Lupe Fiasco Announces Three-Disc "Final" Album

(swiped from Pitchfork Media)
Photo by Natalie Kardos

Lupe Fiasco has announced his third album, and true to form for the MC, the whole thing sounds unnecessarily complicated. [Via the LupE.N.D. Blog]

Here's how it breaks down. As Lupe told us in an interview interview last year, the follow-up to The Cool will be titled LupE.N.D., and it will be his last album. But at a show at Chicago's Congress Theatre on Halloween, Lupe offered some more information: The last three letters of the title stand for Everywhere, Nowhere, and Down Here, which are the individual names given to the three discs of LupE.N.D. That's right, Lupe is planning to "retire" (seeing is believing-- or rather, in this case, never seeing again is believing) with a triple-CD release.

As a point of reference, Wikipedia claims MF Grimm's 2006 record American Hunger was "the first three-disc album in hip-hop history." If you're asking yourself, "MF Who?," or "American What?" right now: Exactly.

Call me skeptical, but retiring after you release one decent-ish album, one incredibly abstract and convoluted concept album [Hey! I think both of those albums are pretty great!-- Ed.], and a sure-to-be-bloated triple-disc monstrosity is not the way to cement your place in rap history.

In addition to all this, the LupE.N.D. Blog also reports that Lupe recorded a live CD/DVD at that Halloween show. It doesn't seem to be attached to LupE.N.D., which means it had better come out before that, so as not to disturb the integrity of the MC's retirement.

Attempts to ask Lupe, "Why? Just...why?" in person can be made at any of his remaining tour dates.

Lupe Fiasco:

11-10 Santa Barbara, CA - University of California, Santa Barbara
11-12 Los Angeles, CA - Club Nokia
11-15 Storrs, CT - Jorgenson Theatre
11-17 Elmira, NY - Emerson Hall
11-22 Geneseo, NY - SUNY Geneseo Kuhl Gym
12-05 College Park, MD - University of Maryland Ritchie Coliseum
01-16 Auckland, New Zealand - Mt. Smart Stadium (Big Day Out)
01-18 Gold Coast, Australia - Parklands (Big Day Out)
01-23 Sydney, Australia - Showgrounds (Big Day Out)
01-26 Melbourne, Australia - Flemington Racecourse (Big Day Out)
01-30 Adelaide, Australia - Showgrounds (Big Day Out)
02-01 Perth, Australia - Claremont Showground (Big Day Out)

• MP3: Lupe Fiasco [prod. by Kanye West]: Birds & the Bees

RIP: Jerry Wexler - Producer, Mogul, Legend

(swiped from Pitchfork Media)

Legendary record man Jerry Wexler, who helped shape the sound of R&B, guided the careers of titans such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Led Zeppelin, and helped launch Atlantic Records into a powerhouse, has died at his home in Florida, according to Rolling Stone. He was 91.

Wexler began his career in the late 1940s as a journalist, writing for Billboard magazine. He invented the phrase "Rhythm and Blues" for the publication for use on what was then known as their "Race Music" chart. In 1953, Wexler joined Ahmet Ertegun as co-head of Atlantic Records, a post he would hold until 1975. The two were instrumental in bringing the R&B music they loved to a wider audience, further incorporating it into the burgeoning sounds of rock'n'roll.

As both a record mogul and producer, Wexler was a tireless promoter of his wares, and in constant pursuit of exciting new sounds in modern music. Of his many successes with Atlantic, a mid-1960s distribution deal with legendary soul imprint Stax was one of his greatest. The arrangement brought Otis Redding, Booker T. and the MGs, and countless others into the fold, introducing the world to the gloriously loose Muscle Shoals sound that characterized the Stax catalog.

In 1966, Wexler signed a young singer by the name of Aretha Franklin, encouraging her to sing in a more natural, less measured style. Her subsequent work with Atlantic-- in particular, the recordings she completed in Muscle Shoals-- remain some of the finest albums of any era.

The late 60s brought a string of British rockers seeking to bump elbows with the soul musicians they'd been ripping off, and Led Zeppelin, Cream, and the like linked up with Atlantic, thanks to Wexler. In 1968, Wexler brought British chanteuse Dusty Springfield to Tennessee to record the legendary Dusty in Memphis, which Wexler himself produced. Also in 1968, Wexler and Ertegun agreed to sell Atlantic to Warner Seven Arts (later Warner Brothers), a deal that lost Atlantic a sizeable amount of money. He told Rolling Stone, "What a mistake. Worst thing we ever did."

Ertegun left Atlantic in 1975, eventually picking up some A&R work for Warner Brothers that netted the label new-wave pioneers like the B-52s and Gang of Four. He struck out on his own later in the decade, producing records for Bob Dylan, the Staple Singers, Linda Ronstadt, George Michael, and many others. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, becoming one of the very first non-performers to achieve the honor. It's not difficult to see why.

Wexler retired to Florida in the late 90s, where he largely cut himself off from the business elements of the music industry. He is survived by two children, and his wife, writer Jean Arnold.

Video: Aretha Franklin: Respect [live in 1967]

Gnarls Barkley "Who's Gonna Save My Soul?"

By far, the best video this year.

THE BEST.

Grammy-winning jazz producer Joel Dorn dies at 65

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Veteran record producer Joel Dorn, who worked with such artists as Roberta Flack, Max Roach and the Neville Brothers, died of a heart attack on Monday in New York. He was 65.

Dorn, a one-time disc-jockey at a Philadelphia jazz radio station, was perhaps best known for his work with Atlantic Records' prestigious jazz stable between 1967 and 1974. Working alongside the label's jazz chief, Nesuhi Ertegun, he brought a pop sensibility to works by musicians such as Roach, Herbie Mann, Les McCann and Eddie Harris, Mose Allison and Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

Dorn once said his two biggest influences were songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, and producer Phil Spector.

"To this day before I go in and make a record, I'll throw on 'Be My Baby' or a Coasters record," he said.

In the pop field, he helped set Bette Midler and Flack on the course to stardom, producing their debut albums. He and Flack won consecutive record of the year Grammys, for "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (1972) and "Killing Me Softly With His Song" (1973).
He also ventured into rock with the Allman Brothers Band's second release, 1970's "Idlewild South," and Don McLean's 1974 album, "Homeless Brother." (McLean was the inspiration for the songwriters of "Killing Me Softly...")

Dorn "bridged the worlds of jazz and pop with enormous skill and grace, never compromising the integrity of his artists and their music," said Edgar Bronfman, Jr., the chairman and chief executive of Atlantic's Warner Music Group Inc parent.

Dorn left Atlantic in 1974, and worked for other labels' acts, such as Leon Redbone, Lou Rawls and the Neville Brothers. His collaboration with the latter spawned their 1981 breakthrough "Fiyo on the Bayou."

In his later years, he formed his own labels, and oversaw reissues of classic jazz albums for Columbia Records, Rhino Records and GRP Records. At the time of his death, he was a partner in the roots label Hyena Records, and was working on a five-disc tribute to his mentor, "Homage A Nesuhi." He is survived by three sons.