@okkenna

Check out this new track from Kenna.  It’s taken from his forthcoming album Land 2 Air Chronicles I: Chaos and the Darkness, which was supposed to have been released in March, but will instead drop tomorrow, April 5.  Apparently, there was some drama with the hard drive(s) the album was stored on.  Looking forward to Kenna’s follow-up to 2007′s Make Sure They See My Face.

Also interesting to note his response to Pitchfork’s early speculations about this new album.  Check it here

Here’s the song. Give a listen and let me know what you think.

Chains (feat. Shimmy Hoffa) by KennaChannel

Additional link:

• Kenna official site.

I’m Rob Fields, and I launched Boldaslove.us in February 2007.  I started this blog after a varied career in PR and marketing for both corporate and arts organizations, as well as being a blogger on marketing and popular culture.  In the mid-90s I was the Director of PR for the Black Rock Coalition, which provided a deep immersion into the vision of black rock as a transforming and inspirational force  in American culture.  You can read more about my story here.

These days, black rock is a cultural movement.  As is the case when I write for sites beyond this blog, my goal in a speech or presentation is to convey to your audience my excitement for the cultural shift that’s taking place.  I connect the growth of black rock to broader forces at play in American culture and society. 

Some sample topics that I can address:

• Black rock: Why it matters now
• Black rock and the cultural shift
• Past is prologue: The history of the black musical future
• Who is the black rock audience?
• The evolving urban mindset: It’s not just hip hop

As well, having been a blogger since 2004, I am equally comfortable talking to you audience on any of the following topics

• Blogging
• Building an audience with social media
• Cultural activism in the digital age
• Following your passion

Click here to contact me about speaking for your organization.  We’ll work out fees, timing and other logistics.  Please include as much pertinent information as possible so that I’ll understand the context of the event in which you’d like me to speak.

Past Speaking Engagements

An excerpt from my 2010 SXSW panel where I interviewed punk band Death.

Launch of the BoldasLIVE event series in July 2007. Remarks on the cultural shift towards black rock, and why it’s manifesting now more than ever.

BoldasLIVE event series, September 2007. My thoughts on how to make progressive culture matter in the marketplace.

Additional Speaking

• National Black Arts Festival panel moderator (August 2009)
• Indiana University Conference on black rock (November 2009)
• CMJ Music Marathon panelist (October 2009)
• SXSW Music Conference panelist (March 2009)

In The Media

Boldaslove.us is EbonyJet.com’s editor’s pick

NPR Interviews

• On the legacy of Bo Diddley
• Commentary on BET’s “Hot Ghetto Mess”
• Blogger roundtable: Burying the N-Word

Interview in Purple Magazine: Page 1
and Page 2 

Arise Magazine article on Afro-Punk (Download Afro Punk_arise_interview):

“Afro-punk draws from the full spectrum of black music and music in general,” explains black rock evangelist and music marketer Rob Fields. “It’s a direct challenge to the simple notion that black music equals hip hop and/or R&B.”

Interview on Afronerd Radio

Interview on the Portland, Oregon KBOO-FM show “Guess Who’s Coming To Radio?”

CLICK HERE to contact me about speaking for your organization. I look forward to sharing my insights and perspective with your audience!

No words right now.  Follow the story at CNN or MSNBC. Vibe.com is a good look, too.

See you @ Trash Bar on June 13!

Check out the location on Google Maps.  Also, get directions here.

View Larger Map

Additional links:

• Farai Chideya
• California King
• Shelley Nicole’s blakbushe
• The Smyrk
• Honeychild Coleman

Conference registration is free and open to the public, but space is limited, so they suggest you pre-register.  You can see a listing of all the sessions here.

The Pop Conference at EMP|SFM, now in its eighth year, joins academics,
critics, performers, and writers of all kinds in a rare common
discussion. Its second collection, Listen Again: A Momentary History of Pop Music,
was recently published by Duke University Press. The conference is
sponsored by the American Music Partnership of Seattle (Experience
Music Project, the University of Washington School of Music, and KEXP
90.3 FM), through a grant from the Allen Foundation for Music.

The beginning of a hipster backlash by rappers?

You know the Black rock/Black indie thing is jumpin' off when stuff like this starts showing up.  I mean, just think about it: There are enough (Black) hipsters to include in a track that's three minutes of putting the smackdown on hipsters–get this–because they have money!?  This is a great track: It's funny, clever and sharp.

Hat tip to Elitaste for the heads-up!

Just giving you a heads up that next weekend, Bridgett's film will have an encore screening.  I'm just calling it a 10th Anniversary Screening.  Actually, it's part of the African Diaspora Film Festival's "Best of the Fest" series at BAM.  So, if you missed the screening in December–especially you Brooklyn types–this might be the move for you.

Details:

Saturday, February 21 at 9:30PM
BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Avenue (betw Ashland & St. Felix)
Brooklyn
Tickets: $11

Additional links:

• Info on BAM site
• My previous post on Naked Acts
• Become a fan of the film on Facebook!

Reach an audience you’re probably not reaching with your traditional “urban mindset”-focused media buys and outreach efforts.  The audience that follows Boldaslove.us is interested in a range of new music, culture and lifestyle trends and ideas that are shaping the American–global, even–cultural landscape.

Boldaslove.us was launched in February 2007 and is the only regularly-written blog that focuses on exploring, celebrating and evangelizing the growing music genre known as Black rock, Afro-punk or urban alternative. The focus is not only on the music from African-American artists whose work falls outside the traditional confines of what’s considered “Black” music, i.e., hip hop & R&B, but also as a means to explore the cultural and lifestyle shift that’s helping push this music towards the mainstream. TV on the Radio, Santigold, The Noisettes, Living Colour and Gnarls Barkley are only a few of the artists who comprise this category. There are hundreds more.

The site uses a combination of written, audio, and video content to show the dynamic nature of this burgeoning community.

The readership

Since its inception, the audience for the blog has grown steadily. Some current indicators:

• Boldaslove.us gets over 6,500 pageviews per month
• Featured as an Editor’s Pick on EbonyJet.com
• 1,400+ people subscribe to the site’s RSS feed
• Nearly 1,700 people follow Rob Fields on Twitter, where the blog’s content is also syndicated.
• Almost 1,000 get the weekly email recap, which boasts an open rate of at least 20%
• The MP3 post are picked up by HypeMachine
• 200+ members of the growing Boldaslove.us Facebook group
• The site is included on Alltop.com’s Music page

The audience is multicultural and multi-generational, with estimates ranging from 25-55. The “sweet spot” is probably 25-45. The site skews male, but also has a significant female readership.

Key posts

The following posts help orient new visitors:

• What is Black rock? http://www.boldaslove.us/2007/02/what_is_black_r.html
• Best posts of 2008 http://www.boldaslove.us/best-2008-posts/

Also check out:

• Listening Posts.  Hear new music.
• Reviews. A curated look at what’s new
• Video interviews.  Meet some of people who make this community so vibrant.
• Photos.  A look inside the scene.

Recent live events

• A music series called BoldasLIVE
• Approximately 400 people attended the Boldaslove.us showcase at the 2008 CMJ Music Marathon

About Rob Fields

Like Black rock, Rob Fields is many things. He’s an evangelist for this music. He’s also a marketer, having spent time at WPP and Dentsu-affiliated agencies. He managed musicians and worked in the music industry at Capitol Records. He is also a former Director of PR for the Black Rock Coalition. In the last year, he’s written about Black rock for The Huffington Post, The Root.com, EbonyJet.com and TheRoot.com.  Rob has been a guest several times on NPR, and was a panelist at the 2009 SXSW Music Conference, CMJ09 and Indiana University’s Black Rock Conference.

Want to talk advertising/sponsorship rates and be seen as a brand that understands this cultural shift we’re all experiencing?  Email Rob at rafields [at] gmail [dot] com.

Additional links:

• Vikter Duplaix
• DJ Reborn