We Look Down

The route to the unnaground is sacred. A book of prayer, like Nik Cohn's Tricksta, can teach us a part of the way.

Tricksta is a book that plays out loose threads of undisentangled, troubling fabric of writing about the panhiphop tradition. He's walking up and down the twelve steps bookwide like they were piano keys and he was Fats Domino, coming back as himself after he can no longer tell up from down. As scholar junky emeritus, or as a character in his own after the fact cash in version of Spike Lee's requiem, it is his willingness to describe the crossroads as the up and down, as well as east and west, and his own play it out as a failed Lazarus that makes the book as lively as it is.

We pour a little liquor on the ground for him and load a couple of bullets in the clip.

• "Hyena Stomp," Jelly Roll Morton. Massively sacred 2n that we'll be seeing again and again on the pages of this commonplace.
• "Rum and Coke," Professor Longhair. The Dr. walks w/ his chicken in his hand. Chea.

Tricksta is not a map of New Orleans. But it is a full clip pointed at the unnaground. No map to the unnaground is complete. And of course they don't have a way in or out.

P E A C E

Versionology: What We're Saying

Last week we cleaned out the closets @ chaboy Slizzard's house. He's always had our respect. Like his colleague Noz, he's a listener w/ an eye for place. 'Specially the place called bounce.

So I started to spin what he left for us, and found the beauty of versionology all over again. There is this promise of keep coming back in the versionist's best work. It's like how Art Tatum comes back, again and again, each time 'nothering the thing.

Today it's simple stuff from the place called bounce. The version is "Triggerman," but somehow every time we come back, it's been 'nothered again into something else. So we'a load a clip:

• "Drag Rap," The Show Boys.
• "Monkey on tha D$ck," Magnolia Shorty.
• "Drop & Gimme 50," 10th Ward Buck
  

We'll keep coming back. There's plenty in these closets. When we're there, we're also gonna mark up Nik Cohn's slab on the same project. We'll bring you a magnolia every time.