Lets Go Back In Time on a Quest

A Tribe Called Quest is one of Hip Hop's most legendary, beloved and revered groups of all time, and for good reason.

They are easily recognized for their unique approach to rap music by employing jazzy soundscapes to Afro centric-rhymes, but without the jaded and often nihilistic aggressive outlook.

A Tribe Called Quest is largely responsible for the popularity of Jazzy Hip-Hop that seemed to dominate the East Coast sound of the early 1990's. ATCQ was formed in 1985 by Queens, New York natives, Q-Tip and Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad of Brooklyn, who met Q-Tip in high school and although missing on most albums but always present in heart and friendship, Jarobi.

Lyrically, emcees Q-Tip and Phife addressed social problems in their community and out of that created a patchwork of rap-jazz-scratching-love-hope. Their upbeat and positive message opened the doors of a genre aimed at the positive rather than the negatives in life.

Overall Rating:
5 out of 5 Wallets in El Segundo

Fort Collins Festival Featuring Free Food

Fort Collins hosted a Caribbean festival this weekend (Feb. 23-24, 2008) sponsored by the eccentric billionaire, Sir Allen Stanford.

Cricket really isn’t that cool.

That aside, it is really cool that this guy Stanford is dropping over 3.5 million in endorsing the game of 20/20 cricket in our town. Now what’s even cooler is that because the 20/20 cricket tournament has reached the semifinal play, there was a FREE CONCERT with FREE FOOD and free stuff given out all day. Oh yea, did I mention FREE FOOD?

The concert had some interesting acts, but two in particular, Causion from Antigua, and Colorado-based Bongo Love, both played with great enthusiasm and had a relaxed-Caribbean-worry free-energy.

Overall Rating:
2 out 5 Wickets

Heiro Ya'll!

Hieroglyphics, also known as the Hieroglyphics Crew and Hiero, are an underground hip hop collective based in Oakland, California. The group was founded in the early 90s by incredible lyricist Del tha Funkee Homosapien.

The Hieroglyphics crew are definitely hip hop visionaries, combining fundamentally sound deliveries of verse and intelligent lyrical content with smooth, original and sometimes jazzy/funky beats and samples.

Since their beginning, Hieroglyphics have amassed a dedicated following of die-hard fans largely through their live concerts, pod-casts (Hierocasts), and promotion through their popular website. It also helped that their sound spreads like the plague; as soon as one person hears it, they can’t help but pass it on to someone else.

These guys can flow.

Hiero is also known for its ubiquitous, three-eyed, straight-lipped face logo that figures prominently on their albums, website, stickers, and clothing.

Overall Rating:
4 out 5 Powers That Be

Drew C. Interview

Heres my interview with Drew on his movie blog.

Interview

Revolutionary but Gangsta

Many of today's youths are not too familiar with the freedom fighters of the turbulent sixties. But these men are. As rap faces its most demanding era, two modern protesters in their early twenties emerge to pave the way with politically and socially motivated lyrics.

They call themselves Dead Prez, and for a good reason. M-1 and Sticman are making declarations in the rap game that haven’t been made since hip-hop began. They call themselves revolutionaries.

The duo offers an alternative to the common pursuit of short term grandeur via money and materialistic aspirations. Inspired by self defense parties such as the Black Panthers, Dead Prez is the most politically conscious group since Public Enemy. They speak the word of Malcolm X with such a modern day pulse, that it grabs your attention and broadens your perspective the first time you listen.

At first, they were united in a national activist organization which allowed them to travel around the country learning social and political science and studying history. Realizing that they also had to make a living, (hustling on the streets proved to be a dead end), they decided to channel their energies towards music.

Dead Prez elevated their unique style through past experiences of societal conflicts and there significance in the present day music industry.

Obviously the first interpretation of the term dead prez is the slang word for the green bills that rule the world. But for Sticman and M-1, dead presidents represent a spectrum beyond capitalism, addressing the common issues of the most unprivileged members of human society. Watch out for DP, they might just make you stand up for something you believe in.

Overall Rating:
4 out 5 Pimp The Systems

February at the Aggie

Go out and listen up!

There are all kinds of awesome music venues in Colorado, but unfortunately for Fort Collinites, there are a limited number in our small town.

Luckily enough, we do have one spot that offers great artists (usually at decent prices). The Aggie Theater can be found down in Fort Collin's old town, and offers listeners with a small stage that has incredible sound. And if the audience is full enough, the energy can be great here. Bring your pocketbook if your over 21 though; they have a tendency to have overpriced drinks.

Whats most important though is not the drinking, but rather that the Aggie always manages to book a variety of talented underground hip-hop artists; as well as prominent reggae groups.

There are a few shows this February that sound very appealing to my music taste buds, and if you’re looking for a quaint little venue to get up close and personal with some remarkable underground rap and reggae artists; check out this month's shows. I've been to both in RED; they are a must see!

February Calendar (Reggae, Rap, Hip-Hop)

• Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008 - Kingspade with HED PE, feat. SubNoize Souljaz, Dog Faced Gods, and Insolence (Rap)

• Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008 - Prezident Brown with Dubskin (Reggae)

• Friday, Feb. 15, 2008 - 3OH!3 with Distrakt and Chaingang of 1974
  

• Thursday, Feb.28, 2008 - Hieroglyphics with Blue Scholars and Grieves (Hip-Hop)

Keep an Eye on Zion I

Zion I are a hip hop duo from Oakland, California that build a foundation of fresh rhyme technique with innovative beat construction.

The duo is comprised of producer and DJ Amp Live, and MC Zion.The talented combination of Zion's poetic, positive, and socially conscious lyrics mixed with DJ Amp's unbelievably well tuned ear, make these two some of the most highly respected and acclaimed underground artists, and even though they have a mainstream fan base; they stay loyal to the message of universal respect for others and self. Their popularity grew from Amp's revolutionary production techniques, using a mix of live instrumentation and futuristic samples.

They made their first worldwide debut in 2000 with the critically acclaimed album, Mind Over Matter. The album was a blend of innovative beats, and rhythmical verse, which had everything from meeting sexy Arabian women overseas, to realizing that every choice we have in life has consequences; good and bad.

Mind Over Matter is more than just the introductory mark of Zion I; it is a lyrical construct of emotion, self awareness, and making the right choice. The duo doesn’t rap about money, materialism, or drugs; instead they focus on what is inside of people, their soul and the conscious.

This album is a must for any collection. The incredible tranquility this album creates with the intellect and ears is felt the very first time you listen; or the 100^th time for that matter.

Overall Rating:
5 out of 5 Fools Gold

Dilla Disects Drums in Donuts

Producer, rapper, and architect of amazing beats and hooks, artist Jay Dee laid the blueprints down for so many artists to sing over. Aside from a few scattered beats for Common and Medaphor, there hasn’t been a lot of new material put out by the same man who handcrafted numerous sounds for A Tribe Called Quest, Slum Village, D'Angelo, and from the man Pharrell, Kanye West, and Questlove have all hailed as the greatest producer.

The Detroit born Jay Dee, or J Dilla, created his last album, Donuts, shortly before his 32^nd birthday. J had been suffering from major health problems (he died on February 10, three days after his thirty-second birthday). In fact, Jay Dee made much of this record during an extended stay at the hospital, using original 45s, a Numark portable turntable and a Powerbook. The result is a forty-two-minute peek into J.Dilla's beat-tape sketchbook, as well as a lesson learned: Never mistake silence for laziness.

Donuts is one big pot full of mixed records. One track is longer than two minutes, several are less than one; records are chopped, flipped, sped up, slowed down and slapped together; there are vocal drops, noise drops, needle drops, obscure records, soul records, electric-company ads and all sorts of pirated sounds from samples he'd probably never clear. This is what you call a well-orchestrated mess.

If it sounds handcrafted, that's because it is. Dilla is the master of one instrument - the MPC drum machine - and this album serves as testimony that if you equipped him with a sampler and some dusty records, Dilla would use his God-gifted ear to cut, chop, and serve you up something brand new every time. There is nothing commercial about Donuts, and if it weren't for the vision of a label such as Stones Throw, this album might have ended up as just another Internet rumor.

Overall Rating:
4 out 5 Screwed Up Hooks

Mainstream Materialism is Killing the Tale

Hip-hop hopes are high, yet I think they’ll die.

With the decaying lyrical quality of the entire hip-hop genre, there are only a few artists whose words actually have a story to tell. The trivial racket that so many of today’s popular MC’s produce, lacks an abundance of important song characteristics; style, fluidity, prose, and most importantly, a point.

Although there are tons of respectable MC’s and rappers producing quality music regularly, there are only a handful of dynamic artists that rewrite the script on originality. (Here some hilarious charts explain what I mean by there are limited quality respectable artists.)

Lupe Fiasco falls right into this elite list of great lyricists, and his rapid delivery of words provide an interesting technique of combining slow, repetitive choruses, with insanely fast verses that somehow are easily understand but so hard to sing along with.

His most recent album, The Cool, is just that.

It’s an introspective story on Lupe’s life that fuses the real problems he’s experienced, along with the success and growth of his career, but still somehow tells an inventive tale of fantasy and fame.

The album has a two or three songs that wouldn’t be particularly appealing to the mainstream hip-hop audience, but the remaining are exceptionally well written, well produced, and basically a well performed story.

Go check this cool album out.

Overall Rating:
5 out of 5 FNF’s