| Nu Blaxploitation | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1998 | |||
| Genre | Funk, jazz, hip hop [1] | |||
| Label | Blue Note [2] | |||
| Producer | Don Byron | |||
| Don Byron chronology | ||||
| ||||
Nu Blaxploitation is an album by the American musician Don Byron, released in 1998. [3] [4] He is credited with his band, Existential Dred. [5] Byron supported the album with a North American tour. [6]
The album was recorded in December 1997 and January 1998. [7] The poet Sadiq Bey performed on many of the tracks. [8] Biz Markie contributed rap verses to "Schizo Man". [5] Reggie Washington played bass; Uri Caine played piano. [9] "Blinky" is about the abuse of Abner Louima by the NYPD. [10] "If 6 Was 9" is a cover of the Jimi Hendrix song; it contains a passage from the Turtles' "Happy Together". [11] [12] Byron covered a couple of Mandrill songs; the band was one of Byron's childhood favorites. [13] "Dodi" references Dodi Fayed, while "Furman" refers to racist LAPD cop Mark Fuhrman, known from the trial of OJ Simpson. [14] [15] "Domino Theories" was inspired by the work of political scientist Andrew Hacker. [7]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [16] |
| Robert Christgau |  [17] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [18] |
| Los Angeles Daily News | [15] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD | [7] |
Time called the album "overtly political funk and rap" full of "dark, fertile electric grooves." [19] The Chicago Reader deemed it "an incisive collection of loose-limbed funk, acerbic spoken word." [10] Stereo Review considered Nu Blaxploitation "a mix of old-school groove, social protest, and surrealistic asides—just the kind of ambitious sprawl you'd expect from someone who dedicates his album to both Latin/funk purveyors Mandrill and classical composer Arnold Schoenberg (among others)." [20]
Jazziz wrote that the album "unfolds like a series of existential concerns set to a backbeat—a churlish, unapologetic bit of brilliance that vamps, grooves, strolls, and riffs on several levels at once." [21] Newsday labeled it "a one-of-a-kind testimony on what it's like to be a caring, daring African-American intellectual-bohemian at the tail end of the 20th Century." [22] The Washington Post stated that "Byron has writer Sadiq tiresomely spell out his points with words that recall the sophomoric scribblings of punk poet Henry Rollins." [23]
AllMusic praised the "somber, chamber jazz arrangements and a bevy of funky, swinging charts." [16]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Alien" | |
| 2. | "Domino Theories – Part I" | |
| 3. | "Blinky" | |
| 4. | "Mango Meat" | |
| 5. | "Interview" | |
| 6. | "Schizo Man" | |
| 7. | "Dodi" | |
| 8. | "I'm Stuck" | |
| 9. | "I Cannot Commit" | |
| 10. | "Fencewalk" | |
| 11. | "Hagalo" | |
| 12. | "Domino Theories – Part II" | |
| 13. | "If 6 Was 9" | |
| 14. | "Furman" |
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