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Workin For The Man

The Music of Nadir Omowale

Nadir Omowale doesn’t have time to stand still.  There is far too much life to be lived.

The fifteen-time Detroit Music Award winner and former MTV News correspondent is driven by an impassioned activism. All of his hats – performer, producer, creative strategist – are worn by a man who explores as he produces, teaches as he advises, and creates art that honors the fact that life is filled with extremes and in-betweens. The result is infectious, a creative electricity that is essential to who Nadir is.

Nadir will tell you that life is too important, not to be an activist. His impressions about life are the essence of his work. His lyrics can tug at heartstrings, tickle funny bones, or evoke an honest look at the world around us, and (possibly more importantly) the world within us.

His music is influenced by funk, but don’t call Nadir a funk revivalist. His understanding of rock, R&B, hip hop, and jazz takes funk to a most Nadir-centric next step; a Southern born, and Detroit raised sound that doesn’t fit in traditional boxes. His music reaches across genres and political aisles – sometimes with a gentle, outstretched hand, and occasionally with a clenched fist  – always challenging listeners with a funk inspired, Motor City sound that is as relevant today, as Holland-Dozier-Holland were in the sixties.

Jane Asher of Radio Sophie 103.7FM in San Diego writes of Nadir:

“If Motown had never moved to L.A.,
this is what it would sound like today.”

His live show is dynamic. Nadir works a stage comfortably, engaging with audiences, guiding them on an energetic, emotional experience. There will be time for laughter, and love, amid irresistible outbursts of dance, and the occasional plea to understand the challenges that we still face in our attempts to insure freedom for all.

When Nadir Omowale performs, you get more than music. You get all of the man, his humor, his passion, and the depth of a personality that embraces his responsibility to make this a better world, because of his love of life.

“To label Nadir as a neo-soul artist would be neglecting his rock roots; to call him a rock artist would be overlooking his hip-hop and jazz influences. Fully encompassing all the talents that Nadir possesses would be comparable to expanding the mathematical term Pi to its last digit.” 
The Michigan Chronicle, Detroit, Michigan

“It’s STONE COLD FUNK,
It makes you DANCE, it ROCKS your world,
It’s got GREAT LYRICS,
It’s got POWERHOUSE SOUL SINGING,
It’s got GREAT MUSICIANSHIP,
It makes you THINK about the world and it makes you SMILE.”
Bob Davis, Soul-Patrol.com

 “As usual your performances NEVER disappoint.
Sometimes I felt like I was seeing Sly and the Family Stone again.
Great show!”
Terri Koggenhopp – Executive Director, Detroit Music Awards and
Director of Artist Relations, Detroit International Jazz Festival

2 Detroit Music Awards for Nadir & Distorted Soul

Nadir & Distorted Soul earned two trophies at the 2009 Detroit Music Awards on Friday, April 17.

Workin’ For The Man was named Outstanding Urban/Funk/Hip Hop Recording, and Nadir was honored as Outstanding Urban/Funk Vocalist.

Thanks to Akanke Rashad-Omowale, Nancy Schoenheide-Phares, all the members of the Distorted Soul band, all the musicians and producers who contributed their talents to the Workin’ For The Man project, all the djs and press who have given us so much love, and all the family and friends who helped make this project possible.

Oh… and a special shout out to George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and the entire Dubya administration for screwing up the world and inspiring much of the political material that appears on this record.  Thanks A LOT!

A Funk Indictment of Bush/Cheney – Is That What You Wanted?!

While others look back on the Bush/Cheney administration with nervous laughter we’d like to remind everyone of the crimes committed over the last eight years.

Click the links below to listen

Impeach The President
(feat. Dennis Kucinich)

Is That What You Wanted?
DJ Butterface
Casio Funk Radio Edit

Is That What You Wanted?
Rev & Nadir’s Explicitly Pissed Off Mix

If you’d like to sing along, the lyrics are below…

Collage by Chris Land of Landmine Design Continue reading

“Molotov Soul”: The Sonic Soul Review of Workin’ For The Man

Nadir’s Workin’ For The Man cd received another great review, this one from Germany’s SoulSite.de.  On the site’s Sonic Soul section, Joerg Michael Schmitt offers his perspective on the latest new music from around the world.

If you Sprekense de deutsch you can read the original review HERE.  For you English speakers, here is the translation, courtesy of my big brother, James Kevin McFarland (aka The Big Black Guy).  And don’t worry.  Joerg confirms that my brother, the poet, didn’t take poetic license with the text.

Distorted, meaning: bent, twisted, deformed, or unusual. Aha! Now it has been made clear that Nadir’s “Working for the Man”, is not simply classified as Nu soul, or R&B, but that he has forged his own way into the Universe of Soul.

The man takes strong elements from the styles of the past, including the energy of James Brown which lends a rhythmic basis to Nadir’s distinct guitar sound. And of that sound, the artist sees himself as a commentator of political events and holds strong opinions he openly shares on a diverse profusion of issues not only in the U.S. today, but the world.

Funk & Rock and political awareness make an explosive mixture because Nadir and his smooth energetic music are on point with his driving beats, hard hitting guitar and radical opinions. Nadir, in the tradition of Gil Scott Heron with the power of James Brown and the explosive force of Public Enemy equals Molotov Soul. Not easy, but easy to move to as Nadir himself explains it “I’m about telling stories, singing songs, and making music that moves people spiritually, emotionally, physically, politically, what ever. Don’t just sit there, do not sit there, do something! Do Something!”

What does “Molotov Soul” sound like?  Click HERE to grab your copy of Workin’ For The Man TODAY!

SoulTracks.com: Workin’ For The Man CD Review

From SoulTracks.com

Anybody searching for some political anthems to fire them up during the last week of “decision 08” will find it hard to do better than the work presented by Nadir and his band Distorted Soul on the soul/funk/rock band’s latest effort, Workin’ For the Man. Quite simply, this album is stocked with powerful songs that are at once angry, eloquent, passionate, insightful and very, very good.

Continue reading

Nadir Radio Interviews, Chicago & Online

In between mixing Maceo Tha Grammar God’s new record and producing a new video for MTV’s Street Team ’08, I’ll be busy promoting the Workin’ For The Man album this week.  Check out my upcoming radio interviews:

Wednesday, October 15, 8:00pm – 9:00pm EST
The People Speak Radio
www.thepeoplespeakradio.net
Host: David Swanson
Click HERE to LISTEN LIVE
JOIN THE CONVERSATION in the Virtual Auditorium chat room

The People Speak Radio is concerned with a passion for guests from the realms of entertainment, the arts, literature, philosophy, politics, activism, healing, and environmentalism. All of the guests are united by a desire to share their experiences, work, organizations and talents with others. Through a live, hour-long format featuring host/guest interviews and a segment of audience questions for the guest, the goal is to entertain, involve, inform, perhaps, even inspire.

Thursday, October 16, 2:30pm CST
News From The Service Entrance
WHPK 88.5FM – Chicago
www.whpk.org

Host: Mario
Click HERE to LISTEN LIVE

The word on the street hits the airwaves: News from the frontline, music from the WHPK library, and interviews with the famous and infamous, nationally known celebrities and local legends. It’s radio that you will not hear anywhere else.

Relax! Work Less and Save the World!

Originally posted by Nadir at LastChocolateCity.com

This is a cause we can ALL get behind!

From Alternet.org

“We now seem more determined than ever to work harder and produce more stuff, which creates a bizarre paradox: We are proudly breaking our backs to decrease the carrying capacity of the planet,"€ says Conrad Schmidt, an internationally known social activist and founder of the Work Less Party, a Vancouver-based initiative aimed at moving to a 32-hour work week -€” a radical departure from the in early, out late cycle we’ve grown accustomed to. "Choosing to work less is the biggest environmental issue no one’s talking about.”

Americans work more hours than anyone else in the industrialized world. According to the United Nations’ International Labor Organization, we work 250 hours, or five weeks, more than the Brits, and a whopping 500 hours, or 12 and a half weeks, more than the Germans. So how does ecological damage figure in to the 40-plus workweek?

Do the math: Longer hours plus labor-saving technology equals ever-increasing productivity. Without high annual growth to match productivity, there’€™s unemployment. Maintaining growth means using more energy and resources, both in manpower and raw materials, which results in increased waste and pollution.

So chill out. Stop working so hard. Live a little. Life is too short. Your grandchildren will thank you, and you’ll thank yourself.

Alternet.org: Why Working Less is Better for the Globe

Relax! Work Less and Save the World!

Originally posted by Nadir at LastChocolateCity.com

This is a cause we can ALL get behind!

From Alternet.org

“We now seem more determined than ever to work harder and produce more stuff, which creates a bizarre paradox: We are proudly breaking our backs to decrease the carrying capacity of the planet,”€ says Conrad Schmidt, an internationally known social activist and founder of the Work Less Party, a Vancouver-based initiative aimed at moving to a 32-hour work week -€” a radical departure from the in early, out late cycle we’ve grown accustomed to. “Choosing to work less is the biggest environmental issue no one’s talking about.”

Americans work more hours than anyone else in the industrialized world. According to the United Nations’ International Labor Organization, we work 250 hours, or five weeks, more than the Brits, and a whopping 500 hours, or 12 and a half weeks, more than the Germans. So how does ecological damage figure in to the 40-plus workweek?

Do the math: Longer hours plus labor-saving technology equals ever-increasing productivity. Without high annual growth to match productivity, there’€™s unemployment. Maintaining growth means using more energy and resources, both in manpower and raw materials, which results in increased waste and pollution.

So chill out. Stop working so hard. Live a little. Life is too short. Your grandchildren will thank you, and you’ll thank yourself.

Alternet.org: Why Working Less is Better for the Globe

© Nadir Omowale