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The price of hip hop intellectuals
Times Standard, October 30, 2008
In 1931 the brutal soviet dictator Joseph Stalin convinced writer/intellectual Maxim Gorky to “return to become Stalin’s literary ornament” as written by Simon Sebag Montefiore in his recent book Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar.
It turned out authors and poets were relatively inexpensive. A mansion, a pair of vacation homes, the rights to his publishing monies, and a driver were all it took to lure the founder of “socialist realism” from Italian exile back to the Soviet Union, where Gorky became a mouthpiece for a bureaucratic machine that murdered and displaced millions.
I wonder what the price would be for most hip hop “stars” these days? Would a down-on-his-luck Flavor Flav be as willing to rap for a dictator as he is to embarrass himself on a reality television show?
In the money-driven world consumption and wealth have only become more important since 1931. The MTV/BET fashion amplification engine seems to be bumping 250 dollar jeans and cocaine as icons of glamour which lays hip hop in precisely the place Gorky was for Stalin: cover.
Hip hop conversations about politics are important. Far beyond the rappers who plug for Obama, (and the tiny handful who have advocated for McCain) we need to consider the long-term consequences for so-called political hip hop that acts as a cover for political scheming.
NWA star Eazy-E dropped $2500 for a fundraiser dinner with George W. Bush in 1991, an antic he described as a publicity stunt. Regardless of who got used in that exchange: George W. Bush, or Eazy-E, the desire for publicity with no thought to the discussion the sound bite pushed off the stage is a logical extension of Gorky’s greed.
In 2008 country music stars and rappers face off in a corporate chain store version of the presidential debates – and some second tier emcees have advocated for McCain precisely because it is the kind of tantalizing entertainment/reporting that will get their names in the paper.
In the presidential election coverage, pundits have enjoyed picking on rappers who have advocated for Barack Obama, and musicians have made quick work producing political themed songs (the best of which, in my opinion, is reggae star Cocoa Tea’s “Barack Obama”), but they are shallow versions of the political capacity of hip hop.
As a medium of discussion, the least valuable conversation in hip hop is who people are going to vote for. I’d rather hear emcees debate about the war in Iraq, economic crisis, and women’s issues – but heck; I’d rather hear the candidates discuss those issues.
As the economy tightens and wealth pools in the hands of a few, the price of a struggling hip hop musician will certainly go down. Given the success rate hip hop musicians is one-in-a-million, and that those on the top amplify their consumptive success by name-dropping “necessary” labels of fashionable clothes and expensive cars, we shouldn’t be surprised to see more hip hop musicians working for well-paying oppressors in the future. The only question will be at what price?Current Music: Cal Tjader |
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Times Standard, August 1, 2008
Humboldt is thick with musical talent. One of the casualties of the proliferation of rappers in this area is that some voices get overlooked. When Dirty Rat producer GMG handed me a CD-R labeled Humanoids from the Deep, it joined a fairly large pile of new music, but it only took one play to stand out.
The Humanoid emcee’s Ink and the Broke Superhero were not only musically talented, but they were clever with the rhymes. As Ink says on “emcee for life,” “If it’s a war of words, I hit you with a triple letter score.” The Humanoids from the Deep mixed the political with the humorous, and created just plain old great hip hop.
Ink is a Humboldt musician – and I was honestly curious about his background. I called him up and got a few words from the emcee on his collaboration with Fortuna’s Dirty Rats, (appropriately called Dirty Humanoids) and a little history. ( Read more... )
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Maxwell Schnurer, Times Standard July 3, 2008
The Coup’s Boots Riley is an incendiary poet – a Maya Angelou level verbal antagonist. Teamed with with Pam the Funkstress, a DJ/Producer who makes some of the funkiest tunes in all of hip hop, The Coup have made five albums of politically charged hip hop. This week Boots Riley was pulled off a Virginia festival stage and charged with “abusive language,” putting an end to the set. ( Read more... )Current Music: Miles Davis |
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By Maxwell Schnurer, Times Standard June 5, 2008 Hip hop is commonly defined by the four elements (dancing, djing, graffiti writing, and emceeing), but it entails a whole host of other knowledge. Comic books, cinema, fashion, and of course location are crucial in understanding this cultural movement. Thinking about the geography of Humboldt Hip Hop can be a valuable way to consider this movement. I rode my bike to The Works, Eureka’s fine independent record store on a sunny Sunday morning and discovered DJ/emcee/Dirty Rat Stir Fry Willie crouched over the record bins at a time many people would be in church. Willie is a charming, ecstatic, often costumed performer whose DJ nights featuring rock, soul and hip hop offer a chance to see this kinetic artist show off his musical inspirations. We shared words on disguises, records, motivations and spoke of our places in the universe. Stir Fry Willie a handful of his fellow Dirty Rats rep Fortuna, while I honor the fair city of Eureka – which I consider the center of hip hop culture on the north coast. Affordable, accessible, and complete with the semi-regular drama of cities ten times its size, the stories of hip hop bubble through the record stores, clubs and streets of this beautiful city. A few blocks away from the record store, I am dazzled by the art on the alley wall of the Accident Gallery, a crucial local performance/gallery space. It’s worth noting that the alleys of several local businesses have become dizzying optic-stimulating art spaces. One business contacted me with the tale that they’ve added large full-color art pieces to their outside wall largely to deter low-quality writing on their walls. The outside writers deserve kudos for sharing their visions with the citizenry and the idiot who has been writing on trees deserves 100% shame. Among other cross currents that blow through the Accident Gallery have been the recent spate of slam poetry contests run by the feminist and verbally-savvy crew A Reason To Listen. After some cut-throat preliminaries, the Humboldt Slam Team is now final and prepared to represent the lost coast in the world of stage poetry performance. Carved out of the competition, the newly inaugurated Slam team consists of: Vanessa Pike, Brad Wilson, Mischief Mic, and Lorena Boswell. The Humboldt team will travel to the national championship in Madison Wisconsin in August. Backwoods star Garth Culti-Vader had an accident recently with some injuries. His recovery period was spent crouched over a computer editing his first film. Titled: Chronic TV: Humboldt Hip Hop Volume 1, the movie shows Garth rocking a handful of live shows, a new song from Sub Sab emcee Elision, a video from producer emcee Myster DL and some high-speed, dank-inspired editing. Accompanying Myster DL into the Universal Balance Productions Studios, I ran into Massagana vocalist and emcee Ishi Dube. Ishi has been performing and rocking hard for 2008 bringing conscious reggae and repping his location to audience at a moment’s notice. Myster DL was in the studio to work on a couple of tunes, and it was rad to see producer/guitarist Piet “Demolition” Dalmolian lay down some guitar solos and tweak the pro tools. DL is a behind-the-scenes kind of musician, whose catalogue of tracks is rich with underground stars. With some time spent soaking up the sounds in Miami, his albums are catchy and kicking. Check out his recent album The Storm, and his first local mix tape Humboldt County Stories hosted by Onyx emcee Sonny Seeza. I cadged an invitation to see Dirty Rats GMG and Stir Fry Willie do some MPC damage in their Fortuna, Dirty Rats lair. Watching a beat evolve from vinyl to chopped loop under the talented fingers of GMG was a real honor. As I exited Stir Fry Willie laced me with some of the Dirty Rats back catalogue, including the 2004 album the Plague, and a copy of his ultra-rare first album Piss in the Crisper. Pass the verses or ride in hearses. Humboldt State’s Poetry is Not a Luxury collective have been hosting a series of politically charged open-performance spaces, including contributions by Watts Prophet Amde Hamilton and Anarchist Black Panther Ashanti Alston. L.C.A., or Lower Class Alcoholics have been opening shows all over Humboldt, including for the recent Devin the Dude stop. They’ll be touring around California in June supporting their album Bottom of the bottle, concluding in Eureka with a star-studded Red Fox Tavern show Friday June 13th with Himp C, the Resonators, and the Republican Duck Hunters. Local bass player and Opti-Pop emcee, J the Sarge has a new project with Freestyle Fellowship star Myka 9 called Magic Heart Genies – the debut video is out on the internet and the sound is quick and slippery – check it out and get the album when it drops this summer. Subliminal Sabotage emcee MCP has released his long-anticipated solo album I’m in love with death. The release is worth the wait – featuring keyboards masterfully played by B Swizlo, contributions from many of the Subliminal Sabotage/Nucleus musicians carving out a a smooth plate for MCP’s whisky tortured dark vocals. Humboldt Rocker Reckless Rex organized and hosted a B-Boy dance battle last month and dancers swarmed to fight for the thousand dollar top prize in a two-on-two breakdancing battle which was captured by global stars the Break Disciples -- RoxRite and Kid David. Claiming the victory in the popping battle was JHits who will be coming back through town to teach some workshops with Rex this weekend. Check the workshops June 12 at 8pm and June 15 at 6pm in the old creamery building in Arcata. Respect the geography, and keep the music and culture moving forward ‘til next time.
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The master of records, Africa Bambaataa arrives in Humboldt for a performance on Saturday February 23. Bambaataa is a famed DJ, the founder of the hip-hop collective the Universal Zulu Nation, and a sound innovator.
Bambaataa has always been a leader and an organizer. Initially he created networks and friendships in the South Bronx with the Black Spades organization. Afrocentric and strategic, Bambaataa the street revolutionary evolved into something never before seen. In the late seventies he began to re-articulate the discipline and structures of the street organization to be a hip hop army.
It isn’t as trite as putting down guns to pick up instruments – Africa Bambaataa’s vision of the Universal Zulu Nation was a forward reaching collective who not provided a means for poor youth to look out for each other, but also to nurture community talent with the honest aspiration to create a new world.
The result: Bambaataa’s Universal Zulu Nation has helped to develop the skills of an incredible number of hip hop’s elite, not to mention helping to articulate the hip hop arts as we know it. Here is a short list of some of his collaborators: Cowboy (Grandmaster Flash’s famed emcee), Afrika Islam (Ice-T’s DJ/producer among many others), turntable innovator Jazzy Jay, hip radio DJ Red Alert, emcee Mr. Biggs, DJ Zambu, and Busy Bee. Oh yeah, don’t forget the legions of graffiti writers, and dancers who found their place in the universe with a nod of encouragement from the head of Africa Bambaataa.
Of course, each one of the young folks Bam shared stage time with that developed into a superstar stayed true to the Universal Zulu Nation – ‘each one teach one’ ideology – they, in turn, mentored new generations of hip hop stars.
Bambaataa is a radical DJ who is famous for his diverse palette of records. The record, the beat, is at the forefront of a Universal Zulu party, surgically cut, but researched by Bambaataa to be something startling. Equally likely to use a nursery rhyme, a classic rock track, or a punk anthem to rock a crowd – the only think you can be sure of at a Bam party is that you’ll be surprised by what he’ll play and you will move your rear end.
At outdoor jams in the housing projects of the South Bronx and soundsystem battles in New York high schools, Bambattaa’s soundsystem, and his Zulu collaborators, built traditions that last to this day. In the crucible of gritty competition, Bambaataa’s black power, mytho-poetic collaborations, bizarre record selections, and great sound made him a champion, not to mention a legend.
It can’t have hurt that wherever he plugged in, hundreds of Universal Zulu Nation folks rolled with him. His academy produced legions of breakdancers who specialized in popping or power moves on the floor, every one trained Bruce Lee hard to defeat any challengers. The people who carried Bam’s crates were often legendary DJs in their own rights, waiting for their chance to show off their skills. Graffiti writers, the street propagandists of the highest order, schooled youngsters on letter styles. You better believe emcees practice before they grabbed the microphone at Bam’s party.
The next phase of Africa Bambaataa’s career was his stint as a DJ at a series of downtown New York clubs that helped to expand the audience of hip hop. At clubs like the Roxy, Bambaataa and his DJs, played funk anthems, backwards records and of course cut everything down to the absolute best parts of the records – the breaks – showing artists like the Beastie Boys, the Clash, and Luscious Jackson, who were in the audience, the blueprint to sell millions.
More takeover than crossover, financially advantaged audiences flocked to buy graffiti art, learn to breakdance, and hear this ‘new’ sound at the clubs. Zulu showcases were tantalizing experiences, ushering in collaborations between painters, dancers, and of course, the thumping DJ.
Around this time Bambaataa, a notorious record fiend, discovered the techno electronic drum sounds of Kraftwerk, and their introduction to his set encouraged him to put together his own electric band. The result was ‘Planet Rock,’ the hip hop classic by Africa Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force. “Planet Rock” exploded with the then-unheard, up-tempo, electro-hip hop sound. In a single stroke, Bambaataa forced open the popular conceptions of hip hop and introduced his sound to the largest audience it had ever known.
Not many artists are at the inception and popularization of a social movement. Bambaataa can legitimately claim to have created whole segments of the art form known as hip hop, and also to have spread the music with his courageous approach to music. If you add the Universal Zulu Nation, and all the innovation that came from Africa Bambaataa’s musical progeny, then you truly are talking about one person changing the world in their lifetime.
And he isn’t done yet. Bambaataa has bypassed much of the fame and consumption of commercial hip hop for living a life of musical revolution. An engine of creation, he helps to spark imagination and shatter conventions around the world as a global Zulu ambassador. His Humboldt visit is a rare chance to be in contact with the living heart of this music.
Joining Bambaataa will be the founder of the Northstar chapter of the Universal Zulu Nation, DJ/organizer Madplanet from Sacramento. DJ Red will showcase the Humboldt turntable skills, and the Humboldt Rockers will present the finest in breakdancing.
If you’ve every enjoyed hip hop culture in music, dance, screen, language, fashion, or in any other way, you owe Africa Bambaataa hearty thanks. Come to Mazottis and pay your dues to this hip hop legend, and of course get your mind blown by a thirty plus year turntable veteran.
- Maxwell Schnurer, Times Standard February 21, 2008
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| » Activist poet Jared Paul in Eureka (Times Standard) |
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Jared Paul is one part community activist and one part blistering spoken word performer. Unlike many of his peers, as he becomes more successful in the world of competitive poetry, he hasn’t given up his organizing work. He brings his punk-rock poetry to the Accident Gallery on Saturday April 26.
Jared Paul resides and bicycles in Providence Rhode Island, where he organizes protests, practices journalism, and coaches the local youth poetry slam teams. His politics and community engagement are not only laudable, but also seem to contribute his long-term perspective on poetry.
It doesn’t seem to matter what the music is behind Jared Paul, he drops political verses. On his tune: “ABCs for Roger,” Paul borrows from the handed down alphabet songs to give a lecture on veganism, police, and colonialism through his poem a cappella. He rocks a hip-hop beat to express his straight-edge politics on “dead sober, and fronts what sounds like a punk band for some tunes.
On his myspace page he documents advancing to the final round of the Individual World Poetry Slam Finals in 2006 and 2007 and a handful of other slam poetry awards. But he also provides links to activist groups, and documents his protest/organizing schedule calling on folks to join anti-war demonstrations and to vote for Obama.
Jared Paul is a stunning performer – staring audiences in the eyes and calling for conscious responses to injustice. His talent at sharing complex ideas through verse should not be missed.
In the era of hip hop, it is impossible to lament that young people don’t like poetry. Humboldt is representative of a national upswing in interest in lyrical performance through rhyme, and at the center of our local scene have been poetry slam organizers Vanessa Pike-Vrtiak and Therese Keslin-Fitzmaurice, also known as A Reason to Listen.
Together they have organized and nurtured much of the local slam poetry scene. Their commitment to youth and justice are clear, whether they are on the stage with former Green-party presidential hopeful Jared Ball, or sharing poems at Humboldt State’s Take Back the Night.
Pike-Vrtiak and Keslin-Fitzmaurice are organizing a youth poetry spoken word showcase the Friday before Jared Paul’s performance. Join A Reason to Listen at the Accident Gallery on Friday for the youth showcase, to see the best of the region, and on Saturday to see Jared Paul.
(Times Standard, April 24, 2008)
May. 22nd, 2008 @ 08:08 am
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| » Potluck: Grinding Toward Stardom |
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Times Standard 10/25/07
Grinding. It is the unspoken part of being an up and coming hip hop artist. Print up full color posters and coordinate in-store visits. Make sure the CDs are in stores and drop by the local radio for some drops. 2007 means you have to keep in mind podcasts, and never forget myspace. Potluck have been working hard to become well-known musicians, but this week the Humboldt hip hop stars will get a chance to show off when they open for Snoop Dogg at the Muni in Eureka.
Potluck are out to make a living at hip hop. They have a deep understanding of the game because they got to watch some underground kings make their moves. Kansas City’s Tech N9ne was the first independent ruler to give a nod to 1Ton and Underrated when he tapped the Humboldt rappers to open for him on a national tour.
“Tech was the first one to give a chance – sheerly based on ability, not even ticket sales. Most acts put together a national tour on who can sell the most tickets. Tech took us to spots where there wasn’t one person who knew about Potluck. He helped us to get a lot of fans” explains emcee 1Ton.
The relationship continues today – Underrated and 1Ton talked during a rare break of their 41 date tour with Tech N9ne – their fourth such collaboration. “After 13 shows nine have sold out” says 1Ton.
During a quick break in the action, Tech N9ne takes the show to Alaska, and Potluck are headed home for a day off and the show with Snoop Dogg. Snoop at the Muni is big news for Eureka, but the chance to share the stage with major label rap stars is nothing new for 1Ton and Underrated.
“We opened for Lloyd Banks, Too $hort, E-40,” says 1Ton. “We’ve done a lot of shows with a lot of major label acts but I can tell my grandma and she’ll know who Snoop is.”
Back in the day you could find Potluck at house parties and clubs all over the county, especially NOFX’s El Jefe’s nightclub where they met during a DJ tryout. Underrated was a local DJ who graduated from Arcata High and went to Humboldt State, 1Ton came from San Diego with deep crates. After finding musical synergy, the pair created Potluck and started performing.
It all started with Humboldt County High a homegrown album that they created, marketed and sold by themselves. And sold. And sold. 1Ton breaks down the beginning of the group:
“When we started making music, we didn’t think about it as a career. All those times we DJed . . . we’d get paid, we knew if you were good enough for people to come into the club, you had to get paid, but we never approached it like a business. For the first CD [Humboldt County High] we got a thousand copies made because we were tired of making copies for friends. We wanted to sell a hundred. Next thing you knew, it was getting played on the radio. Number one requested for two months on the local stations. We sold ten thousand copies and that was the first time we thought we might have something.”
For the weed-savvy youth of Humboldt County, Potluck created anthems that really did speak to the experiences – simultaneously expressing their disaffection and having a great time. They released “Tha Lost Koast Kollective” a compilation that showcased the band mixing it up with underground artists from Redway to Red Hook. A year later they relased “Harvest Time,” another weed drenched album with contributions from E-40 and the now familiar collaborator Tech N9ne.
Regional musical champions, it could be argued that the band outgrew their options in Humboldt County. 1Ton is quick to point out how excited the band is to perform in their own back yard. “Given how our schedule’s been and our need to take care of business, we have had limited shows in Humboldt. To get a chance to come back and do a show as big as Snoop Dogg is cool. To be able to thank all your fans, all the people supported us. . . . it’s great.”
These relentless musicians are pushing hard to get to the next level. They’ve released their fourth major album “Straight Outta Humboldt” on the Kottonmouth King’s label Suburban Noize and graduated to some big time distribution. 2006 found the duo performing more than 150 shows in support of their album and new label.
After their tour finished with Tech N9ne, Potluck plans to return to the studio to work on a “supergroup” of ganja-loving musicians. Dubbed the Kannibis Kartel, the project consists of the Kottonmouth Kings, Potluck and Cypress Hill rhyming about their favorite substance. Potluck promises that the record will be released early in 2008.
Tonight’s Snoop Dogg show only has two acts on the bill – one a global superstar whose impact on popular culture will be felt for generations – the other a hungry pair of hard touring musicians, Humboldt’s finest. Many will go to hear Snoop Dogg, but expect Potluck to shine on the stage and give everything they’ve got to this hometo
Nov. 2nd, 2007 @ 10:02 pm
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| » January 29 and Feb 4 Humboldt hip hop mix tapes |
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Last week I went ghostface all the way. The superstar from the Wu-Tang and Theodore Unit has always been a talented emcee. But I think his albums Fishscale and the recently released More Fish are freaking brilliant.
So I put together an NC-17 style mix called BEST OF THE GHOST for the Nu-Jacks crew.
1. Ghostface From The Pretty Toney Album is a necessity. I think Ghostface is the best emcee alive on a fast loping beat. He can kill those up driven funk beats. This leans toward disco, but the rhyme is incredible. The don.
2. Shakey Dog From Fishscale, a prequel to a Biggie Smalls tune with the great gangsta storytelling style.
3. Tush (Featuring Missy Elliott) The Pretty Toney Album. Um so nasty, so good. How can you doubt Missy & Timbaland on the beats and hook with Ghost on the flow. One of the reasons this mix came w/ an NC-17 warning.
4. Poisonous Darts From Ironman. This old school nasty track was a must.
5. Grew Up Hard With Trife Da God on More Fish. Slower soulful tune about poverty and class struggle.
6. Beat The Clock From The Pretty Toney Album. Holy smokes this is a great song. He just floats across the horns and strings. Killer.
7. Be Easy Ghostface Killah & Trife Da God Fishscale. Cranking it up now. I figured they’d want one of the hits from Fishscale. Too quick.
8. Run (Featuring Jadakiss) From The Pretty Toney Album, I think this is a great example of the homoeroticism in hip hop. In the break between verses Jadakiss explains to Ghost “I might have to take my shirt off kid. . . .” It is also one of the greatest descriptive pieces of poetry as they talk about running from cops.
9. Criminology Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. It was on Raekwon’s album that I first saw the brilliance of Tony Starks. So I chose this classic. I imagine Ghost waiting to get on for his verse and just stunning everybody.
10. Daytona 500 Ghostface Killah Ironman. From the first solo album – hungry and fast. Class and crime. The best emcee to rhyme about parquet floors.
11. Biscuits (Featuring Trife). Good ghost. Better Trife!
12. Glaciers Of Ice Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. Production by the RZA, verses by Raekwon and Ghostface. Frozen.
13. Guns n' Razors From More Fish scorching over a track from MF DOOM.
14. Wu-Gambinos Raekwon RZA Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. Um classic Wu-tang trouble. Great ghostface verse.
15. The Mask (ft. Ghostface) DangerDoom The Mouse & The Mask. DOOM and Ghostface explaining why they wear the masks. Hip hop history players.
This week I was inspired to make a mix by a Lauryn Hill song. I was hiking the Dunes on Sunday with the headphones on. I was walking through the desert-like zones and suddenly the song “Every Ghetto, Every City” came on. It made me think about growing up and playing outside. Walking around everywhere and messing with everything I could find. I was inspired to run up the tallest dune I would fine and kung-fu kick my way down in full ninja style.
Since the weather has turned warmer here a bit, and it seems like bike riding, popsicle, playing outdoors I figured I’d gather my hip hop soundtrack. I call it CHILDLIKE INNOCENCE.
1. Candyland Part 1 by Soul Position From 8 Million Stories. The emcee from Soul Position, Blueprint just rhymes about his childhood pop culture in one phrase lines in alphabetical order. 80 percent hit me. A-team, batman, bugs bunny, ghostbusters, giantor, Johnny quest . . .
2. Every Ghetto, Every City by Lauryn Hill from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. What a great uptempo track about having fun as a kid. Just awesome.
3. Youthful Expression A Tribe Called Quest People's Instinctive Travels And Paths Of Rhythm. Perhaps it is just that my childhood starred this Tribe Called Quest album, but I love this tune and this band.
4. Some miscellaneous song about childhood by Atmosphere. I don’t know where I got this song, but I really like it. Slug explains that as a kid he rode around on a dirt bike, “before your kool-aide got diluted with goldenseal.”
5. Children's Story by Mos Def & Talib Kweli Black Star. This is a send-up of the Slick Rick song about pop-star beat jackers. Funny and child-like.
6. Children Play With Earth by Arrested Development on 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days In The Life Of... This tune is a good interlude for childlike reflection.
7. Joy by Talib Kweli Feat. Mos Def With a beat by Ayatollah and some great rhymes about becoming a father, this song is heartfelt.
8. Children's Story by Slick Rick. If I’m gonna put the copy on, I should put the original on, right? A few summers ago, Mark Swier and I went to the hip hop education summit in New Jersey. At the park jam afterwards we got to see Slick Rick, a first for me. A moment only chilled by the discovery of a smashed window and missing stereo at Mark’s ride.
9. Brooklyn Public Part 1 by J – Live on The Hear After. I love J-Live and this tune is a great tribute to the public school where he is a teacher.
10. 10 Fingers, 10 Toes, 10 lbs, 10 oz Zion I & The Grouch Are... Heroes In The City Of Dope. This album is so good. This song is such a great discussion of what it means for him to have a kid.
11. Wear Clean Draws by The Coup Party Music. Elena complains that whenever she enters the room I’m playing this song. It is true that it seems to come up a lot. But it is a great feminist tribute to Boot’s daughter.
12. I Left My Wallet In El Segundo A Tribe Called Quest on People's Instinctive Travels And Paths Of Rhythm. The roadtrip . . . a classic part of lost youth.
13. Hey! MF DOOM Operation Doomsday. This track uses a Scooby Do sample and the sound of the old Scooby cartoon to build the beat. Over it DOOM talks about his childhood through a few layers of metaphors. I watched a lot of Scooby do as a kid.
14. Whip You With A Strap Ghostface Killah Fishscale. Perhaps not fully within the theme of “childhood innocence,” this tune describes Ghostface getting whipped by his mom for not going to bed.
15. The Now - Mr. Lif from I Phantom. Also in the dark end of our mix theme, this song is a great El-P beat with gives Lif a chance to break down the failings of parents. I had a lot more in this vein, but decided to pull out before I put El-P’s “Stepfather Factory” on this mix.
16. Young Godz (Featuring Young Justice, Young Dirty & Young Lord) on Lord Jamar’s The 5% Album. How about Lord Jamar, Old Dirty Bastard and the GZA’s son’s rhyming on a track. Average age 13. Yeah!
17. Daddy Loves you by Stic.Man & Young Noble on Soldier 2 Soldier. On the difficulties of raising a revolutionary child.
18. Candyland Part 2. Soul Position. The outro extreme.
For all the musicians and fans – stay free.
Feb. 5th, 2007 @ 12:50 pm
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| » Weekly mixtape: Elite volume 8 |
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For the last year or so, I’ve made a mixtape every week to share with friends and members of the Nu-Jacks, our hip hop collective. Usually I just make a few copies and give them to the first few people to show up to meetings.
I love mix tapes – there is something awesome about someone who crafts a whole album out of great tunes for a few people. Since sixth grade I’ve taken mix tapes seriously and since they usually come out from what I’m listening to, I figured it isn’t a bad thing to write about.
So here is Elite volume 8, the latest in a series of up-tempo, dance-friendly rocking hip hop tunes. I try to include a little conscious music, but generally it is my favorite tunes of the moment without much thought of content. ( Read more... )
Jan. 27th, 2007 @ 08:47 am
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| » Enter the Dirty Rats |
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I’ve seen the Dirty Rats a handful of times now – I’ve never questioned their talent, but something always seems to work against them. I sort of imagine them as sort of the blues brothers of local hip hop – a band that could turn goat piss into vinegar if all the stars aligned but who lurch from crazy show to crazy show.
Things might be changing for those Dirty Rats. I got a chance to see them rock a Eureka nightclub and was impressed with their crew, ethos and style. I also copped their new album and have been suitably pleased with the beats and the rhymes coming out of this Humboldt hip hop posse.
( Read more... )
Dec. 17th, 2006 @ 01:52 pm
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| » Eureka vs. Arcata Round One: Vast Aire and C-Rayz Walz |
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Any week where two Def Jux stars roll through town is destined to be a good one. I was especially excited to see Vast Aire who I consider to be one of the best emcees alive today. I collect Vast’s stuff – I have every album and mix tape that has come out. I’ve driven miles to see him live – I’m a FAN.
I also love C-Rayz Walz, a dedicated battle rapper whose energy is legendary. His album, Year of the Beast was fantastic – a monument to rhyming skills. In my head I envisioned a battle between these two sweet rhymers (who in real life are friends). The C-Rayz show happened in Eureka at the Red Fox Tavern and it was nuts. The Vast Aire show happened in Arcata and was fairly wack. ( Read more... )
Dec. 17th, 2006 @ 12:59 pm
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| » ethical b-boy |
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For this last semester I’ve been part of an incredible collective of hip hop aficionados. Called the Nu-Jacks, we are a diversity and hip hop collective whose purpose is to help support youth hip hop culture and forward justice.
We’ve hosted nine formal events plus a half dozen informal movie showings, discussions and debates. It has been really amazing to hang and bump heads with this crew of intense hip hop fans. And to create new opportunities for people to experience hip hop at the same time is radical.
One of my great hip hop inspirations has always been my friend Mark. Not only had he turned me onto a lot of key music, but he embodied the notion that hip hop was about building. If you went over to his house you’d be likely to find him working on his dance steps, or drawing in blackbooks, or practicing on the turntables in his living room.
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Nov. 21st, 2006 @ 10:36 pm
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| » Metal, punk, indy, glasses, hip-hop, hardcore and the griot |
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I’ve seen a bunch of punk, hardcore hip hop, and metal shows in the last month – all of them pretty impressive. Since I’m filled with the fervor of seeing 7 generations two nights ago and Amde Hamilton last night I’m going to try to toss down a few memories before they all disappear in the Humboldt soundscape.
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Oct. 11th, 2006 @ 10:07 am
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| » Oh those dirty rats . . . |
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I rolled out to see Sonny Wong and the Dirty Rats this weekend. I’m still feeling out the hip hop scene here and didn’t know what to expect from this Fortuna crew. I didn’t even know who was in the band other than Kush and Sonny Wong.
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May. 23rd, 2006 @ 10:44 pm
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| » (No Subject) |
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I was climbing down a cement wall to stand on a rickety pile of pallets in a swamp when I noticed my camera sinking into the swamp water.
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Apr. 30th, 2006 @ 09:16 am
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| » Hip Hop and Hippy |
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I used to be quite bitter about hippies. I was a part of the punk rock community whose dislike for the sappy idealism of hippies is well documented in such songs as Iron Prostate’s “Bring me the head of Jerry Garcia”.
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Apr. 26th, 2006 @ 08:52 am
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| » 9th wonder and Buckshot - chemistry indeed |
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My life is full of powerful and amazing hip hop. I have a play list of about 400 songs that are my absolute favorites. When 9th wonder’s beats come on I get up and start dancing. As if commanded some unseen force, I am simply motivated. 9th Wonder and Buckshot's album Chemistry is realllllly good. Today I got hooked by the tune “Food for Thought” and spent all day rhyming buckshot’s lyrics (clearly at the detriment of my teaching skills).
I wanted to give a crystal clear shout out for the beats on this album. 9th Wonder created precisely chopped drums, deep bass lines, and esoteric fabric of beeps and whistles over which Buck can get ruck. The sound fabric is built for dancing. The phantom vocal samples float behind songs like “No Comparison” and “He’s back”. It is just wonderful production. Crisp and potent.
Buckshot is a renowned emcee from the Boot Camp Clik. I first heard him spit in 1993, my roommate Pat had a mixtape that had had a couple of track from Enta Da Stage. The rhymes from that album became a soundtrack for 1993 and beyond. A lot of famous emcees could learn a lot tracing Buck’s flow. Check out this couplet from “Now a Dayz (That’s what’s Up):”
“White supremacy, you might remember me
Or you might not/ My mic’s hot from the energy.”
Or from “Food for Thought:”
“Damn, can I get a piece of bread?
Without somebody in the streets trying to eat what I said?
I know, I spread words like butter on toast.
Cuz when you get it in the morning, you love it the most.
You see, it’s really the beef I hate
Even though it’s a lot of y’all who want to see my plate.
I dedicate time to separate lines
and go bananas when I think about the food for your mind.
Stay away from them rotten apples.
When your feds get you fed, do a lot to get at you.
So I match my caliber with my calories.
45 shots a slice is like enemy.”
Simply sick. Sean Price’s verse on “U Wonderin” is intense. Just controlling and riding the beat. Boot Camp Klik . . . pretty consistently astounding in my opinion. If only they’d stop selling Booz’s stupid porn I’d buy everything they put out.
Thanks to N.C. and N.Y.C. for the bangers. Wonderful music and great emcee artistry.
Apr. 13th, 2006 @ 07:53 pm
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| » the danger of hip hop |
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Hip hop is a relentless and pervasive global discourse. And this is both good and bad.
It doesn’t matter where you are. Anywhere on this planet hip hop is a fundamental part of human landscapes – the music of a public park, dancers sharing moves, or graffiti tags on the bus.
Within this context, hip hop culture (loosely defined as break dancing, emceeing, deejaying, graffiti, and the seeking of knowledge about these elements) is necessarily diverse. Some excellent break dancers get paid by dancing for soda company television commercials. Some break dancers perform exclusively on cardboard and in broad daylight for quarters.
It has always been hard for me to explain that I like the break dancers on cardboard better than the ones on the TV commercial. Even if the dancers on TV are better than the ones I could see in real life, I’d prefer the live dancers.
I like hip hop that is contrary, out of sorts, even not welcome for some reason. In general, my aesthetic preferences are for dissonant cultural artifacts. I like loud angry rock and roll, subversive folk music, and world music that was banned in their original countries.
William Spanos, a philosopher tried to grapple with this problem in his thinking about Moby Dick. In Spanos’ book The Errant art of Moby Dick he describes the problem of early critics whose political reality made it almost impossible to appreciate Melville in his artistic depth.
Dozens of years later as societal norms loosened and social movements agitated, the literary canon shifted to include Moby Dick as a classic. Spanos argues that this is recuperation, a reconciliation that obscures the power of the book.
“It is no longer the censorship—the active rejection or marginalization of deviant texts—that determines the structure of the canon. Like the disciplinary operations obscured by the ruse of the repressive hypothesis or, alternatives, of hegemony, it is, rather, the domestication or pacification of their duplicitous, disruptive force in the name of deliverance but in behalf of national consensus.” (12).
Some elements of hip hop are necessarily outside of popular art – expressing the kind of deviance that Spanos is talking about. Graffiti is mostly criminal – art outside of the parameters of law enforcement and galleries. It is art that is everywhere and unapologetically for free public consumption. And I try to pay attention.
I had been driving around taking pictures of graffiti. I tend to look at a lot of tags, since they are cheap and I like to imagine that every tag is some angry kid. This is a big tag about 10 blocks from my house in Eureka. Notice the 707. Represent!
Out on Samoa peninsula I found an abandoned house that had some nice pieces. Some color and throw ups. The house itself was amazing . . . just trashed out and bombed to pieces. As I was walking away a huge turkey vulture flew over my head and into the back of the house. Cool.
I like graffiti in warehouses, on trains and in trashed buildings. Free of the “domestication or pacification of their . . . disruptive force” these paintings operate unfettered . . . free.
Check out the color and angles of this piece . . . outlandish, almost kid-like.
My friend Justin suggested an old abandoned warehouse covered with graffiti near the railroad tracks. I wandered down there the other day and found an incredible collection of paintings.
There are clearly some talented artists who are working in Humboldt. Local artist Wong hosts a load of great photos of Humboldt graffiti here.
I was captivated by this blue piece. Just amazing color and sparkles.
Characters and images are well represented. Check out this dinosaur and whale. Both pieces are gigantic . . . maybe 20 feet long or more.
This pictogram was awesome. Just wild in it’s use of imagery & icons.
How about this piece with exploding style! Just nutty in the liberty of the lines. Yeah!
Like a lot of rebellious hip hop, the participants are SERIOUS about defining the terms of their own art. I like this commentary.
Spanos would point out that these days, hip hop is vital for consumer culture, and of course, there are certainly graffiti artists who paint for corporate advertisements. Not to knock how someone else makes a living, but these pieces are limited by the lowest common denominator. The artistic lens gets constrained by capitalist flavor, invited to participate by numbing the challenging parts of the art form.
This happens in music too. Feeling nostalgic about Arrested Development, I bought a couple of tickets to see former lead singer Speech. Elena and I arrived to find Speech doing grotesque lounge versions of his classics.
With no drummer or deejay, Speech was lost, disconnected from the songs. Despite a talented crew of session musicians, Speech insisted on playing tracks of beats through the sound system yelling on the mic to “turn up cd player one!” again and again. As the pabulum poured out of the speakers he wrestled with a soul-less Bob Marley tune to finish up.
It was terrible . . . just wretched. Elena and I fled, driving home listening to Jay Dilla’s Donuts and eating donuts. It was the only medicine for my damaged soul.
It was proof positive, that what was once revolutionary and challenging can become domesticated and pacified.
But the productive element of hip hop is ever-rising. As part of Communication week at Humboldt state, the department of communication sponsored a hip hop show in Trinidad with Subliminal Sabotage.
The club was hidden in a grove of redwood trees, a grimy bar with no stage, just a section of floor for the emcees and musicians. The crowd was a nice mix of college students, rastas, and the 707 SHC posse.
Among big shouts out to the “department of communication” opening act Chosen Few rode the beat. Despite only having a cd track of beats to rhyme over, they were 100 times as good as Speech. Serious rhymes and nice cadence had these lads covering the space. I look forward to seeing them again.
Subliminal Sabotage rocked out. Emcee Elision hit the hardest – driving the band, and the rest of the crew as his own hype-man. Dancing, jumping, and exploding, he just led the crowd to dance. A few times he would just start rhyming, forcing the band to follow him into songs.
The backing band, with Bswizlo on keys, was infectious. They simply grabbed the crowd with the sounds. The music behind subliminal sabotage seems to evolve. This time there was no flute player/saxophonist (everything goes better with flutes) instead a percussionist joined the crew. Regardless the band is hot – paying attention to the crowd and making the party get live.
Emcee MCP is back in town and joined the band for several nice numbers, although he looked like a refugee from Miami Vice in his mirror shades and shiny shirt. Emcee Mikasun held his own on the microphone, continuing to impress with his nice conscious lyrics. Although he is too tall . . . almost every photo I have of the show cuts off the top of his head.
The setting, the music, the lyrics, and the community made this show pretty cool. It was also thought provoking.
Corey and I sat after listening to “Humboldt Riders” to talk about the music. We’re working on an article updating and theorizing about Ernst Callenbach’s book Ecotopia which described an ecological revolution which split off the pacific northwest into it’s own ecologically sustainable society.
In Ecotopia Emerging, Callenbach’s vision of how Ecotopia comes to grow and emerge, he chronicles the importance of radical community driven music (in his case a folk-rock band who refuses to submit to record company rules) in helping to establish revolutionary consciousness. Corey and I talked about the importance of this place – Humboldt — in Sub Sab’s music and how close they are to Callenbach’s ideal of a dangerous musical voice for Ecotopia.
I saw a number of people who were seriously moved by Subliminal Sabotage last night, many of whom had never seen the band. When it is done right and with love, hip-hop can be the most dangerous and exciting art form in the world.
For me, the trick is to find elements of hip hop culture that still seem threatening. I want to sense that the participants have something invested other than money. This weekend I got a healthy dose of some real hip hop and for that I am thankful.
Apr. 9th, 2006 @ 04:50 am
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| » Things go better with the new Soul Position album |
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I was overjoyed to find the new Soul Position album, Things go better with RJ and Al yesterday in an Arcata record shop. I've spent the last 24 hours playing the album during every moment that I wasn't otherwise engaged. It is great.
For those not in the know, Soul Position is emcee Blueprint and deejay RJD2 producing soulful story-telling hip hop. In 2003 they released 8 million stories, an album whose brilliance is easy to describe -- Blueprint flowed over RJ's complex beats and cut rhymes to the quick.
I use their "Jerry Springer Episode" to teach about biological essentialism and complex gender roles. It never fails to get a class rocking and debating about some hot topics. I have played the record for probably a hundred people. Everytime I hear any of Blueprint's Candyland rhymes where he busts a flow of iconic memories from his youth I get nostalgic.
The trick to the two is their skill and simplicity. Both are staggeringly good musicians and producers -- RJD2's deadringer blazes and I buy everything that Blueprint puts out (and you should too). But in the end they can do the thing. Blueprint rides beats, actually changing his flow to fit the rhythm. He can rhyme and bust about topics that are funny, serious, or simply bang. And RJ makes music with a variety of tricks -- on the new album he cuts horns, slices drums and tweaks a layered soundscape of serious depth.
So the new album is great because they did more of the classics -- Blueprint tells some great stories on "Drug, Sex, Alcohol, Rock n Roll," "Keys," and the brutal "keep daddy happy". But he also rocks some nice politics on the single "Hand-me-downs" where he takes on faux thugs over an astoundingly good beat. Also rocking is the anti-consumerist rhyme "priceless". "The extra mile" showcases a rolling rhyme from Blueprint that sounds like he is channeling MF DOOM -- triply punctuated puns and three-layer internal rhymes.
Worth mention is "Blame it on the Jager," a rousting romp of drunk funky sex. Funny and terrible at the same time the song might just take over the "Jerry Springer Episode" in my classes as a great subject for analysis. The cool thing, is that Blueprint's couplets are shockingly funny in this song, and this is a departure for him, a song that I doubt would have made it onto the last album.
Unconventional, brilliant and unforgettable, Soul Position represent hip hop at it's most honest and enjoyable. Every beat will make you nod your head and every rhyme will make you think.
Apr. 6th, 2006 @ 07:12 pm
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