The beginning of this weekend was trivial at best, but out of nowhere something sparked an insatiable urge within me to listen to some real feel good music that the radio could never hope to quench. I started diggin’ in my crates and played and replayed just about my entire collection of R&B/Soul, Neo Soul, and all analogous genres. I bumped everyone from Jill Sceezy, to Raphael Saddiq, Musiq’s older joints, Dwele of course, Amel Larrieux and the list goes on.

But the last album I dusted off was this talented brotha Anthony Hamilton’s “Comin’ from where I’m From” which is a more than classic album. This brotha alone has seemed to have created his own genre of music. And as I listened to the brotha, I attempted to categorize the his genre with no avail, and it went a little something like this: “Hes soulful, but new, so is he Neo Soul? No hes not becuase he doesn’t have that Neo Soul sound which is extremely distinct and has more of an East Coast/Mid West flavor. Hes southern of course, raised in the church, so the gospel element is prominent, so is he southern/gospel Neo Soul? No that doesn’t sound right either…”

So as you can see my analysis was fruitless as far as categorizing goes, but something really dawned on me as far as what aspect is really missing from the air waves, well not so much missing, but what was absconded with. And that my friends is love, short and to the point… As the brotha Anthony Hamilton’s shirt says “Music is the weapon” a famous quote from Fela Kuti, and that is the truth, they have replaced love with lust. Lust for the monetary, lust for the material. And that my friends is why songs like “Read a book” is now a necessity…