Well, I’m old school. Been around the block a few times during my many trips circling the sun. Back in the day, I sat on a piano bench next to Weldon Irvine (October 27, 1943 – April 9, 2002) and we conversated about this and that, people we knew, places we been, good times and not-so-good times. And laughed. He told me about gifting the lyrics to Nina Simone, who wrote the music for what became an anthem in it’s day, and is now considered a classic: “Young, Gifted and Black.” Weldon had been Ms. Simone’s musical director.
Before hip hop hit the scene with its own bodacious hipness, Aretha Franklin propelled a celestial version our way. Queen Re’s outpouring is the beat over which Black Star (i.e. Dos Def & Taleb Kweli) do their do, offering us a third interpretation of the Nina Simone & Weldon Irvine collaboration.
Master Wel, the name many knew him by, always kept up with whatever was going down. That’s him on Mos Def’s debut solo album, Black On Both Sides. In 1999 he assembled The Amadou Project: The Price Of Freedom. Although we only met in person that one time while attending a conference in Wisconsin, there was a lot of deep love and respect arcing between us.
When he committed suicide in 2002, I was deeply saddened by his passing, and eventually let our tete-a-tete disappear from my conscious purview. And then, lo and behold, all these years later, Amerigo Gazaway drops this beautiful aural bomb on us. Young bloods might dig it, and us old heads will certainly love it–even if we are no longer young, we’re still gifted, and intend to stay black all the rest of our days.
–Kalamu ya Salaam