LIFE AS RECOUNTED BY 3/5THS OF A MAN
Who knew there was more to 70's Funk and Soul than Funkadelic, Sly & The Family Stone, and The Isley Brothers. Bands with discographies as robust and bloated as their rosters. With instrumentalists accompanied only by sound, not by name, Eugene McDaniels charts a course through racial inequality in America, landing himself at its source; Plymouth Rock. At times humorous, only as a means of coping, Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse pits conscious-leaning lyrics against the backdrop of rooted black music, much akin to the aforementioned artists. It is not to be missed, an essential companion to Maggot Brain, There's A Riot Goin' On, and more. Selling one's soul to the devil ('Jagger The Dagger'), puppeteering enablers and their lower class extremism ('Headless Heroes'), and daily bouts of violent racism ('Supermarket Blues') are just some of the confrontational topics posed by McDaniels. All, through enjoyable and passionate Psychedelic Soul.
But nothing comes close to 'The Parasite.' At a substantial nine minutes, the slow-moving dirge encapsulates the depraved nature of European colonialism. In opposition to what one would expect, McDaniels, a black man, never comments on the racial makeup of America's first conquerers, instead choosing to equate and relate the sorrows of his modern injustices with that of the Native Americans. One could not execute this concept better, bearing similarities to Kendrick Lamar's highbrow slants and shrewd emotion. It is sorrowful, regretful, and remorseful, all on behalf of those who'd rather see McDaniels on the other end of a whip. There's power in the tone, one that's sobering and elegiac. Tears and sadness would be an apt response. It's safe to say; 'The Parasite' is one of the greatest political songs ever, recounting a world-altering expropriation that's sorely under-admonished. And why? Because hundreds of millions owe their very existence to the vanquishers.
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