Author Archives: Rudolph Pringle

GODFATHER AT BEST:Kevin Samuels

This past May 5th was an intensly sad day for many in the YouTube community(viewers and fellow content creators). On that day is when word began to circulate, like gangbusters, that Kevin Samuels, Men’s Rights Activist, YouTube/Instagram Manosphere icon, Image Consultant) had suddenly passed away that day. If youre reading this you probably have an idea as to who Kevin Samuels is, if not then I emplore you to click the links and check him out.

Kevin Samuels first came on my radar circa 2017. He would occasionally appear on Black Manosphere icon BGS Ibmor‘s YouTube channel which then hosted a weekly Saturday night live stream affectionally known as “THE COLOSSEUM.” Known for being one of the first YouTube live streams that would literally do 8-10 hour long non-interrupted streams.

I would soon find out that this cat, Kevin Samuels, has his own YouTube channel, a channel which at the time I subscribed to it boasted a meager 3,000 subscribers, quite away from the 1 million subscriber mark he would eclipse in 2021. At this point in his YouTube endeavors, Kevin’s focal point was on tightening up the Black male image with a strong emphasis on clothing and cologne. With an extensive background in corporate sales Kevin ou

2019 saw a major change in Kevin’s content as he repurposed his channels focus towards women’s image/style consulting which then evolved into what I’ll call his post “Average at Best” period…and the rest is history. Long live the Godfather of Style – KEVIN SAMUELS 1969-2022.

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END OF THE WEEK…

Like many my age(clueless) my first real exposure to The Weekend(Abel Tesfaye) came via the 2020 Super Bowl half-time show. While I was thoroughly impressed with The Weekend’s performance(vocal chops) I must admit to being weirded out by all the wacky performance art trappings. So much so that I kind of put The Weekend on the way way back burner and never bothered to check him out any further. That same year He released his fourth album After Hours which spawned the record-breaking “Blinding Lights.”

Fast forward to last week…upon hearing The Weekend’s latest album Dawn FM, now I see what the hell I’ve been missing out on. Dawn FM, The Weekend’s fifth LP, has the trappings of an epic concept album. I knew this cat had vocal chops but yeeeeeesh! I’ve pretty much been on a Dawn FM binge for the past week. The production, the musicianship, the vocals…what reels me in the most is the overall cohesion of the project. At least I forget the two random cameos that seemingly pop up out of nowhere: Quincy Jones and Jim Carrey. The latter offers up a uniquely crisp NPR-ish intro and outro for the album. Hmmmmm…good stuff!

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podcast junkie vol.2 MOBITUARIES with Mo Rocca: Death of a Square

Mobituaries With Mo Rocca is a podcast that I recently stumbled upon on Spotify. Yeah, that name creeps me out too. The crux of the podcast is Mo Rocca dissecting the obituaries of individuals who he finds intriguing . The first Mobituaries episode that I listened to was entitled Lawrence Welk: Death of a Square. All jokes aside, this might be the best podcast episode that I’ve listened to in years – and that’s coming from a certified podcast junkie. Yup, I’m coming clean – first Kenny G. now Lawrence Welk…go figure!

Like many youngsters growing up in the 1970s I watched just about everything there was to watch on TV, even the test patterns. On the UHF side of the dial is where things got really interesting. One of those interesting oddities was The Lawrence Welk Show. I recall the show airing on Saturdays at 6:30pm(right before Hee-Haw at 7pm) – Yup I was a Hee Haw fan too.

I can’t say that I knew much of anything about Lawrence’s personal life, before listening to the Mobituaries episode, or even cared to know anything about his personal life. Actually I would have never guessed the back story on this cat. Throughout the episode, Mo Rocca provides candid insight into the social-political backdrop of the day when the Lawrence Welk show ruled its time slot, no joke. And of course, this episode of Mobituaries wouldn’t be worth a damn if there was no mention of the great Arthur Duncan…Hmmm?

Lawrence Welk: Death of a Square

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INSECURE Review/Recap *BGS IBMOR*

  • Insecure is an HBO drama/comedy show which ran from 2016-2021.
  • Recently after watching the finale episode(season 5) I did what I always do, scroll over to YouTuber/Manosphere icon BGS(Black Gnostic Speaks) who has given a per episode review throughout the series.
  • While the series has grown on me, more times than not, especially this season, I’ve found myself enjoying the BGS review far more than the actual episode.

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CHRISTMAS JAZZ

Like many, my gateway drug into Christmas Jazz was A Charlie Brown Christmas(1965) by Vince Guaraldi Trio. Thanks to Real Jazz 67 SiriusXM channel, I’ve been excessively binging on Christmas Jazz for the past two weeks. In the early ’90s as I began to delve deeper into Jazz I messed around and heard Jimmy Smith’s rendition of Greensleeves and I haven’t been the same since.

Many Jazz artists of note have at least one X-mass LP in their catalog. While John Coltrane never recorded a X-mass album his version of “My Favorite Things”(1961) is pretty much the pinnacle when it comes to this genre – so much so that it transcends the seasonal borders. In a sense, it’s kind of unfair to compare Coltrane’s rendition to other versions of the song and technically it’s not a Christmas song(but it sure as hell feels like one). Thanks to Real Jazz 67 SiriusXM channel I’ve been overdosing on Christmas Jazz for the past three weeks.

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LISTENING TO KENNY G ?!?

I started writing this post just after pushing the pause button at the 9:36 mark of the newly released HBO Kenny G documentary entitled Listening To Kenny G. At this point of the documentary, after pushing pause, I found myself doubled over in laughter over a segment taken from the SNL news desk, circa the early ’90s, in which Norm McDonald proclaims(in his best Norm voice): “Kenny G has a Xmas album out this year. Happy birthday Jesus, hope you like crap.”

For the past month Alan Light, co-host of Debatable on Volume 106 SiriusXM, has been harping on the Listening To Kenny G documentary. From Alan’s overall description my expectations were quite low going in. That being said, I still couldn’t wait to see the anticipated train wreck. Train wreck? After watching this captivating masterpiece of a documentary nothing could be further from the truth.

Much of the critique that I’ve heard from Alan Light and others revolves around Kenny G’s obsessive-compulsive personality. I personally find Kenny’s odd persona rather endearing to the overall makeup of the documentary. The uber-focus on Kenny G’s early years really helps to propel the storyline. The documentary does an excellent job in detailing Kenny’s effect on the music industry as he grew to define an entire genre – Smooth Jazz. Unfortunately, I was forewarned(spoiler) about the Pat Metheny jazz purist tirade which is perhaps my favorite part of the documentary. While I’ve never really devoted much time to actually listening to Kenny G for an extended period I did see him live in the late ’90s as he opened for Ray Charles the featured act at The Cincinnati Jazz Festival. Before seeing him live I’d bought into the Jazz purist disdain of all things Kenny G. Upon seeing Kenny G throw down live, even I’ve got to admit: this fool can play his ass off.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY@THE EMPEROR OF THE BLUES

103 years ago this week the Emperor of The Blues, Joe Williams was born. When I think of pure soulful elegance, Joe Williams is always at the front of the pack with Jerry Butler(The Ice Man), Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, and The Modern Jazz Quartet not too far behind. My first exposure to Joe Williams came through my parent’s record collection via Joe’s vocal repertoire with Count Basie. The first time that I saw the crooning excellence of Joe Williams in action was on the Johnny Carson Show. From that moment on you could never tell me that Joe wasn’t the coolest/proudest cat ever.

As a child protege at the age of 16 Joe’s granted him the opportunity of dropping out of High School and pursuing a career as a singer. It didn’t take long for Joe to hit his stride as this was smack dab in the 1930s when the big band era was in full effect. And the signature piece of every big band was the featured vocalist ie; Jimmy Rushing(Count Basie), Ella Fitzgerald(Chick Webb Big Band), and Frank Sinatra(Tom Dorsey Orchestra).

In the early 1950s, Joe Williams would find himself in the lead vocal chair of one of the eras greatest big bands, The Count Basie Orchestra. And the rest is history. Joe would stay with Count Basie in 1961. During his time spent with Count Basie Joe would cement his popularity with renditions of such standards as: “Teach Me Tonight,” “Every day (I Have The Blues),” “Roll em Pete,” and “Alright, Okay, You Win.” Whenever I hear his voice I just flashback to him standing Black and proud as ever, cuff links and all…Oh, the smooth mellow tones. Take me away!

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podcast junkie vol.1: PODCAST JUICE

Over the past ten years one of my go-to podcasts has been Podcastjuice. In its initial iteration, it was titled The Prince Podcast and was the gathering place of all things, Prince Rogers Nelson. Around 2016 The Prince Podcast parted into two separate podcasts with Podcast On Prince being solely devoted to Prince and Podcastjuice– delving into random pop-cultural/political (music, movies, comics; etc.) topics, both hosted by Michael Dean.

Podcastjuice/Podcast On Prince has always consisted of a host roundtable. At present, the co-host number is down to three but in the early days, it was typical to have 6-7 co-host rocking the mic. From day one I was struck with the high level of discourse of Prince’s music, tours, shoe collection, setlist, bootleg info, etc. – past, present, and future. By the time I had encountered Podcastjuice/Podcast On Prince, I’d become somewhat of a lukewarm Prince fan. I definitely have to credit this podcast with renewing my then wayward fandom.

I knew that I had found my tribe when I stumbled upon Podcastjuice/Podcast On Prince circa 2010. I recall the ensuing days after April 21, 2016, and how Podcastjuice was there for all of us grief-struck Prince devotes/fans – helping make sense of it all. With the recent flush of activity ascending from the Prince vaults, Podcastjuice/Podcast On Prince has proved highly beneficial with its borderline obsessive analysis of the contents therein ie; Sign of The Times-Super Deluxe Edition, Welcome To America, Originals, Piano & A Microphone… A big THANKS goes out to Podcastjuice/Podcast On Prince.

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DIDDLEY or MUDDY

I was today years old when I found out that Bo Diddley’s “I’m A Man” and Muddy Water’s “Mannish Boy”are technically two different songs. While listening to a Bo Diddley album(vinyl) I just so happened to take a glance at the album back sleeve. Upon reading the credits I noticed that each song was credited to McDaniels aka Bo Diddly. Amongst those songs was “I’m A Man” which I could have sworn was a Muddy Waters/Willie Dixon original. This of course sent me down yet another musical rabbit hole.

For starters, both songs carry different names which for some reason I never paid attention to. The version that I’m more familiar with is Muddy’s version (recorded the same year,1955, like Bo Diddley’s “I’m A Man” – there’s a two-month separation between the two. While Bo Diddley’s version has somewhat of a distant haunting quality Muddy’s cuts straight to the core with medicine ball size testosterone swagger. Lyrically there damn near the same but spiritually “Mannish Boy” is just so much deeper not to mention the musical lineup Muddy was working with: Junior Wells(harmonica), Jimmy Rogers( rhythm guitar), and Fred Below(drums).

One interesting ironic tidbit is that “I’m A Man” was inspired by Muddy Waters 1954 hit “Hoochie Coochie Man“, written by Willie Dixon. In some respect “I’m A Man/Mannish Boy” has become the gold standard of Chicago Blues, perhaps Muddy’s most recognizable songs in his vast discography. One more interesting aspect of the song that’s rarely spoken of is the ardent declaration of a Black man of a certain time, the 1950’s to be exact, stating that yes indeed I am a man…no B-Ohhhhhh child-Y. In addition to the 1955 version Muddy went on to record pivotol versions of Manish Boy on several occasions. The two that stand out the most for me are the versions on Muddy Mississippi Waters Live(1979) and Hard Again (1977).

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KID ROCK/ MARK GOODMAN

A few days ago while listening to Debatable, Sirius XM Volume 106 music talk radio show, cohost Mark Goodman made mention of a must see music video to a phone caller.

At the time the topic of discussion was art vs artist (seperating the actual art from the artist).

The video in question which Mark Goodman made mention of was Kid Rock’s official video for “Don’t Tell Me How To Live.”

Fast forward to seconds after watching the video as I scroll down to the comments section.

As predictably trashy, cheezy, and mediocre as the video definitely is, reading the comments alone makes it worthwhile.

As for the song, oh yeah that sucks too.

Thanks, Mark!

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