| 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 musicianDon 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 ofAbner Louima by theNYPD.[10] "If 6 Was 9" is a cover of theJimi Hendrix song; it contains a passage fromthe Turtles' "Happy Together".[11][12] Byron covered a couple ofMandrill songs; the band was one of Byron's childhood favorites.[13] "Dodi" referencesDodi Fayed, while "Furman" refers to racist LAPD copMark Fuhrman, known from the trial ofOJ Simpson.[14][15] "Domino Theories" was inspired by the work of political scientistAndrew 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] TheChicago Reader deemed it "an incisive collection of loose-limbed funk, acerbic spoken word."[10]Stereo Review consideredNu 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" |