Issue 32 offers a rare and insightful look at funk visionary Sylvester Stewart, better known as Sly Stone. We also follow reggae pioneer Jimmy Cliff through a long and textured career which spanned five decades and encompassed several milestones in the music and movie mediums.

re:Discovery Hildegard Knef, Purple Image, Liquid Sky OST, Alton McClain & Destiny, Odyssey Five In Memoriam: Earl Palmer 1924-2008, Norman Whitfield 1940-2008, Alton Ellis 1938-2008 Houston Renaissance H-Town Rappers HISD Initiate a Lone Star Rebirth Poetic Justice Jean Grae’s Daring Wordplay Propelled Her to Hip-Hop’s Forefront Electro Shock Terry Lynn Upends Traditional Reggae with Charged Kingston Commentary The Fifth Element Cey Adams Established the Visual Constituent of the Hip-Hop Nation The Producer’s Producer Large Professor Laid the Groundwork For a Generation of Beatmakers Breaking Free Filmmaker Jamaa Fanaka Escaped the Confimes of Blaxploitation Machine Funk Egyptian Lover and Arabian Prince Electrified Hip-Hop in the ’80s There’s a Riot Goin’ On An Exceprt From I Want To Take You Higher – The Life and Times of Sly & the Family Stone Published by Backbeat Books Island Ambassador Reggae Maverick Jimmy Cliff Reached Global Audiences Without Toeing the Line Gold Standard Pianist Ahmad Jamal Charted a New Popularity for Jazz Seoul Power The South Korean B-Boy Cipher Maker’s Mark Vincent Chin’s Randy’s Records Shaped Reggae’s Legacy