This Black History Month, I’m enjoying reading about all the Black tinkerers, inventors, and innovators. Dr. Gladys Mae West, whose groundbreaking work helped make the Global Positioning System (GPS), passed away earlier in January. The coverage of her work left me hungry to learn more, go deeper into the stories and beyond just liking posts naming notable firsts. I’m still thinking about how Dr West became Dr West after a 42 year career, earning a PhD in her retirement at age 70. Learners stay learning. https://www.becauseofthemwecan.com/blogs/culture/meet-gladys-west-one-of-the-hidden-figures-behind-the-creation-of-the-gps-system

A profile I highly recommend is Imani Perry on George Washington Carver from Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People. The profile is named “Egyptian Blue in Alabama” and Perry details how Carver’s agricultural innovations grew out of his care for the people of rural Alabama. Her portrait is of man who found living joys through creating and giving.

“Carver worked incredibly hard, but he indulged as well. Carver loved desserts, companionship, and beauty. An art enthusiast, he painted canvases with large extravagant flowers. Photographic portraits taken of him standing next to his paintings, palette in hand, show a man who is a composed and confident artist. He didn’t only make paintings, however. He made the paint too, and not just for his own use, but for the surrounding community. Carver called them “rich colors for poor people.” Using the skins of sweet potatoes, he made lavender and orange, and from tomato vines and peanuts, he made yellows, slates, and browns. So that they might be reproduced by anyone who wanted the rich colors, Carver maintained detailed records of his formulae, written up in his even, florid script. To share what he had learned, Carver traveled many a country road with his color swatches, encouraging rural folks to explore all the options for making their homes distinctively beautiful.”

Learners gonna learn. Givers gonna gift.

How do we get from Dr West, and George Washington Carver to the hip-hop producer Marley Marl? From Virginia, and Alabama to Queensbridge, NYC? By way of Georgia and James Brown of course.

Marley Marl, was a DJ by trade and inveterate tinkerer who changed the course of music and culture when he pioneered the practice of sampling drum sounds and creating his own proto-boom-bap rhythms

“The sonic architect of Cold Chillin’ Records and the Juice Crew, Mr. Marl was one of rap’s first super-producers, crafting huge hits for Eric B. & Rakim, Biz Markie, Big Daddy Kane, and LL Cool J, among others. His tenure on late, great broadcasting partner Mr. Magic’s Rap Attack radio show on WBLS was immortalized in the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy.”

A moment of appreciation for one of Marley Marl’s productions, “The Symphony.”

Like George Washing Carver experimenting with sweet potatoes in an effort to create richer colors, Marley Marl was experimenting with early sampling technology to produce new sonic textures. He didn’t set out to find a way to sample drums, that came as a by product of his tinkering. But once he did, he knew the application. He had found a way to recreate the colors of James Brown’s music that powered hip-hop street jams but was missing in his mind from some of the early recorded rap records.

In a 2014 Red Bull Music Academy lecture, hosted by Jeff “Chairman” Mao, Marley tells the story of how he wanted new paint colors.

Marley Marl

Basically, that’s my first time sampling drum sounds, on that record right there. That right there started changing everything because, you have to think about it; before a sound like that would come out, you had bands replaying hip-hop breaks. Not good. It just wasn’t good. No disrespect, it just wasn’t good. You have to think, when I first heard rap, I heard the scratching of breakbeats and it was just something about the funk. I mean, if a band doesn’t have funk, they can’t replay a funk tune. You get what I’m saying? So a lot of bad records in hip-hop were coming out with these guys trying to imitate the breakbeats. I just decided I had to make a change because I needed something better to play. I needed tools.

Jeff “Chairman” Mao

But also you were saying the drum machine sound wasn’t doing it for you either, the non-sample sort of drums, right?

Marley Marl

Well, they were strong but they didn’t have the impact of a James Brown record coming on. It just was so different. It didn’t have the impact of an “Impeach the President,” the song that I first sampled. Those were staples. I would notice that every time any DJ anywhere… I got to tell you, I know hip-hop was born off of James Brown. It has to be. I just know that, because he was funky, that was the blueprint, those were the songs that the breakdancers used to go break to and make it exciting. That was the exciting songs of the night. It was a little different at that point.

Marley knew what the colors could and should be to move the crowd – the James Brown Funk! – he didn’t have them until he discovered how sampling could be used for richer tones. Once he did, he was able to make raw rich colors that became the boom bap sound.

I don’t mean any disrespect to Dr West or George Washington Carver and the years of study, excellence and perseverance their life and work represent by including a music producer in the conversation with them. I do want to honor them by recognizing that their greatness was not just that they did rare things in challenging scientific fields. They were learners motivated to innovate.

In one interview, Dr West was asked if she ever experienced imposter syndrome early in her career. This is her answer.

When I first saw the big computers, it was a bit overwhelming, yet very exciting. I stayed focused on my goal of continual learning, which helped me overcome any feelings of inadequacy. I put in extra hours and studied hard to ensure that I would complete the programming tasks on those big computers successfully. I did not feel like I didn’t belong; I just knew that I had to do the work to show that I belonged.

Learners stay learning.

So the rest of this month, and this year, I am opening my reading to be about those who keep on moving, learning. creating and giving. I am starting with Dr West’s own memoir, It Began With a Dream. And I’m going to chase that book with From Boom Bap To Trap: Hip Hop’s Greatest Producers by Riley Wallace. I’m gonna stay learning, no half steppin.