Waiting for Lefty Godot: A Shameless Plug

In addition to being a child of hip hop culture, I also like to consider myself an actor every once in a while. Actually, if I'm being a snob about it, I prefer the term "theatre artist." But we'll see how that one goes in the months and years to come. Right now, I'd be happy with "that dude I saw in that play that one time."

Tonight I had my first rehearsal with my cast mates of Waiting for Lefty, an incredibly powerful and moving piece of theatre currently in production at South Camden Theatre Company in Camden, NJ. Waiting for Lefty was written in 1935 by a playwright named Clifford Odets. It follows the stories of employees at a fictional taxi company in New York and their plans to walk out and strike in demand of better wages and working conditions.

I am exceedingly excited to be a part of this production. I've wanted to work with Odets material for an incredibly long time, and especially this particular play. Odets is considered to be one of the seminal American playwrights of the 20th century and this play is credited as one of his masterpieces. For me, he writes with an industrial sense of urgency which appropriately mirrors the dire conditions of his socio-political environment. Every voice he pens speaks in ironclad terms, and gives no room for misunderstanding. When I hear his plays rehearsed or performed I can't help but wish I could have been there to hear people speaking like this on the streets or in the shops. I'm always thinking, "This can't be real! They spoke like this!? This is fantastic!"

I'll leave it to you to wiki Odets and the plays he wrote. Instead, I'll share with you a video I found a few weeks ago of Lee Strasberg. Odets and Strasberg were members of The Group Theatre, a collective of actors, directors, and playwrights who collaboratively created theatre with which to comment on their society. Considering they formed two years after the Wall Street crash of 1929, which eventually led to the Great Depression, you can imagine they had lots to say.

Nevertheless, when I read Odets, a voice like Strasberg's is the one I hear; piercing, staccato, allegro, New York, Jewish (Hey, let's be honest!).

If you happen to be in the Philadelphia area during the first few weeks of February and you fancy an evening at the theatre, come see this show. We had a good rehearsal tonight and I feel this is going to be solid piece of art.

You can get more info on the show here.

peace.

SIDEBAR!!!

I must give my homie Ron a big thank you for doing a wonderful write-up on my fledgling blog. He had some extremely kind and flattering things to say, and I've been an admirer of the dedication and passion he expresses everyday on his site. Please have a look at his work here. He's got more than a few milliseconds of genius over there.

Also, big props to my homegirl Jenn for reminding me of the J Dilla Foundation in response to my post yesterday, which is an organization committed to funding music programs in inner city schools. If you're thinking of donating more in the new year, this is an effort that is definitely worthwhile.

A Sample

As this thing moves along, you will eventually realize that this blog is little more than an outlet for my somewhat uncontrollable addiction to youtube. I've spent HOURS over there. There was one night in Toronto where I watched the entire Star Wars trilogy in reverse (Jedi, Empire, New Hope) simply to calm my nerves. When Walta visited me during my spring break last year, we spent DAYS watching Ewan Mcgregor and Charley Boorman as they cycled (motorcycled, that is) their way from London to New York on Long Way Round. So it's safe to say I've wasted ample time and neglected many more important tasks because I was "'tubing."


So as I was basking in the glow of my newly born forum today, I began thinking about all the youtube videos I've wanted to share with my friends, family, and colleagues over the years. One that kept nagging me was this recreation of J Dilla's production for "Players" by Slum Village.

This is a very simple and extremely elegant demonstration of how hip hop is made; at least the instrumental aspect. For the uninitiated, J Dilla a.k.a. Jay Dee a.k.a. James Yancy was a hip hop producer from Detroit, MI. There are those in the hip hop community, including myself, who would consider J Dilla one of the greatest, most expressive, and most influential hip hop producers ever. His work included projects with numerous premier artists such as Busta Rhymes, Janet Jackson, Erykah Badu, Common, The Roots, A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul. Sadly he passed away in 2006 of a blood disease called thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura or TTP.

Whenever I come across videos like this, I try to imagine what kind of story could have possibly lead to the discovery and creation of what I know to be the final product. I wonder what it sounded like in the room, what sights and smells where among the observers and/or participants, what time of day, what season. It's well known that J Dilla's studio was in the basement of his mother's house. I envision the other two members of Slum Village, T3 and Baatin, arriving at Dilla's, perhaps around 4:30 in the afternoon, and walking in not through the front door but the kitchen or even the carport. I wonder if Dilla's mom cooked for them; maybe they even helped. I'm sure she was happy they were into something that was keeping them occupied and away from more unfortunate influences. Judging from the feel of Slum's music back then, it seems they had space to breathe and room to stretch in such an environment. They could easily be in their own skin.

Perhaps this is a little naive or utopic of me. But I like to think that at least some of this were true.

The other aspect I can't escape is how much musical knowledge these guys must have acquired throughout their experiences working together. There has always been a dismissal of hip hop music in regards to the usage of sampling. But consider how long it must have taken Dilla to discover this record, how many records he may have listened to before stumbling upon this song, even how many trips to record stores, thrift shops, and garage sales it took before he even had the physcial vinyl in his hand. The sheer dedication and persistence required to make this discovery, and the vision to shape the discovery into a such a brilliant piece of musical expression, is phenomenal.

In a 2004 interview on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Mos Def (If you don't know who he is, don't worry. I'm sure we'll get to him soon.) had this to say about the practice of sampling:

It created connoisseurs. It created these young people who would become knowledgeable about music via the advent of sampling...I know guys with thousands of records from everywhere of every stripe and variation that you can imagine because they're all, as Afrika Bambaataa says, looking for the perfect beat wherever that may be. I've heard some of the most fantastic, exotic, obscure, amazing music in the basements and homes of hip hop producers.

You can hear the entire interview here.

I love these moments, these peeks behind the curtain. They continue to reinforce how imaginative and masterful these artists are and how difficult it is to be good at making hip hop music. These are marvelous times.

peace.

Welcome! Emcee of January 2011: Asher Roth

Hello Everyone!

So here it is, my blog. I’m not quite sure where it’s headed, but I’m fairly certain of how I’d like it to begin. My hope is to inspire discovery and discussion of emcees and hip hop artists that happen to catch the attention of myself and/or the greater hip hop community. Each month I’ll post a new artist, and each week I’ll highlight a song, album, or performance from the artist that I feel may have musical or performative significance. Also, whatever gets posted will probably be DOPE! Hopefully, there will be a healthy, robust, and productive conversation that may lead to some level of enrichment or enlightening for all those concerned. I don’t think there can ever be too much of that, do you?

Now, I don’t plan on sticking to the topic all the time. Throughout the course of a month, we all have an innumerable amount of engaging and stimulating experiences that may or may not be related to who we think we are. So there will probably be many occasions in which I will post something that will have little to nothing to do with hip hop, and I think that’s okay. I hope you will be compelled to participate in those discussions as well!

And PLEASE feel free to bring anything to my attention that you feel may be relevant. I’ll also be incredibly grateful if you correct me when I’m wrong. I can’t catch it all!

With that, allow me to present my very first Emcee of the Month: Asher Roth.

You think I’m outta my mind, don’t you?

Well, lemme tell you something…

This kid is nice. I’ve always thought so.

Perhaps you had a slight scrunch of the mouth or wince in the eye when you first heard his single “I Love College” in the spring of 2009. When I stumbled upon Asher on the radio while I was living in Louisiana at the time, my first thoughts were, “White kid. He's nice. Not Eminem. One hit. Case closed,” and I never really thought much of him after that.

Not that I didn’t think he had talent, but rather that hip hop doesn’t seem to be able to support more than one or two high profile “novelty” (non-Black and/or non-male) artists at a time. (I’ve put novelty in quotes because I don’t believe in its validity.) And it seemed to me that the “I Love College” single was an attempt not to solidify Asher as a credible artist as much as it was an attempt to corner market share already occupied by Eminem. Therefore, that single didn’t really do Asher’s artistry any justice.

Nevertheless, shame on me for not digging further until now.

A few weeks ago my good friend and go-to homie for all things new in hip hop, DJ Black Daniels of Atlanta’s 5 Star Generals, put me on to the new album You Need This Music by Virginia incredi-producer Nottz. As I’m listening I come upon track 10 “Dontcha Wanna Be (My Neighbor)” featuring Colin Munroe and…you guessed it…Asher Roth. Nottz is not the kind of artist who wouldn't have any pretenders or fly-by-night emcees on his album, so this collaboration piqued my interest to find out more about Mr. Roth.

In addition to numerous interviews and freestyles Asher’s done two mixtapes,Seared Foie Gras with Quince and Cranberry and The Greenhosue Effect, the latter of which was guided by DJ Drama and Don Cannon who put together this little project called Gangsta Grillz. (By the way, I’m looking for BOTH of these now, so get at me if you’ve got it!) Furthermore his upcoming album The Spagetti Tree, which is scheduled for release sometime this year, will offer further collaboration with Nottz, along with The Game, Pharrell, and Swizz Beats. Recently, Asher Roth and Nottz released The Rawth EP which I will be checking as soon as I’m done with this post.

And as for the Eminem comparison; yes, Asher and Em may have similar dialect patterns and vocal resonances, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard Slim rhyme or perform with Asher’s ease or malleability. Em likes to push against tracks, Ash seems to prefer moving with them.

At any rate, Asher Roth is definitely making his own lane.

Check out his Hot97 freestyle with Funkmaster Flex from June 25, 2009.

Peace.