Your Rapt Attention, Please
She may have been first, but now she has company. “It’s undoubtedly the first rap song recorded by a Harvard professor,” Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration Rosabeth M. Kanter writes about her single “Evolve!” on her website www.rosabeth.com. The Harvard Business School professor recorded and released “Evolve!” on CD as a benefit for CityYear, a national service organization. She says the song “summarizes” her book, Evolve!: Succeeding in the Digital Culture of Tomorrow, and makes the themes of the book accessible to younger students. There is no specific book to anchor or inspire the debut of Fletcher University Professor Cornel R. West ’74 on the rap scene, which is reputedly part of what made University President Lawrence H. Summers so angry. But at least West has more than one song to show for his foray into the music biz. He has her beat by the numbers. How do the two compare on other points?
Cornel West
Areas of specialty: Black critical thought, cultural criticism, social theory, modern and post-modern philosophy and literature and the future of American youth.
Hot release: Sketches of My Culture (September 2001).
Self-promotion: “In all modesty, this project constitutes a watershed moment in musical history. The combination of the oratorical passion and unmatched eloquence of Dr. Cornel West with the particular musical genius of Derek D.O.A. Allen has produced an auditory theatrical experience.” (www.cornelwest.com)
Sample lyric: “No matter who you are or what you feel is true/Truth of the matter is we all got work to do/If it distresses you it oughta hurt me too/Don’t let it bring you down/Just elevate your view.” (“Elevate Your View”)
What the critics say: “West had better keep that day job. There are unintentionally hilarious moments even beyond the less-than-stellar backing music and West’s corny delivery, such as his indictment of slaves’ having been forced to work on ‘ugly plantations’...It’s when the music is at its most awkward that the album hits its low points. Nails-on-chalkboard synthesizers drive the horrible backing tracks of ‘Stolen King’ (an anti-slavery screed that sounds like a bad Prince imitation) and ‘3Ms’ (Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X).” (Steve Holtje, CDNOW Senior Editor, Comedy/Spoken Word)
Where to pick it up: Amazon and the rest.
Rosabeth M. Kanter
Areas of specialty: Strategy, innovation and leadership for change; advising major corporations.
Hot release: “Evolve!: Succeeding in the Digital Culture of Tomorrow” (January 2001).
Self-promotion: “The lectures themselves are full of substance, so it’s nice to have an inspirational and imaginative ending. I don’t take it too seriously and I don’t expect anyone else to,” Kanter told the Boston Herald last year.
Sample lyrics: “Get ready for the next step, Select the best step. It’s a leap in evolution/From the Internet revolution./Just pick a direction/In this world of connection./So many problems to solve—/You’ve got to evolve...Putting lipstick on a bulldog won’t transform enough,/Makeup can’t hide everything; change takes deeper stuff./Shift the mood, adjust your attitude, before you go online;/Find new habits of mind, don’t just dwell on what’s behind.”
What the critics say: Not a huge critical watershed on this one.
Where to pick it up:Unfortunately, says Kanter’s assistant, they are completely out of copies.