West gets down to his second CD at Campus Club

While Princeton students think nothing of balancing an engineering major with a Whig-Clio membership and roles in campus theatre productions, we are somewhat less aware of professors who do more than merely teach and research. Religion professor Cor-nel West GS '80 has written and edited over 20 books, made his feature film debut in "The Matrix" trilogy and released the CD "Sketches of My Culture."

West's second CD, "Street Knowledge," will be released soon and has been greeted with a variety of reactions.

Claire Hoppenot '07 was unaware that West even made CDs.

"My initial gut reaction . . . is that he is using his popularity in order to make money," she said.

While Hoppenot respects West as a "good speaker who is obviously really intelligent," she thinks that his attempt at an album will either be "awesome or crap."

Tolu Onigbanjo '05, on the other hand, appreciates that West goes "beyond what a typical professor would do, which is to write a book." She added that with West, she "expects the unexpected."

To provide a forum for the skeptical, the appreciative and the undecided, Campus Club hosted a CD release party for West on Friday. Campus President Justin Reed '05 said the club "wanted to do something different."

West talked to a full house about making the album while a DJ spun selections from the double CD. The 20 tracks address issues ranging from child abuse and the use of the "N word" to sexism and the American judiciary system.

West said the album "describes the evolution of black music in America . . . from gospel and soul to hip hop."

The album features a variety of musical genres and includes rappers, jazz musicians and other guest performers. West admitted he is "not a rapper, not even a musical artist." Instead, he philosophizes with the music in his instantly recognizable voice and pauses to let his featured artists take center stage.

At Campus, West, in his trademark black three-piece suit and cufflinks, grooved to his music and added a running commentary.

He said he went to several record labels before signing a deal with smaller Roc Entertainment because the bigger labels wanted him to include a stereotypical rap single with words like "g-string" and "bling bling." West rejected these offers on the grounds that "I must be true to myself."

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Given that West describes his album as way to connect with "Socratic questioning, prophetic witness and the tragic-comic whole," it is appropriate that he didn't sell out to the mainstream hip-hop scene, where such a philosophical approach to music might seem out of place. West said he wanted to make a series of "dialogues and conversations against music" that would allow for a "wider, deeper scope" than his first album and include "different genres."

His inspiration, he said, was Nietzsche's belief in a "danceable education" that is not limited to traditional book learning. West added that he saw his own calling to communicate in any way he could, whether it be by writing books or making CDs.

Although West said he enjoys writing books, he also appreciates that making an album is a "more collective, collaborative" experience and added that the CD would allow him to people who don't read his books, such as younger generations. He said prison groups whom he had taught in the past also responded more favorably to the CDs.

But West stressed that his CD was more than just a way for him to reach groups outside his readership base; instead, music should always complement traditional learning. Before West ended the evening by joining the student guests in dancing to hip-hop, he said in his final remarks that music is "deeply tied to philosophical discourse" and that "rationalism is . . . too narrow without music."

"If you read Hegel, you listen to Beethoven, too . . . if you read Nietzsche, you listen to Wagner," he said.

Now, if you read Cornel West, you can listen to Cornel West, too.