weems, a series of DJ nights, a performance by Ralph Lemon presented by Duke Performances, panel discussions, film series, teacher workshops and other programs. WXDU-FM will host a record fair in the museum’s Mary D.B.T. Semans Great Hall.

The accompanying “Cover to Cover” installation features eight artists and musicians who each curated a crate of 20 albums that tell a story through the cover visuals. Visitors will peruse the crates and with headphones listen to records on record players. Crate artists include Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, Rodney Graham, Harrison Haynes, Vik Muniz and Cafi, DJ Rekha and 9th Wonder.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated 240-page color catalogue distributed by Duke University Press and available at the Nasher Museum Store ($45, paperback). It includes an introduction by curator Trevor Schoonmaker, statements by each artist in the exhibition and essays that balance personal reflection with critical exploration and scholarly analysis. Contributors include Jeff Chang, Vivien Goldman, Jennifer Kabat, Mark Katz, Josh Kun, Barbara London, Mac McCaughan, Carlo McCormick, Charles McGovern, Mark Anthony Neal, Piotr Orlov, Luc Sante, Trevor Schoonmaker and Dave Tompkins.

King Driis (Idris Elba) (w/production by 9th Wonder)--"Hold On"

'Sampling Illmatic' Draws 10,000 Viewers

Webcast of 'Sampling Soul' session attracts 10,000 online viewers

The World Listens In to Class

By Camille Jackson

Thursday, March 18, 2010

On Tuesday evening heads were nodding in a lecture hall on East Campus. But this time, people around the world could tune in and share the class's energy.

A special webcast of the popular spring course, “Sampling Soul,” set a record Tuesday for live streaming video at Duke with an audience of more than 10,000 viewers.

The class is co-taught by Mark Anthony Neal, a professor of African and African American Studies, and Grammy-winning music producer, 9th Wonder. Bucknell English professor James Braxton Peterson, Duke ’93, joined them Tuesday for a discussion of rapper Nas’ 1994 album, Illmatic.

While Neal’s students filtered into Richard White Lecture Hall, students of hip hop gathered online to take in the lecture and offer real-time commentary on Twitter. Minutes before the event started, hundreds of online viewers had announced their anticipation on Twitter.

By the end of the night, the number of Twitter postings for the session almost reached 500. Others emailed dozens of questions ranging from the academic to the absurd.

Neal said the webcast showed the reach university intellectual discussions can have.

“I have always envisioned the study of popular culture and music as the study of public cultures, so it just seemed a natural fit to make a course like ‘Sampling Soul’ available to a broader public,” said Neal, who moderated the discussion.

“Additionally, I take the concept of being a public intellectual seriously, and the work that Professor Peterson, 9th Wonder and myself did during the webcast is the kind of work that public intellectuals should be doing,” he said.

Many viewers wanted to know if Nas himself was watching. Others were drawn by the celebrity of 9th Wonder. The most passionate online audience members debated the merits of “Illmatic” and Nas’ lyricism on Twitter among themselves.

Using Ustream as an online host, Duke’s Office of News & Communications (ONC) has produced webcasts for the past year in the form of online “Office Hours.” The program is usually held on Friday afternoons and encourages viewers to informally submit questions on a particular topic to a featured faculty member. History professor Laurent Dubois’ Office Hours on politics and the World Cup held the previous record for viewership, with 7,900 unique visits.

Tuesday’s class was perhaps the first time a classroom discussion at Duke has been publicly webcast with interaction from viewers through social media. The event demonstrates Duke’s commitment to sharing faculty expertise with a broad audience, an idea that Duke alum Neil Williams, Duke ‘06 appreciates.

“I think these live lectures are awesome and a great way to spread knowledge and the Duke brand to the global community,” said Williams who watched the webcast and tweeted comments. “I think alums would love to see more lectures broadcast on the net, as long as the subject matter is interesting.”

Williams found out about the webcast through 9th Wonder’s Twitter page, which has 30,000 followers.

“He's a trusted name in hip-hop so it would make sense for people to tune in based on his recommendation alone,” Williams said. Both ‘Sampling Soul’ instructors have large followings on the Internet. Neal has a blog, New Black Man, and is also an active Facebook user. He uses these platforms to “help break down some of the boundaries between the so-called Ivory Tower and the rest of the world.”

Adds Neal, “I'm thankful that there are folk at Duke who see the immense possibilities of these kind of experiences.”

© 2010 Office of News & Communications

'Sampling Soul' Goes Live!

Class to focus on rapper Nas' critically acclaimed rap album 'Illmatic'

'Sampling Soul' Class Open To The Public Via Live Webcast March 16

DURHAM, N.C. -- The public will get a chance to experience the popular Duke University course “Sampling Soul” via a live webcast beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 16, at ustream.tv/dukeuniversity.

The topic of the class will be the making of the critically acclaimed hip-hop album “Illmatic” by rapper Nasir Jones, aka Nas.

The undergraduate course is co-taught by African and African American Studies professor Mark Anthony Neal and Grammy Award-winning music producer 9th Wonder. Each weekly class emphasizes a different aspect of sampling music, from its history to legal considerations. The “Sampling Illmatic” class will focus on the making of Nas’ 1994 album.

Viewers are encouraged to submit questions for the professors either in advance or during the session by sending an e-mail to live@duke.edu, posting a comment on the Duke University Live Ustream page on Facebook, or tweeting with the tag #dukelive. A recording of the event will be available on Duke on Demand.

“Well before the release of ‘Illmatic,’ Nas was already drawing comparisons to Rakim Allah, often regarded as hip-hop's greatest lyricist,” says Neal. “The album’s release did not disappoint. It began what has been one of the most stellar careers in hip-hop, where Nas has found the perfect balance between maintaining relevancy on the streets while offering trenchant commentary about politics, relationships and everyday black life.”

“Illmatic,” with its lyrics from the perspective of a teenager living in the projects, contains several popular singles, including “The World Is Yours,” “It Ain't Hard to Tell” and “One Love.”

Neal says “Illmatic” also struck a chord because it became the blueprint for sample-based hip-hop production throughout the 1990s, with “contributions from a who's who of producers including DJ Premiere, Pete Rock, Large Professor and Q-Tip.”

Neal contributed an essay on jazz, hip-hop and fathers to the newly released book Born To Use Mics: Reading Nas’s Illmatic (Basic Civitas, 2010). Nas’ father is jazz and blues musician Olu Dara. The volume was edited by Michael Eric Dyson and Sohail Daulatzai and is one of several texts used in the class.

Mark Anthony Neal is the author of four books, including “New Black Man: Rethinking Black Masculinity” and the forthcoming “Looking for Leroy.” His essays have been anthologized in a dozen books.

9th Wonder, born Patrick Douthit, is a former member of the hip-hop trio Little Brother, which released albums such as “The Listening” and “The Minstrel Show.” He has produced music for Jay-Z, Destiny’s Child, Mary J. Blige and Erykah Badu among others. He also scored the music for “The Boondocks” animated television series. He was recently selected as the NAACP’s national ambassador for hip-hop relations and culture.

© 2010 Office of News & Communications

615 Chapel Drive, Box 90563, Durham, NC 27708-0563

(919) 684-2823; After-hours phone (for reporters on deadline): (919) 812-6603

Sampling Motown

Public session connects music to Civil Rights era

Motown Class Has the Nasher Museum Hopping
by Wendy Hower Livingston

Durham, NC -- A class at the Nasher Museum last night had Duke students bouncing in their seats.

They could not help themselves, especially during such classic tracks as “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye, “Superfreak” by Rick James and “I Want You Back” with a 10-year-old Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five. The music was part of "Sampling Motown: Soundtracks to the Civil Rights Era," a special public session of the "Sampling Soul" course co-taught by Grammy Award-winning DJ 9th Wonder and African and African American Studies professor Mark Anthony Neal.

The guest lecturer was Harry Weinger of Universal Music, who has overseen the catalogues of Motown and James Brown.

“Motown is the most recognized music brand in the world,” Weinger told the audience.

He remembers listening to Marvin Gaye in the back seat of his father’s car, craning his neck toward the speakers in the back, he said. “All these records have a timeless feel to them.”



As Weinger spoke, 9th Wonder cued up music samples to play. Students watched 9th Wonder find songs in his iTunes library through the Scratch LIVE program projected on a large screen that showed the names of the song and artist, length of the song and a visual representation of the song’s sound waves jumping in a green band across the screen.

The purpose of the class was to discuss sampling in music, learn about different careers in the music business and hear stories from the careers of all three speakers. Weinger told an anecdote about placing “the needle on the record” and Neal stopped him briefly, telling the audience, “I know that’s a strange phenomenon for some of you.”

Neal chose to hold the session at the Nasher Museum, he said, because of a connection between the class and an upcoming exhibition, “The Record: Contemporary Art & Vinyl,” opening Sept. 2. Neal contributed an essay to the catalogue that will accompany “The Record,” and 9th Wonder curated a crate of record albums that visitors will have the chance to peruse outside the exhibition.

The class was co-sponsored by Duke's Department of African & African American Studies.