Professor Cornel West promises rap stars on his forthcoming rap album.
The respected African-American scholar from Harvard has rounded up black music royalty for a new album 'Never Forget: A Journey Of Revelations' due out on June 19. At a time when hip-hop and rap is under the microscope, Prince, Talib Kweli, OutKast's Andre 3000, KRS-One, Rhymefest and more appear on the hyper-political album.West spoke to Billboard about the themes on the album, which features song titles like 'Bushanomics', '911' and 'N Word'. "This is an attempt to go back to hip-hop's prophetic roots, which are about truth-telling, exposing lies and having fun," he says. "It's what I call a danceable education or a singing paideia, the Greek word for deep education."
West says the album promises to address "unaccountable corporate power, unaccountable police power and homophobia" and, as the previous song titles attest, critiquing of the Bush government, racial profiling, the events of September 11 and the notorious usage of the "n-word".
During the interview, West also praised the thoughtful and diverse work of Lupe Fiasco, saying "I love that kind of freedom because, in the end, we've all got to be ourselves and that takes courage."
