Talk:Bomani Armah

Incorrect Info

In an allusion to the erudition which it promotes, "Read A Book" samples both Vincent d'Indy's piano cycle Pour les enfants de tous les âges for its bass hook and a spoken-word performance of an excerpt from The Blacker the Berry by Wallace Thurman, read by Carl van Vechten, midway through the track.

This was originally written under the "Read a Book" section. I've listened to the song several times on Armah's Myspace page as well as the music video, it's set to Beethoven's 5th, doesn't have any spoken-word performance midway through, and in fact the song doesn't even have a "bass hook"... it's just a looping piano track and a drum track. What's more, d'Indy's "Pour les enfants de tous le ages" is an opera, not a song, containing 24 piano pieces. Simply listening to Beethoven's 5th and Armah's "Read a Book" is enough to confirm what song was sampled.

Maybe this info was in reference to one of Armah's other songs and someone mistakenly (or perhaps intentionally) botched which title? So far none of Armah's songs I've heard seem to match this info. So, I'm taking this out, there doesn't seem to be anything present in this song that matches this information.

Also, I believe this can be disputed as well:

Inspired by an encounter with the members of the quizbowl organization Testing Recall About Strange Happenings, whom Armah perceived as unhygienic and dimwitted

If no one finds a source for this, I'm removing it. It seems to be a fabrication. I fail to see how the groups mentioned would have been any form of inspiration for that song, which is largely about stereotypes in black society.((Gatero 01:58, 7 July 2007 (UTC)))

Sorry, what you think you hear in the song is not a legitimate source. WP:NOR. BobBuckeyeBuddy 02:07, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

My source is the song itself, found at www.myspace.com/knotarapper. Anyone can listen and hear clearly that none of that info correlates to the actual song. Furthermore, the original information listed has no sources whatsoever. ((Gatero 02:13, 7 July 2007 (UTC)))

In fact, here's a link from Armah's page that identifies the sample as Beethoven (as if just LISTENING to the song weren't enough): http://www.notarapper.com/BaltimoreCityPaperBomaniArmah.pdf

I doubt the other seemingly made-up info has any sources, either, that Quizbowl bit for example, seems as if it were thrown in there just to insult some group of scholastic quiz-loving people that have nothing to do with the people Armah has said this song is aimed at. From Armah himself:

He started with the words "Even after all my logic and my theory/ I add a `motherfucker' so you ignorant niggas hear me," a joint that, much like "Read a Book," explores the complexities of trying to bring lyrical enlightenment and integrity to an audience more interested in hearing bullshit about cars and jewelry and murder.

(Gatero 02:46, 7 July 2007 (UTC))

Okay, confirmed that none of the information contested above was true, as if confirmation were even necessary for sourceless information. Nice try, who knows how long that would've stayed on there without being questioned? That said, the article has been updated with a little more info from reputable sources (see links and references), and an image. (Gatero 00:14, 10 July 2007 (UTC))

2006?

I remember he handed me a flyer at a 2006 Aceyalone concert in DC and I'm pretty sure it was advertising "Read A Book." So can we change the release year to 2006? 72.66.80.133 (talk) 18:37, 22 April 2008 (UTC) (Anon.)

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