av Trent Brager för 7 årar sedan
912
Stagger Lee
av Trent Brager för 7 årar sedan
912
References
Abrahams, R. D. (1970). Deep down in the jungle: Negro narrative folklore from the streets of Philadelphia (1st revised ed.). Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company.
Botkin, B. A. (Ed.). (1983). A treasury of American folklore: The stories, legends, tall tales, traditions, ballads and songs of the American people. New York: Bonanza Books.
Brown, C. (2003, May 8). Godfather of gangsta. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2003/may/09/artsfeatures
Brown, C. (2003). Stagolee shot Billy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Burnside, R. L. (2001). Staggolee. On well...well...well... [compact disc]. Huntington, NY: M.C. Records. Recorded in 1986.
Champarou, P., & Komara, E. (2006). St. Louis, Missouri. In E. M. Komara (Ed.), The encyclopedia of the blues (Vol. 2, pp. 926-927). New York: Routledge.
Cohen, A. M. (1996). The hands of blues guitarists. American Music, 14(4), 455-479. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Cook, N., Clarke, E. Leech-Wilkinson, D., & Rink J. (Eds.). (2009). The Cambridge companion to recorded music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cooper, B. L. (1978). The image of the outsider in contemporary lyrics. Journal of Popular Culture, 12(1), 168-178. Retrieved from America: History & Life database.
Eastman, R. (1988). Country blues performance and the oral tradition. Black Music Research Journal, 8(2), 161-176. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Evans, D. (1974). Techniques of blues composition among black folksingers. Journal of American Folklore, 87(345), 240-249. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Evans, D. (1977). The toast in context. The Journal of American Folklore, 90(356), 129-148. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Garst, J. (2006). Stack Lee. In E. M. Komara (Ed.), The encyclopedia of the blues (Vol. 2, pp. 927-928). New York: Routledge.
Hauser, J. P. (2009). Stagger Lee: From mythic blues ballad to ultimate rock ‘n’ roll record. Retrieved from http://sites.google.com/site/thestaggerleefiles/stagger-lee-from-mythic-blues-ballad-to-ultimate-rock-n-record
Jackson, B. (1974). “Get your ass in the water and swim like me”: Narrative poetry from black oral tradition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Jackson, B. (1975). A response to “Toasts: The black urban poetry”. The Journal of American Folklore, 88(348), 178-182. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Jackson, B. (1975). Reply to Wepman, Newman, and Binderman. The Journal of American Folklore, 88(348), 185-187. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Jemie, O. (2003). Yo’ mama! New raps, toasts, dozens, jokes and children’s rhymes from urban black America. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Kenney, W. H. (1999). Recorded music in American life: The phonograph and popular memory, 1890-1945. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kloc, J. (2011, April 4). The mystery of Stack-O-Lee [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2011/04/stack-o-lee-stagolee-blues-murder-ballads
Kullen, T. (1997). Stagger Lee: A historical look at the urban legend. Retrieved from http://blueslyrics.tripod.com/dictionary/stagolee.htm
Lacava, J. D. (1992). The theatricality of the blues. Black Music Research Journal, 12(1), 127-139. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Lester, J. (1969). Black folktales. New York: Grove Press.
Lomax, J. A. , & Lomax A. (1994). American ballads and folk songs. New York: Dover Publications.
Marcus, G. (2008). Mystery train: Images of America in rock ‘n’ roll music (5th revised edition). New York: Plume.
McCulloch, D., & Hendrix, S. (2006). Stagger Lee. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.
McInerney, J. (2002). White man at the door: One man's mission to record the "dirty blues" - before everyone dies. The New Yorker, 77(46), 54+. Retrieved from Expanded Academic ASAP database.
Nelson, D. (2006). Burnside, R. L. In E. M. Komara (Ed.), The encyclopedia of the blues (Vol. 1, pp.168-169). New York: Routledge.
Otis, J. (2002). Johnny Otis Show – Cold Shot/Snatch and the Poontangs [compact disc]. London: Ace Records.
Plasketes, G. (Ed.). (2010). Play it again: Cover songs in popular music. Farnham, England: Ashgate.
Quinn, E. (2005). Nuthin’ but a “g” thang: The culture and commerce of gangsta rap. New York: Columbia University Press.
R. L. Burnside. (1997). In G. Herzhaft (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the blues (2nd ed., pp. 28-29). Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press.
Redhead Productions. (n.d.) Stagger Lee. Retrieved from http://www.staggerlee.com/index.php
Schecter, H. (2005). Savage pastimes. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Slade, P. (2012). De Lyons sleeps tonight: Stagger Lee. Retrieved from http://www.planetslade.com/stagger-lee1.html
Stagolee. (1999). In T. Bolden, Strong men keep coming: The book of African American men (pp. 130-131). New York: J. Wiley & Sons.
Wepman, D., Newman, R. B., & Binderman, M. B. (1974). Toasts: The black urban folk poetry. The Journal of American Folklore, 87(345), 208-224. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Wepman, D., Newman, R. B., & Binderman, M. B. (1975). Rejoinder to Jackson. The Journal of American Folklore, 88(348), 182-185. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Wepman, D., Newman, R. B., & Binderman, M. B. (1976). The life: The lore and folk poetry of the black hustler. [Phildelphia?]: University of Pennsylvania Press.
"Stagolee - or Stack Lee, or Stagger Lee - has thrived as a soul tune rendered by James Brown, Neil Diamond, Fats Domino and Wilson Pickett. Performers of Stagolee have ranged from levee camp workers to white female "coon-shouters" (white performers who sang as black-face minstrels); from whorehouse pianists to black female blues shouters; from black convicts to Huey Lewis and the News, Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead; and from 1920s Hawaiian guitarists to 1970s English punks like the Clash, who recorded it in 1979. The earliest recordings, in 1923, were made by two white dance bands, Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians and Frank Westphal and His Orchestra. Australian rocker Nick Cave recorded it in 1996, in Murder Ballads."
Brown, C. (2003, May 8). Godfather of gangsta. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2003/may/09/artsfeatures
Page 280
Marcus, G. (2008). Mystery train: Images of America in rock ‘n’ roll music (5th revised edition). New York: Plume.
"It is only through the many recordings that one can fully realize the popularity of the ballad."
Page 133
Abrahams, R. D. (1970). Deep down in the jungle: Negro narrative folklore from the streets of Philadelphia (1st revised ed.). Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company.
"Just like Stagger Lee himself, there seem to be no limits on how evil this song can become" - Nick Cave
Page 291
Marcus, G. (2008). Mystery train: Images of America in rock ‘n’ roll music (5th revised edition). New York: Plume.
Beck (1996)
The Clash (1979)
Wilson Pickett (1967)
Amy Winehouse (2011)
Huey Lewis & The News (1994)
Neil Diamond (1979)
Ike & Tina Turner (1973)
Bob Dylan (1993)
"There is some evidence that Lee Shelton took the name from the riverboat Stack Lee... [another line of boats] were noted for speed, sumptuous cabins, elaborate cuisine - and prostitution."
Page 45
Brown, C. (2003). Stagolee shot Billy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Pages 96-97
McCulloch, D., & Hendrix, S. (2006). Stagger Lee. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.
Page 215-217
Jemie, O. (2003). Yo’ mama! New raps, toasts, dozens, jokes and children’s rhymes from urban black America. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
"'Stand back, Tom Devil, I'm gonna rule Hell by myself'"
Page 99
Lomax, J. A. , & Lomax A. (1994). American ballads and folk songs. New York: Dover Publications.
Hat was a symbol of the particular subculture one was a part of at the time. The St. Louis macks wore Stetsons.
Page 100
Brown, C. (2003). Stagolee shot Billy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Quoted from:
Page 45
Jackson, B. (1974). “Get your ass in the water and swim like me”: Narrative poetry from black oral tradition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
The most realistic part of the story.
Page 45
Jackson, B. (1974). “Get your ass in the water and swim like me”: Narrative poetry from black oral tradition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
"...I contend that there was regional clustering to the ways that African American folk and blues guitar players from the early part of this century held their picking hands and that these postures facilitated certain musical patterns while inhibiting others."
Page 455
Cohen, A. M. (1996). The hands of blues guitarists. American Music, 14(4), 455-479. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
R.L.'s picking hand technique
alternating thumb
dead thumb
slow alternating bass
Page 477
Cohen, A. M. (1996). The hands of blues guitarists. American Music, 14(4), 455-479. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
"As blues music existed only in performance and not as a discrete literary form, a study of the performer's approach to the blues text is essential to the understanding of this process. Therefore, it is impossible to divorce consideration of music and lyrics from a consideration of performance techniques if one is to meaningfully discuss the music."
Page 161
Eastman, R. (1988). Country blues performance and the oral tradition. Black Music Research Journal, 8(2), 161-176. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
"The blues performer relies on three principal modes of expression - poetry, drama, and music - to convey a message not only through words and music, but also through the "here and now" on stage."
Page 127
Lacava, J. D. (1992). The theatricality of the blues. Black Music Research Journal, 12(1), 127-139. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
"Newman I. White noted in 1928 that the black tradition displayed three important attributes absent in the whie folksong tradition: the black tradition emphasized improvisation, variation, and the accumulative tendency."
Page 240
Evans, D. (1974). Techniques of blues composition among black folksingers. Journal of American Folklore, 87(345), 240-249. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Restricted growth in record business
"Those who sang and played the blues in recording studios recognized in their experiences with sound technology bright new possibiliites in the musical entertainment business but also express a deep ambivalence about the ways that white people restricted their advancement within the record business."
Pages 109-110
Kenney, W. H. (1999). Recorded music in American life: The phonograph and popular memory, 1890-1945. New York: Oxford University Press.
1920's - Music made by African Americans is commercially recorded
"Commercial recordings of music made by African Americans, discs designed by record companies to sell fo African Americans, finally emerged in the 1920s as a further extension of earlier ethnic music recording programs."
Page 109
Kenney, W. H. (1999). Recorded music in American life: The phonograph and popular memory, 1890-1945. New York: Oxford University Press.
1877 - Edison invents a prototype of the phonograph
Page 23
Kenney, W. H. (1999). Recorded music in American life: The phonograph and popular memory, 1890-1945. New York: Oxford University Press.
"...1930, when the song attained its widest circulation..."
Page 16
Brown, C. (2003). Stagolee shot Billy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
"Stagger Lee seemed to reach a peak of mainstream renown in the Roaring Twenties."
Page 203
McCulloch, D., & Hendrix, S. (2006). Stagger Lee. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.
"I remember the day I met R.L.," Johnson says as he jams Kid Rock's latest into the CD player of the pickup after we leave Burnside. "We were driving in his car. He was drunk. Every damn light on his dashboard was on, red lights flashing everywhere. There were cows on the road, and he was driving with one hand. He's definitely, like, nihilistic -- in a friendly way. He loves when things go wrong. Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods -- he just loves 'em."
McInerney, J. (2002). White man at the door: One man's mission to record the "dirty blues" - before everyone dies. The New Yorker, 77(46), 54+. Retrieved from Expanded Academic ASAP database.
"My daddy, they stabbed him about twenty-five or thirty times, and nobody ever went to jail for it," Burnside says. "I had two brothers, two uncles, and my father got killed the same year. My brother, he was a doctor -- he let 'em have a little dope or something and then they killed him. They killed one of my uncles. Husband come home and caught him out with his wife and killed him. I don't know what happened to my other uncle. Yeah, I'm glad I made it out of there."
McInerney, J. (2002). White man at the door: One man's mission to record the "dirty blues" - before everyone dies. The New Yorker, 77(46), 54+. Retrieved from Expanded Academic ASAP database.
"Burnside found that he was being harassed by a local bully who wanted to run him off his own place. "He was trying to take over my house," Burnside explains, as he lies back on the bed and glances up at the silent face of Maury Povich on the television. "He thought he was bad. It's always the bad folks who gets killed. Them scared folks kill 'em. I told him, 'Don't come around no more,' and then he was here, so I shot him." When Burnside was brought up on homicide charges, the judge asked him if he had intended to kill the man. "It was between him and the Lord, him dyin'," Burnside says. "I just shot him in the head." (He delivers this little chestnut with a smile, a perfect pause before the punch line.) Burnside was convicted and sent to Parchman, the notorious Mississippi prison that has featured in so many blues songs."
McInerney, J. (2002). White man at the door: One man's mission to record the "dirty blues" - before everyone dies. The New Yorker, 77(46), 54+. Retrieved from Expanded Academic ASAP database.
"My whole livelihood is based on a guy who doesn't give a rat's ass about anything," Johnson says of R. L. Burnside.
"He's incorruptible because he just doesn't care. As soon as he got good enough where people wanted to hear him play, he stopped having a guitar. Now he borrows guitars and people give them to him. He'll play anything you put in his hands. I can't even tell you how many 'authentic' R. L. Burnside guitars we've sold to collectors in Japan."
McInerney, J. (2002). White man at the door: One man's mission to record the "dirty blues" - before everyone dies. The New Yorker, 77(46), 54+. Retrieved from Expanded Academic ASAP database.
Page 45
Jackson, B. (1974). “Get your ass in the water and swim like me”: Narrative poetry from black oral tradition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
"Stagolee was, undoubtedly and without question, the baddest nigger that ever lived."
Page 113
Lester, J. (1969). Black folktales. New York: Grove Press.
Songs from toasts
From:
Otis, J. (2002). Johnny Otis Show – Cold Shot/Snatch and the Poontangs [compact disc]. London: Ace Records.
Two Time Slim
Shine
The Signifying Monkey
Songs from folklore
Turn of the century ballads about semi-legendary characters
Page 272
Marcus, G. (2008). Mystery train: Images of America in rock ‘n’ roll music (5th revised edition). New York: Plume.
Frankie and Albert
Railroad Bill
Casey Jones
Tom Dooley
John Henry
"The toast is a narrative poem that is recited, often in a theatrical manner, and represents the greates flowering of Negro verbal talent. Toasts are often long, lasting anywhere from two to ten minutes. They conform to a general but by no means binding framing pattern. This consists of some sort of picturesque or exciting introduction, action alternating with dialogue, and a twist ending of some sort, either a quip, an ironic comment, or a brag.
Page 97
Abrahams, R. D. (1970). Deep down in the jungle: Negro narrative folklore from the streets of Philadelphia (1st revised ed.). Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company.
"Toasting is a black working-class oral practice, involving the citation of extended and partially improvised narrative poems. These toasts were most typically performed and exchanged by men in street corner conversations, barbershops, and prisons."
Page 94
Quinn, E. (2005). Nuthin’ but a “g” thang: The culture and commerce of gangsta rap. New York: Columbia University Press.
"Two Time Slim" - Snatch and the Poontangs
Murder Ballad
"Black Americans have certainly invested in, and been subject to, the nation's abiding fascination with violence ans weaponry - what Richard Slotkin calls a nostalgia for 'regeneration through violence.'"
Page 103
Quinn, E. (2005). Nuthin’ but a “g” thang: The culture and commerce of gangsta rap. New York: Columbia University Press.
"Tom Waits argues that most murder ballads are 'just a cut above graffiti...the oral tabloids of the day.'"
Kloc, J. (2011, April 4). The mystery of Stack-O-Lee [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2011/04/stack-o-lee-stagolee-blues-murder-ballads
Closest publication to R.L.'s version
It was back in the time of nineteen hundred and two,
I had a fucked-up deck a cards and I didn't know what to do.
My woman was leavin', she was puttin' me out in the cold.
I said, "Why you leavin' me , baby?" She said, "Our love has grown cold."
So she kept packin' the bags, so I said, "Fuck it," you know.
So I waded through water and I waded through mud
and I came to this town called the Bucket of Blood.
And I asked the bartender for something to eat,
he gave me a dirty glass a water and a tough-assed piece a meat.
I said, "Bartender, bartender, don't you know who I am?"
He said, "Frankly, my man, I don't give a goddam."
I said, "My name is Stackolee." He said, "Oh, yes, I heard about you up this way,
but I feed you hungry motherfuckers each and every day."
'Bout this time the poor bartender had gone to rest-
I pumped six a my rockets in his motherfucken chest.
A woman run out the back screamin' real loud, said, "I know my son ain't dead!"
I said, "You just check that hole in the ugly motherfucker's head."
She say, "You may be bad, your name may be Stack,
but you better not be here when Billy Lions gets back."
So I walked around the room and I seen this trick,
and we went upstairs and we started real soon.
Now me and this broad we started to tussle
and I drove twelve inches a dick through her ass before she could move a muscle.
We went downstairs where we were before,
we fucked on the table and all over the floor.
'Bout that time you could hear the drop of a pin-
that bad mortherfucker Billy Lions had just walked in.
He walked behind the counter, he seen the bartender dead,
he say, "Who put this hole in this ugly motherfucker's head."
Say, "Who can this man's murderer be?"
One motherfucker say, "You better speak soft, his name is Stackolee."
Bitch jumped up and said, "Billy, please."
He shot that whore through both her knees.
A pimp eased up and turned out the lights and I had him dead in both my sights.
When the light came back on poor Billy had gone to rest,
I had pumped nine a my rockets in his motherfucken chest.
The next day about half-past ten
I was standin' before the judge and twelve other good men.
They say, "What can this man's charges be?"
One sonofabitch say, "Murder in the first degree."
Another say, "What can this man's penalty be?"
One say, "Hang him," another say, "Give him gas."
A snaggle-tooth bitch jumped up and say, "Run that twister through his jivin' ass!"
My woman jumped up and said, "Let him go free,
'cause there ain't nobody in the world can fuck like Stackolee."
- Henry 1965
Page 46-47
Jackson, B. (1974). “Get your ass in the water and swim like me”: Narrative poetry from black oral tradition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
"Stagger Lee, the song, was in all likelihood born in the bordellos of St. Louis, where the musicians creating ragtime made music from the news of the day. the songs traveled with the musicians, and Stagger Lee's fame spread. His songs got passed along by migrant workers, hoboes, and most especially by prisoners."
Page 185
McCulloch, D., & Hendrix, S. (2006). Stagger Lee. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.
Page 103
Quinn, E. (2005). Nuthin’ but a “g” thang: The culture and commerce of gangsta rap. New York: Columbia University Press.
Difference in black and white versions
"[W]hen this verse is sung by a white artist, 'we' are all glad to see him die. When sung by and African-American, 'they' are glad.
Pages 46-47
McCulloch, D., & Hendrix, S. (2006). Stagger Lee. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.
Page 273
Marcus, G. (2008). Mystery train: Images of America in rock ‘n’ roll music (5th revised edition). New York: Plume.
"There is evidence that by 1900, the song had made its way to Colorado, but it wasn't until 1903 that the first written transcript of the lyrics surfaced in Memphis—at which point it began to crop up everywhere. By 1911, it had made its way into the Journal of American Folklore, in an article by early folklorist John Lomax."
Kloc, J. (2011, April 4). The mystery of Stack-O-Lee [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2011/04/stack-o-lee-stagolee-blues-murder-ballads
"After the murder in St. Louis, the ballad of Stagolee began appearing in various places in the American South and West. A circus performer heard it in the Indian Territory in 1913. At about the same time a white youngster hunting with his father heard Negroes singing it in the Dismal Swamps of Virginia, and in 1911 hoboes were singing it in Georgia. By 1927 it had made its way to New York City. As hoboes, roustabouts, and bluesmen traveled from St. Louis to other parts of the country, they took the ballad with them and created their own versions of Stagolee."
Page 119
Brown, C. (2003). Stagolee shot Billy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
"The reason Stagolee is popular with some white folks is because the brother preys mostly on his own people and is the most nonthreatening Negro of all: He lends zip - nothing - to efforts for social change; he builds no institutions, makes no plans, plants no family, leaves no legacy to treasure. Swagger and brags don't build no nation."
Page 131
Stagolee. (1999). In T. Bolden, Strong men keep coming: The book of African American men (pp. 130-131). New York: J. Wiley & Sons.
"Why do record expounding the exploits of these undisciplined being enjoy such success?...If a consensus can be established among behavioral theorists on issues related to human aggression, it may be found in the following generalizations: (a) hostitlity is generated by situations which create pain, boredom, or fear in the mind of the aggressor; (b) the major catalyst for violent actions is frustration; (c) a frequent source of frustration is social and economic deprivation."
Page 169
Cooper, B. L. (1978). The image of the outsider in contemporary lyrics. Journal of Popular Culture, 12(1), 168-178. Retrieved from America: History & Life database.
Therapy for aggression
Page 169
Cooper, B. L. (1978). The image of the outsider in contemporary lyrics. Journal of Popular Culture, 12(1), 168-178. Retrieved from America: History & Life database.
"Stag is a hero but not a model... [H]is toast includes a strong element of ridicule. The Life has impose its urbane and pragmatic angle of vision upon an epic of its forebears."
Page 135
Wepman, D., Newman, R. B., & Binderman, M. B. (1976). The life: The lore and folk poetry of the black hustler. [Phildelphia?]: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Archetype has produced many political figures
Adam Clayton Powell
Malcolm X
Muhammad Ali
H. "Rap" Brown
Robert Williams
Bobby Seale
Bigger Thomas - from Richard Wright's Native Son
Page 14
Brown, C. (2003). Stagolee shot Billy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Actual murder was "rooted in class tension"
"Tensions arose in when the two black antagonists mingled in the transgressive lesiure zone of the saloon - the the migrant activist, trying to organize the dispossessed black proletariat, vying with the conservative individualist."
Page 112
Quinn, E. (2005). Nuthin’ but a “g” thang: The culture and commerce of gangsta rap. New York: Columbia University Press.
In black folk tales there was little need to justify retaliation
"Levine explains that 'black folk refused to romantically embelilsh or sentimentalize' their antiheroes. The distinction is epitomized by the divergent legends of Stackolee (random and anarchistic, displaying a posture of hardness that has little extenuation) and Robin Hood (social conscience, interventionist, a 'noble robber')."
Page 103
Quinn, E. (2005). Nuthin’ but a “g” thang: The culture and commerce of gangsta rap. New York: Columbia University Press.
Resistance to racial oppression
"... I believe that in this particular recording of the song, Stagger Lee's victory in the epic confrontation between he and Billy DeLyon served as a metaphor for an African-American victory in the civil rights struggle. Stagger Lee's defeat of Billy symbolized the defeat of Jim Crow and liberation from white oppression."
Hauser, J. P. (2009). Stagger Lee: From mythic blues ballad to ultimate rock ‘n’ roll record. Retrieved from http://sites.google.com/site/thestaggerleefiles/stagger-lee-from-mythic-blues-ballad-to-ultimate-rock-n-record
Pride
"Stag may not be the healthiest of role models, but he's always been a potent symbol of black pride."
Slade, P. (2012). De Lyons sleeps tonight: Stagger Lee. Retrieved from http://www.planetslade.com/stagger-lee1.html
Disenfranchisement
Superfly (1972)
"Hustling's all the Man has left us" - Priest, main character from Superfly (1972)
Page 82
Marcus, G. (2008). Mystery train: Images of America in rock ‘n’ roll music (5th revised edition). New York: Plume.
Oral Tradition
Gangsta Rap
"The toast protagonists Stackolee and Dolemite stand as two of the most influential badmen forbears of gangsta rap: the former because he is widely considered the badman in his 'purest form'..."
Page 95
"[S]triking continuities exist in both form and function between the 'common cultural' practices of toasting and rapping."
Page 94
Quinn, E. (2005). Nuthin’ but a “g” thang: The culture and commerce of gangsta rap. New York: Columbia University Press.
Tupac Shakur
Shakur was charged with sexually assaulting a woman in his hotel room and put on trial. In November the following year, while he was still waiting for a verdict, someone shot him five times outside a New York recording studio and stole the $40,000 worth of jewellery he was wearing.
That's where the NME picked up the story. “Why should Shakur sabotage his lucrative career for, as he calls it, a thug life?” the paper asked. “Fans of Tupac accuse the white community of missing the point. They say Shakur is a black hero in the tradition of blues archetype Stagger Lee, who created a system for himself based on his own perceptions. Writer Dream Hampton described Tupac's shooting of the two policemen as having 'mythic potential [...] black knight slays cracker dragons who emerge in the night, fangs bared. [...] It's the kind of community work we all dream of doing'.”
Slade, P. (2012). De Lyons sleeps tonight: Stagger Lee. Retrieved from http://www.planetslade.com/stagger-lee1.html
New Musical Express, 17/12/1994
Bobby Seale - Black Panthers
“I named my son Malik Nkrumah Staggerlee Seale. Right on, huh? Beautiful name, right? He's named after his brother on the block, like all his brothers and sisters off the block: Staggerlee. Staggerlee is Malcolm X before he became politically conscious. Livin' in the hoodlum world. You'll find out. Huey (Newton) had a lot of Staggerlee qualities. I guess I lived a little bit of Staggerlee's life too, here and there.”
Page 65
Mystery Train, by Greil Marcus (Faber & Faber, 1975)
"There were five other murders that Christmas night in St Louis, but this was the one that counted."
Slade, P. (2012). De Lyons sleeps tonight: Stagger Lee. Retrieved from http://www.planetslade.com/stagger-lee1.html
What was St. Louis like for African Americans in the 1890's?
Mid-1879 - More than 6,000 blacks flee the South and passing through St. Louis
Rutherford B. Hayes wins presidency after agreeing to withdraw federal troops
Page 104
Greene, L. J., Kremer, G. R., & Holland, A. F. (1993). Missouri’s black heritage. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.
Segregated housing
Page 926
Champarou, P., & Komara, E. (2006). St. Louis, Missouri. In E. M. Komara (Ed.), The encyclopedia of the blues (Vol. 2, pp. 926-927). New York: Routledge.
Divided by politics and allegiance to social clubs
Page 93
Brown, C. (2003). Stagolee shot Billy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
SHOT IN CURTIS'S PLACE
William Lyons, 25, coloured, a levee hand, living at 1410 Morgan Street, was shot in the abdomen yesterday evening at 10 o'clock in the saloon of Bill Curtis, at Eleventh and Morgan streets, by Lee Sheldon, also coloured.
Both parties, it seems, had been drinking, and were feeling in exuberant spirits. Lyons and Sheldon were friends and were talking together. The discussion drifted to politics, and an argument was started, the conclusion of which was that Lyons snatched Sheldon's hat from his head.
The latter indignantly demanded its return. Lyons refused, and Sheldon drew his revolver and shot Lyons in the abdomen [...] When his victim fell to the floor, Sheldon took his hat from the hand of the wounded man and coolly walked away.”
- St Louis Globe-Democrat, December 26, 1895.
Slade, P. (2012). De Lyons sleeps tonight: Stagger Lee. Retrieved from http://www.planetslade.com/stagger-lee1.html
Page 25
Brown, C. (2003). Stagolee shot Billy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Page 24
Brown, C. (2003). Stagolee shot Billy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Pages 23-24
Brown, C. (2003). Stagolee shot Billy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Page 23
Brown, C. (2003). Stagolee shot Billy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
About ten blocks south of Chestnut Valley, St Louis had another red light district called Deep Morgan. The two main bars in this part of town were the Bridgewater Saloon on the corner of Eleventh Street and Lucas Avenue, and Curtis' Saloon on Thirteenth and Morgan. The two saloons were bitter rivals, and not only because they vied for the same business. Henry Bridgewater was a prominent black Republican, while Bill Curtis' saloon seems to have served as a meeting place for Democrat activists.
Slade, P. (2012). De Lyons sleeps tonight: Stagger Lee. Retrieved from http://www.planetslade.com/stagger-lee1.html
Owner of a "lid" club
"...[A] lid club was an underground establishment that kept a "lid" on such criminal activities as gambling wile serving as a front for other activities."
Page 38
Brown, C. (2003). Stagolee shot Billy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Carriage driver
Page 38
Brown, C. (2003). Stagolee shot Billy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Stag was a pimp known in St. Louis as a "mack"
Page 23
Brown, C. (2003). Stagolee shot Billy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Page 47
McCulloch, D., & Hendrix, S. (2006). Stagger Lee. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.
