Yesterday's sampling of a 1960s Africa American civil rights leader led me back to this song from 1983, a far more provocative and abrasive record than Moodswings. Keith LeBlanc made the record using a Malcolm X speech and a drum machine, some bass and guitar. Malcolm's widow Betty Shabazz gave permission for the vocal samples and half the writing credits and subsequent royalties went to Malcolm's family. Fired up by the sounds and style of Grandmaster Flash, LeBlanc's use of Malcolm's voice was pretty groundbreaking in 1983, one of the first sample-based records. I don't have it on the hard drive at the moment so I'm afraid you'll have to make do with this video.
3 comments:
Loved this song so much, i got the malc x biog and later many others from the panthers etc. On the other hand, Chrisie Hynde did little to inspire my interest in 60s radical politics.
There must be something in the air! I was listening to this on Friday for the first time in twenty years. Excellent!
Spot on Anto. I too read Malcolm X's autobiography and a Black Panthers as a result of this kind of thing, a little later though.
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