One More Thing

Even though this is a new month, I couldn't resist posting what I discovered last night.

This is a hidden track on The Roots' first live album The Roots Come Alive. When I first heard it, my first thought almost exactly matched one of the actual comments under the video on Youtube.

Black Thought is simply scatting this stuff, and he's still more engaged than 90% of the emcees I hear!

Outstanding.

peace.

Emcee of the Month: Black Thought

I've said quite a bit about this month's emcee, so with this post I'll try to keep it simple.

I can only think of two or three emcees ever that so thoroughly and consistently attack the art of rapping with the energy, hunger, and ambition of Black Thought. And absolutely none of them are 40. This guy is an utter phenom. There's no other way to put it.

peace.

Emcee of the Month: Black Thought

And there you have it.

(The track starts at :33. I have no idea why.)

I'll be back with a few quick thoughts tomorrow. For now, I think Thought is fairly capable of stating his own case.

peace.

Gift of Gabba

This is the best thing I think I've seen in a week.

I was fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to grow up with cable television at home, and I spent many, many hours watching Nickelodeon in my youth. I was especially taken by shows like Hey Dude, Clarissa Explains it All, and You Can't Do That on Television. I have to say, everything about the Nickelodeon tv show Yo Gabba Gabba reminds me of the fun and imaginative days of the station's early years. I'm incredibly happy kids today are able to have fun watching something thoughtful and creative on television.

DJ Lance knows how to rock the party.

peace.

Emcee of the Month: Black Thought

I thought I'd post an interview tonight. I haven't done one of these for some time.

Black Thought is one of hip hop's more private artists, which is what makes this interview so wonderful. Here he discusses what keeps him inspired to write and perform, possible writing projects other than rap lyrics (c'mon Thought!), and the synergy between he and Questlove. It's a wonderful seven minutes allowing a glimpse behind the curtain of one of hip hop's greatest emcees and showmen. Check it out.

peace.

Emcee of the Month: Black Thought

Did you have a listen?

While I was in graduate school, I got really into the blues; specifically the works of Robert Johnson, Son House, and John Lee Hooker. There was something primal and tangible about their music. My response to their recordings was much more about the feeling I experienced than my intellectual understanding of the words they sang. That's the attraction of blues, isn't it? It's the musical exploration of both immense joy and undeniable pain in a very foundational and visceral way.

For me, Black Thought's sense of hip hop performance does much of the same.

You see, I feel Thought is an emcee who has an acute understanding of the primal impulses that make hip hop what it is. At its core, hip hop music is a celebration of a society's ability to retain its confidence and sense of self worth in spite of the seemingly insurmountable conditions it faces. It is the flower growing from the concrete; the unmistakable feeling of painful, aggressive jubilation that can only live down in the bowels of a culture successfully resisting the oppression of the ruling class.

Black Thought deliberately, and quite artfully, accesses these sensations in his lyrics and performances with a clarity and abandon few emcees can duplicate. Every time he performs, it's as if he was at a block party or playground cipher; he moves his listeners with a provocative optimism that is so incredibly of-the-people. Truthfully, I know of no other rapper (including most of my favorites) who consistently evokes such a fundamental sense of what it means to be an emcee.

Seriously.

peace.

Emcee of the Month: Black Thought

As is the protocol for this month, I'll be back on the next post to discuss this a bit further. For now, enjoy the talents of Black Thought: specialist in microphone incineration.

peace.

Emcee of the Month: Black Thought

Did you have a listen?

Yes, that is Black Thought rhyming at 15 years old.

What's fascinating about this track is that the foundations of Thought's vocal and poetic sensibilities are so clearly evident. Here we witness the beginnings of how he perceived writing hip hop verse, creating rhyme patterns, used vocal inflection and variety, and developed his aesthetic.

Twenty-five years later, we get stuff like this.

Hotness.

peace.

Emcee of the Month: Black Thought

There are thirty-year-old rappers who wish they could throw down like this.

"@ 15" from The Roots' Rising Down album


I'll be back with some thoughts about this tomorrow. Enjoy!



peace.

Emcee of the Month: Black Thought

If the parameters of illest emcee alive involved pure skill, engagement, diversity, and consistency, it would be very difficult to argue against this guy being at or near the top of the list.

Many of hip hop most well-known and well respected artists have consistently mentioned Black Thought when discussing their favorite emcees. He's worked and performed alongside a staggering list of high profile individuals (Big Pun, Common, Eminem, Big Daddy Kane just to name a few). Not to mention, he's been the lead vocalist for arguably one of the hardest working, most well traveled, and most prolific bands in the history of music, The Roots.

But all of that kind of info could be regurgitated until the cows come home. Instead, I would like to tell a quick story that I feel sums up my respect and admiration for Thought's work and commitment to this art.

My friend Mark and I were in our fifth semester of graduate school at Louisiana State University. I go by his crib one day and he excitedly mentions The Roots would be playing a few weeks later at the House of Blues in New Orleans. There was no way we were missing the show. So we bought our tickets...

We arrive in New Orleans incredibly early to a.) find a decent parking place b.) see some of the French Quarter and get a bite to eat and c.) make sure we were at the front of the line to get in the show. The plan was to be as close to the stage as possible so as not to miss a single second of the action. After parking, eating, and a bit of sightseeing, we made our way to the venue and sure enough we were in the first 20 people waiting to go inside. Our design was taking shape.

So there we are, one row of people from the edge of the stage within spitting distance of the performers. The first opening act was The Soul Rebels, and of course they lit the place up. Their set, however, was really no longer than 30 or 40 minutes, which didn't really do justice to their musical excellence. As I've mentioned before, they were robbed. Oh well...

Next up was this fly emcee chick named Jean Grae, who tends to figuratively devour microphones for fun. Needless to say, she was super-fresh and probably had every dude in the room falling in love with her, including me.

Then came The Roots, the main event. They started their set from the small balcony at the back of the venue. They had recruited a tuba player to join the band, (probably the same cat that's with them now on Jimmy Fallon's show) and as the sound of the tuba permeated the space they marched across the balcony, down the stairs, through the audience and onto the stage. People were going absolutely crazy. Once the band had taken their place, the music began, and Black Thought held hip hop court for what seemed a solid two hours of non-stop funkiness. Meanwhile, Mark and I are dancing and shouting Thoughts rhymes to each other like we had just won the SuperBowl. I honestly don't remember a point in which we stopped moving until The Roots left the stage, with a sonorous tuba leading the way.

But here's the good part.

When the show was over and everyone was leaving, Thought came back out on stage to shake hand with people. I said to Mark, "Hey man, let's go see if we can holla at Thought." So we go back down towards the stage and patiently wait to show Tariq some love. We get to the lip of the stage and as I extend my hand to Thought, he looks down at the two of us and a huge smile comes across his face. "I saw you man! I saw you!" he says to us, and gives us the super-extra-humble-excited handshake.

We were floored! He saw us!? Did the two tall skinny actor dudes with too much hair dancing like maniacs actually contribute to Thought's experience of emceeing in New Orleans!? That's the dopest thing ever!

It was at that moment when my admiration for Black Thought's skill and energy rose to gargantuan proportions. I would tend to think Mark's did as well. Tariq is truly about this hip hop thing. He recognizes he is of the community, not simply making music for it.

Oh, and TODAY IS HIS BIRTHDAY! (At least, that's what wikipedia says.) GO WISH HIM A HAPPY ONE OF FACEBOOK AND TWITTER!

Here's "Don't Feel Right" from Game Theory.

peace.

Emcee of the Month: Black Thought

Emcee of the Month for October 2011: Black Thought

Yup. It's getting real.

I'll be back tomorrow with some thoughts.

peace.

The Rhymes of Our Lives

In celebration of what I feel is my first truly palpable week as a member of the Philadelphia community, I humbly offer The Roots' 1996 single "What They Do".

It took me a little while to find a version of this with the subtitles. The video doesn't make any sense without them.

Ever since I've moved to Philly, I been slowly introducing myself to the theatre community here. And although my family has been extremely supportive and invited me into the fold, the larger Philadelphia arts scene has been a bit tougher to crack. However, this week has revealed to me a collection of friends with open hands and warm hearts that have recognized my willingness to join them. It's a wonderful feeling.

So I'm feeling really Philly right now. I hope you enjoy.

peace.

Mother Load

Whoever thought it was a good idea for me not to know about the Red Bull Music Academy and its archive of artists' lectures had their head on straight, because now that I've discovered it, my productivity is headed in the crapper.

Here's a Questlove lecture from around five years ago.

This lecture/interview seems to have been recorded around the time The Roots were finishing up their first Def Jam project Game Theory. Quest gives us a very in-depth narrative describing the emergence of the Soulquarians, the inspiration of De La Soul on his decision to pursue making hip hop as a career, J Dilla's works and influence on his thoughts about drumming, and a number of other events and moments that have defined or shaped his music. Quest is the first to admit he is the unofficial the mouthpiece of The Legendary Roots Crew, and with this clip it seems he also serves to translate the energies of a large conglomerate of hip hop and soul artists, including folks like Jay-Z, D'angelo, Cody Chesnutt, Jill Scott, Talib Kweli, and James Poyser.

As for the Red Bull lecture archives (here's the link), the line-up is nothing short of stellar. I could sit here and drop names all night (over 270 clips) but I'll leave it to you to explore them further. I'm off to the Madlib video.

This paper is never going to get done...

peace.

Rap Historians

These guys...

If you need to get caught up, check out part one here.

One of the best things about these segments from Jimmy and Justin is that they are perfectly happy to inject some relatively obscure tracks into these hip hop medleys of theirs. I mean, the average tourist on the streets of New York probably won't be familiar with songs like "The Choice is Yours (This or That)" by Black Sheep or "Award Tour" by A Tribe Called Quest. Hopefully Fallon's audience, both in the studio and at home, will take some time to go find some of these songs they may not know and learn a bit more about the vast variety in hip hop music.

I hope Justin and Jimmy keep going on these. These clips are super-dope!

peace.

A Simple Tribute

"Act Too...The Love of My Life" by The Roots feat. Common



I wonder how my musical life would have been different if I was never exposed to The Roots. Perhaps I would be much more into other genres of music, like classic soul or reggae. Maybe I wouldn't have such a unrelenting desire to see or hear live music (because live Roots shows are simply the best in the world). It's possible I would have never even become an artist, rather a veterinarian or a motorcycle mechanic. Because The Roots are, quite literally, one of the most influential groups of musicians to my personal sense of artistic aesthetic. They have been at the epicenter of just about every important moment of hip hop for the last 15 years, (the exposure and mentoring of J Dilla, the formation of The Soulquarians, accompanying Jay-Z's appearance on MTV Unplugged, performance in the concert film Dave Chappelle's Block Party, the house band gig on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, etc.) and have proved to be one of the most consistent, thoughtful, versatile, and innovative groups in the history of music.

This is my favorite track from their 1999 release Things Fall Apart. They do Philly proud.

peace.

Classic Moments

This simple video is a record of what can only be described as a classic hip hop moment.

The Roots w/ "Weird" Al Yankovic cover "Accordion" by Madvillain

Last week on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon "Weird" Al Yankovic sat in as a guest of The Roots, Jimmy's house band. However, what never airs are the many jam sessions The Roots enjoy with their various guess artists. Fortunately for us, Questlove (The Roots drummer and unofficial mouthpiece) is an extremely generous cat who doesn't mind giving us the behind-the-cameras moments that are so extraordinary.

The lovely thing about this track is that it raises so many more questions for me.

Is "Weird" Al a fan of MF Doom and Madlib?

Did Quest give him the chords to play or did he just start into it?

Was Black Thought there, writing perhaps?

And if he was, why wasn't he rhyming!?

Does this mean we're gonna get a "Weird" Al/Roots/Madvillain performance on the show?

Is Al going to be on the next Roots album?

Are The Roots going to be on the next "Weird" Al album?

Is Al going to do a MF Doom parody?

To be honest, the purpose of these jam sessions is for the musicians to have fun messing around with harmonies and melodies for the sake of practice and fellowship. So many of my questions probably won't be answered; or at least answered the way I want. Nevertheless, this track is simply marvelous and I'm thrilled they put it out here for us.

And Quest's responses are priceless!

peace

Emcee of the Month: Joell Ortiz

Man, I need some hard-hittin' hip hop like this today. This is "Battle Cry" by Joell Ortiz.



There are some days in the lives of hip hoppers when we need to hear the livest, rawest, grimmiest, gulliest, most aggressive tracks we can find. For me, today was one of those days. I was actually worried about doing my post tonight because I didn't know if I'd be filled with too much of the energy from my day to really be constructive. But this record is like therapy for me.

I absolutely love these long form rap tracks. Canibus has a great one called "100 Bars", The Roots did the incredible track titled "The Web", and Busta Rhymes has a fantastic one named "Rhymes Galore." Sometimes I don't want to hear any hooks or r&b cameos or clever sample tricks; simply 'one-plus-one is two' type cuts. One rhyme plus one beat equals two to four minutes of pure head-nodding and teeth gritting, and many times that's all I need.

Joell is a masterful rap lyricist and I am grateful to have found this video tonight. It allowed me to rediscover a clear sense of thought that was clouded by the events of my day. I'm a bit disheartened that this is our last day with him. This has been a fantastic month of music for me.

Joell Ortiz is dope.

peace.

Hip Hop is Fearless

Just when I thought I'd gotten a handle on the whole hip hop thing, here come these cats.

I remember when OutKast's Aquemini album came out back in 1998. I had been anxiously awaiting its release. When I bought it, I put it in the cd player of my car and began listening to it everyday on my way to school. I hated it for about two weeks.

But it wasn't Outkast's fault. It was mine.

You see, anytime an artist makes a significant and extensive leap forward in statement or aesthetic, the folks who consume their work have difficulty fully integrating the new information. We need time to catch up. These cats go into their studios, theatres, and writing rooms and devote hundreds of hours to advancing their work. The good ones are taking huge risks and making real progress, inevitably cruising right on by the artistic sensibility of their audience. So it can be a challenge for us observers and commentators to stay on the leading edge of the movement. It absolutely requires us to be completely open and witness the work with the mind of a beginner.

That's why I'm completely enraptured by this video. These cats scare me, in a good way; not because they have masks on or sound like death metal rap. But rather, they are hip hop artists that are taking an extraordinary risk in the type of music they chose to make. Their risk challenges me to envision an entirely new avenue down which hip hop may travel. I'm excited to see where their journey takes them. I'll be checkin' for 'em.

Because Aquemini is a classic.

peace.

The Questlove Celebrity Stories

I discovered this site about a year ago as I was strolling around some message board or other. Anytime I'm in need of instant grounding and amusement, this is one of the places I visit.

http://hypnagogics.com/questo/

For quick reference, Questlove is the drummer and mouthpiece of the Philadelphia hip hop band The Roots. He's been affiliated with a boatload of top-tier hip hop artists (Jay-Z, Common, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Slum Village, Dilated Peoples) over an stellar 20+ year career. For more info on the The Roots, there's no better place online than okayplayer. Go have a look.

Until tomorrow...

peace.

A Journey to the Broken Angel

As it progresses, any developing cultural or social movement invariably discovers its own identity through a variety of unique and distinguishing characteristics. Most of these developments include inventions and evolutions in apparel and fashion, language and lexicon, dietary patterns, musical styles, and so on. For me however, the most enduring, most compelling, and most tangible cultural symbols involve the landmarks and locations of pivotal and momentous events in a culture’s history.

There's nothing like being there; and it's just that. Being. There.

If you're a rock n' roll junkie, then it's The Dakota or the Riot House. If it's jazz that turns you on, there's nothing like the Cotton Club. For the gearheads of the world, the Bonneville Salt Flats or the Nürburgring is your Mecca. And political aficionados should never turn down a trip to The Watergate Hotel or Dealey Plaza. It's about seeing, touching, feeling it for ourselves or else it will only exist in theory.

Hip hop culture has a few of these places as well, like D&D Studios (although you ain't NEVER gettin' in there) or Rucker Park. And a few months ago I took the chance to visit what I feel is arguably the newest on the list of hip hop cultural landmarks, The Broken Angel.

It is one erie place.

The Broken Angel was the home of Cynthia and Arthur Wood from 1972 through 2006. It's located at the intersection of Downing Street and Quincy Street in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. Its legacy in hip hop history was cemented in 2004 when it became the backdrop of a concert/block party that was organized and hosted by Dave Chappelle, and documented by Michel Gondry in the 2006 film Dave Chappelle's Block Party. In the film, Cynthia and Arthur invite Dave and his camera crew into their home to show them the inner workings of the building. It's one of the most entertaining parts of the film as we witness the couple's compassionate, albeit slightly eccentric, quality and demeanor. Towards the end of the film, there's even a shot of Cynthia in the window of the Broken Angel waving a peace sign to the crowd, which I've always felt was one of the indelible images of solidarity in the movie.

So I'll leave it to you to look up more on Cynthia, Arthur, and the Broken Angel. This is the story of how I got there.

Mariana had to leave. The needle on her record player had broken and we needed to head over to J&R Audio by the WTC because that was the only place she thought we could pick up a new one. So by the time I reached her brownstone in Bedford-Stuyvesant she was perched on the stoop, demanding me to hurry my a$$ up because the bank was about to close. So I shuffled into her place to set down my bag, she locked the door, and we hustled our way to Fulton Street.

After handling her business at the bank and "politely" assisting a young lady find her destination on Fulton St., we got on the C train to Manhattan. We got off at Chambers Street a few blocks north of Ground Zero and made our way down to J&R, which is situated at what's essentially Park Row and Broadway.

Everything is huge in New York, including this audio store. It took us two or three tries to enter the correct section of the building, and even then we really didn't find it without help. And one would think an audio store in New York would and SHOULD have everything under the sun, but alas Mariana's needle was not in stock. So dejectedly, we exited the store and decided it was time to eat.

Now, Mari had a pregnant-woman's craving for cheese fries right about now, even though she hasn't had a boyfriend in a while. However, I would assume this is purely by choice because a woman as beautiful as Mariana can be in a relationship almost anytime she wants. I can only deduce all the men she's encountered recently have been woefully sub-par. C'mon NY...

She suggested we head to Madison Square Park to get burgers and cheese fries at a well-known spot called The Shake Shack. While standing in the quarter-mile long line (it moved fairly quickly, so don't be discouraged) we continued our usual discussions on all things hip hop. We're both huge fans of artists like The Roots, Black Star, Common, J Dilla, and Kanye West. And as we sat to enjoy our slightly overpriced but incredibly delicious burgers, our conversation shifted to Block Party. As is the nature of these exchanges, one thing led to another and we mutually agreed to seek out the location of this magnificent day in hip hop history. We finished our food, scared off the giant attack squirrels, and hopped back onto the subway.

We got off at the N/Q/R stop at DeKalb Avenue and opted to take the bus down Fulton towards Downing Street. It seemed we were on the bus for an unreasonably long time and we worried that we had missed our stop. So we got off somewhere between St. James Place and Grand Avenue to hoof it from there. We approached a huge laundromat with some cool-a$$ middle-aged cats hangin' outside and asked them if they knew the way to Downing Street. Personally, I was hoping we didn't get the same "politeness" that Mari had offered the young lady from earlier in the day. But they were truly friendly and pointed us in the right direction. We got to the block about 10 minutes later.

There are very few places in New York as quiet as the corner of Quincy and Downing in Brooklyn. It's one of those spots that seems to exist solely on its own; as if arriving there means departing the rest of the city. We walked up to the impressive red door of the Broken Angel, with the name of the building and the address adorning it in a grayish-white hue. There was very little traffic. I don't think we saw one car round the corner the whole time we were there. We read the sign on the bulletin board just to the right of the Angel's door and discovered Cynthia Wood had unfortunately passed away due to complications with cancer. We stood by the daycare center where Dave and the others had visited, using the roof as an observation area. We took turns imagining the stage and quoting unforgettable lines and verses from the documentary. We made sure to take some time making fun of Common's role in the show, because we've always been puzzled as to why he seemed only to serve as everybody's hype man. Weird...

I've often wondered if the people that live on that block are getting tired of folks showing up and doing that type of stuff. But in the moment, we didn't care about any of that. We were just a little late to the party, that's all. We wanted to have our fun, too.

We left just before the streetlights starting coming on and walked the almost-two miles back to Mari's apartment in Bed-Sty. We were glowing. We touched the history of our own culture, and it was a really good feeling. Somehow, we felt more firmly connected to the inspirations that have been fueling our lives for quite some time now. When we got back, we threw in Block Party and watched a bit of the concert footage. I suppose it was our way of "double-checking."

But really, there wasn't any need. We knew what it looked like.

Due to the fading light, these were the only pictures that were decent. We took these with Mari's iPhone.

peace.