September 22, 2007

From the Funk Corner to the Hip-Hop Block

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Galactic’s hip-hop-influenced 2007 CD From the Corner to the Block is further proof that I have seriously misjudged this band. A few years ago, having heard only a few songs and met plenty of hippie-ish fans, I was quick to write Galactic off as a jam band.

Don’t get me wrong; the New Orleans-based funk-rock-jazz-fusion band, with its abilities to stretch songs out with extended solos and their ability to swing back and forth effortlessly between mid-volume funky pockets and loud, sustained sections of rock energy make them very jam-like.

But From the Corner to the Block is something else entirely. Songs on the CD average about three-and-a-half minutes, and have definitive verses, choruses and bridges. Guest hip-hop MCs like Lyrics Born, Mr. Lif, Boots Riley, Lateef the Truth Speaker, and Gift of Gab anchor the songs and make this album a veritable who’s-who of today’s (mostly Bay Area) hip hop artists. And listening to tracks, it sounds like everyone had a helluva good time making the album. The artwork, a stylized, brown-toned sketch of people walking through what looks like an artist’s rendition of the French Quarter, is a nice touch also.

When interviewed about collaborating with Galactic, the deep-voiced Jurassic 5 MC Chali 2Na said, “I’m shocked, but yet I’m not surprised. It’s a no-brainer. When we were in practice, it felt good, it felt right.”

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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