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Commentary Billet: As Many Roles As People Make It: An Interview With Ani DiFranco

Commentary, January, 24 2012 Alexander Billet
Billet's ZSpace page

Interview with Ani Difranco on her album, the evolution of her own work, and her belief in music as a force for social change

Commentary Billet: Can You Handle Tha Truth?

Commentary, January, 14 2009 Alexander Billet
Billet's ZSpace page

To say that Tha Truth is eager is something of an understatement. The Philly MC is downright fanatical--a term this writer uses in its most positive sense. War, racism, sexism, the prison industrial complex and police brutality are all explicit ta...

Commentary Billet: Still Stuck in 'Guyville'

Commentary, July, 18 2008 Alexander Billet
Billet's ZSpace page

Listening to Liz Phair's debut Exile in Guyville, recently reissued by ATO Records after years out of print, it's striking how fresh and new the album sounds. It's raw, coarse, cocky and confrontational; it fits right in with the kind of rock albu...

Commentary Billet: Tellin' It How It Is: Hip-Hop Stands Up For Sean Bell

Commentary, June, 08 2008 Alexander Billet
Billet's ZSpace page

"With the Sean Bell situation, New York is basically saying 'fuck niggas.'" Who in their right minds can honestly disagree with these words, bluntly stated by rapper/producer/activist David Banner? The April 25th aquittal of three New York City ...

Commentary Billet: The Disney-fication of CBGB

Commentary, April, 21 2008 Alexander Billet
Billet's ZSpace page

There is something obscenely wrong with what sits in the former location of CBGB. Some of what defined the legendary rock club remains; a few walls are still covered with fliers and graffiti. But the stage has been replaced with a tailoring shop...

Commentary Billet: Barack's Big Hype: Is Obama the candidate of the Hip-Hop Generation?

Commentary, February, 23 2008 Alexander Billet
Billet's ZSpace page

For many, the answer to this question might be an enthusiastic "yes." In recent weeks I have spoken on a radio show on "the hip-hop effect on the Obama campaign." I've talked to politically active MCs who are beyond stoked that Obama is ahead in...

Commentary Billet: Liberation From the Music Business as Usual Is NiggyTardust a Success?

Commentary, January, 28 2008 Alexander Billet
Billet's ZSpace page

Upon going to the website niggytardust.com, you'll see two options. One says "I want to directly support the artists involved in the creation of this music ($5)." The other reads "I'm not concerned about that. I just want the music (Free)." Clicki...

Commentary Billet: They Are Human and They Need to be Loved...Does Morrissey have a problem with immigrants?

Commentary, January, 18 2008 Alexander Billet
Billet's ZSpace page

It's been over a month and I still can't bring myself to listen to the Smiths. The controversy over Morrissey's recent comments regarding immigration in the Britain's NME is well worth examining on this side of the pond. It should be said straight...

Commentary Billet: Punk Rock: Thirty and Still Kicking

Commentary, October, 27 2007 Alexander Billet
Billet's ZSpace page

Punk has turned the big three-O. It's echoed in the cover of Spin, in the Halls of Rock n' Roll Fame, even in the actions of the Sex Pistols, who are getting together for (yet another) round of reunion shows. In a way it's scary to see the music...

Commentary Billet: Rebellion in Light and Dark A talk with photographer Glen E. Friedman about his book on Fugazi

Commentary, August, 31 2007 Alexander Billet
Billet's ZSpace page

"Things get accepted into the mainstream and lose their edge." This is one of the first things Glen Friedman tells me in our conversation. Sitting in my Washington DC apartment, it's hard not to agree with Friedman. This is a city that young hi...

Commentary Billet: Clear Channel, Payola, and How They Are Killing Radio

Commentary, August, 04 2007 Alexander Billet
Billet's ZSpace page

Have you ever wondered why mainstream radio is so redundant? Why we may hear the same song so many times in one day? Or why so many of the artists sound similar?

Commentary Billet: I've Got a CrushÉ Oh God, Make it Stop!

Commentary, June, 30 2007 Alexander Billet
Billet's ZSpace page

It gets stuck in your head the way that only the worst music can. "The Macarena." "My Heart Will Go On." "Who Let the Dogs Out?" And now, Obama Girl. The kind of "artist" who has become determined to colonize our brains with the worst kind of...

Commentary Billet: Hey Lizzie! Remember this one? God Save The Queen Thirty Years On

Commentary, June, 06 2007 Alexander Billet
Billet's ZSpace page

When Queen Elizabeth visited the States last month, the media circus would have made PT Barnum blush. Red carpets were unfurled and black ties adorned by the highest of state officials to welcome the consumate blue-blood, a woman whose utterly pa...

Commentary Billet: Is Russell Simmons Playing Politics With Hip-Hop?

Commentary, May, 17 2007 Alexander Billet
Billet's ZSpace page

It's hard to know what to think about Russell Simmons' recent announcement about checking the content of hip-hop. There is no denying that most of us would like the words "bitch," "ho," and "nigger" to disappear from the English lexicon entirely....

Commentary Billet: The Mad, Loud and Brilliant World of Lester Bangs

Commentary, May, 05 2007 Alexander Billet
Billet's ZSpace page

Twenty-five years. In music, it's a span of time that can be an eternity, and yet last no longer the blink of an eye. So much can change. So much can stay the same.

Commentary Billet: Fake Plastic Tunes: Radiohead Buck Corporate Coffee

Commentary, April, 15 2007 Alexander Billet
Billet's ZSpace page

Artistic integrity breathed a sigh of relief last Thursday. The NME reports that rumors of Radiohead's possible signing with Hear Music are not true. In the world of almost-deals and broken contracts that is the music industry, this isn't partic...

Commentary Billet: The Times They Are a Changin': The Shifting Winds of Protest Music

Commentary, March, 15 2007 Alexander Billet
Billet's ZSpace page

The subject has been brought up by so many writers that by now that it's almost clichŽ. It's been asked by musicians, activists old and new, and music journalists alike. And as it's become obvious just how devastating the US' very presence in Ir...

Commentary Billet: Bloc Party's A Weekend in the City: The Beauty and Ugliness of Modern Life

Commentary, March, 04 2007 Alexander Billet
Billet's ZSpace page

Bloc Party has definitely made a huge mark on modern music. Their debut album Silent Alarm displayed an energy and emotional honesty that clearly set them apart from most of the too-cool-for-school attitude of most "indie-rock" bands. It was thi...

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