The Cornel West Theory Mixes Up Social Commentary

[audio:http://www.thecouchsessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/06-Prophetic-Suicide-Pt1-featuring-Dr.-Cornel-West-and-Ndigo-Rose1.mp3|titles=06 Prophetic Suicide Pt1 featuring Dr. Cornel West and Ndigo Rose]

Download: The Cornel West Theory - Embryo Capital Vol 1

There are a lot of things that occur in Washington DC, that go over looked. The history of the city is slowly being forgotten and glazed over. There are a select few that can recall when H St was not a street that anyone let alone our Caucasian brothers and sisters walked down; for that matter, U St, Georgia Ave… a large majority of the city. The Chocolate City had a history before gentrification took place and slowly but surely the remembrance of that is dissipating. Community revitalization is a good thing, don’t get me wrong. However, erasing the memory of hard times, crack from the 80’s, Rayful Edmonds, crime ridden streets and Go-Go when the residuals of these still effect the marginalized community is blatantly disrespectful.

Enter The Cornel West Theory. The In Her Hands: Embyro Capital Vol. 1 Mixtape cranks out tough topics over twisted rhythms and melodic samples stirred up by DJ UNDERDOG. A mix of nine new tracks and a couple of previous releases The Cornel West Theory continues their social commentary on the changes in the local and global community. It takes a look at a capitol city endanger of losing its cultural identity. Partially self inflected, partially imposed. It would have been nice to hear more from the Nostalgia interludes about parts of DC’s past that band members miss. But that was quelled with the track “Prophetic Suicide” Pt.1 featuring Dr. Cornel West and Ndigo Rose . The track “Captives” live at the Black Cat reminds me of a PA Palace (the DMV’s #1 for Go-Go) “tape” and ties in perfectly with “Yvonne’s Nostalgia” piece that comes before it.

This Saturday you can witness firsthand The Cornel West Theory as they take the stage at the Black Cat with headliners the Diamond District (XO, YU, and Oddisee) along with producer/artist Damu the Fudgemunk and hosted by GrapLuva. DJ UNDERDOG will be on the turntables cutting up. The show starts at 9pm and you can get your tickets online here.