Name: Adam Bernard Home: Fairfield, Connecticut, United States About Me: Entertainment journalist w/ over a decade of experience. Lover of good music, fringe movies, day baseball & chicken shawarma. Nerdy, but awesome. See my complete profile
There are a few constants when a year comes to a close; people who don’t normally go out and party will drink more than they can handle and do something painfully stupid, champagne will suddenly become everyone’s favorite drink of choice for a whole five minutes before they return to whatever libation they normally enjoy, and the next day, while groggily waking up to the sounds of Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit discussing the day’s bowl games, many people will hastily sketch out a few new year’s resolutions.
Although a select few rappers may pop champagne a little more often than the rest of us, our favorite crowd controllers are just like everybody else when it comes to these new year’s traditions. With that in mind, I think it’s the perfect time to help a few of hip-hop’s most prominent people, as well as our local artists, with their new year’s resolutions.
Dr. Dre - After having Detox hailed as the most anticipated album of 2007, 2008, and 2009, Dr. Dre needs to resolve to finally set a hard deadline for the album and release it in 2010. Over the past few years I’ve spoken with a number of people who, at different points in time, have been involved with the project. From Anthony Hamilton, who wrote and sang for a few songs that may, or may not, end up on the final track listing, to Dawaun Parker, who is Dre’s production protege, the one thing everyone has noted is that Dre is a perfectionist. I can understand how that affects his work, being a perfectionist myself, but at some point you have to give the people what they’ve been waiting literally over a decade for (2001 dropped in November of ’99). The five second snippet during the Dr. Pepper ad is NOT enough. If history is any indicator, Dre’s probably already ditched that track from the album, anyway. 2010 must be the year of Detox.
Lil’ Wayne - In 2010 Lil’ Wayne should resolve to quit drugs for at least ten minutes. Already set to spend a year in jail for criminal possession of a weapon stemming from a 2007 incident, a couple drug sniffing dogs found some marijuana on both of Wayne’s tour buses earlier this month. Do you think it’s considered profiling if the occupant of the buses has named his last three albums after the crack house from New Jack City and was recently the centerpiece of a fake news feature on The Onion which said America is planning on curing its drug problem by sending him out to do all the drugs there are? Even though no charges ended up being filed, it might do Wayne some good to lay off the lala for a little while. Maybe his lyrics might even start making sense again.
Kid Cudi - After having to bow out of Lady Gaga’s current tour thanks to a Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!! incident with a fan, signing up for some anger management classes should be Kid Cudi’s 2010 new year’s resolution. Cudi was doing double duty, scheduling solo dates while also doing the tour with Gaga, but when you’re on the road with the biggest pop act in the world you can’t be flying off the handle. Earlier in the year I spoke with Cudi and he told me about his personality, saying, “I kinda just do things. I have a plan and I just do it, but I always try to make sure that my moves are in a positive motion because being that I don't think and I just do things and I don't care about the repercussions, I don't want to use that power in the wrong sense. It's something I'm still trying to control, but I'm using it in the right manner now.” It seems as though he lost control while on tour. Let’s hope he regains that control in 2010. He could even try calling up Dr. Drew, because you know VH1 would be down to film Celebrity Anger Management.
All Our Local Emcees - We have a plethora of fantastic emcees here in Connecticut and I have one resolution for 2010 that applies to all of them; every local emcee should resolve to check out a show featuring another local emcee that they have no affiliation with what-so-ever. Support is one of the biggest aspects of any scene. Nobody likes playing to an empty house, but if you’re only supporting your own crew, why should anyone else support you? Check out another artist’s show and do it with an open mind. Don’t come in with a mindset that you need to be impressed. Just take in the show the way you’d want someone to take in yours. Maybe you’ll find you dig the artist and end up collaborating on a few things. Remember, the bigger our scene gets, the more likely you are to have packed houses when you perform.
Finally, as a hip-hop community let’s make 2010 a year filled with good music, new stars, and a bevy of positive news stories. You know I’ll be continuing to highlight everything that happens, so let’s make it a great year.
I know a lot of you read my Top Ten Albums of 2009 list and said, “I know you’re at RapReviews, so are you gonna do a list like that, but just for hip-hop?” My response - “of course!” We actually had a pretty good year in terms of hip-hop. The major labels, for the most part, failed us, but the creativity that was brought to us by the independent scene kept getting better and better. So while Jay-Z isn’t on my list, Brother Ali is. Heck, even I’m surprised by some of the artists that made my list as two of them I openly admit I wasn’t a fan of until their 2009 releases.
As an added bonus I’ve included three of the best albums that were released as free downloads, and the links to download those albums. That’s right, you’re getting a top ten AND three free albums! I’m so generous.
Christmas may have been a handful of days ago, but there’s one present left for you to unwrap - the latest edition of The Adam B Experience! OK, so technically there’s no unwrapping involved, just downloading or streaming, but no matter how good your holiday was, this will make it even better. Thirteen brand new songs that include some of your favorite artists, like Homeboy Sandman, Top $ Raz and Dyalekt, and the ABX debuts YC The Cynic, Coolzey, Kidd Russell, and more. It’s a full hour of great, unedited, hip-hop and me making an ass out of myself. Enjoy!
Homeboy Sandman - Angels With Dirty Faces O.I.S.D. - Rock Dat Shit Nyle - X-Man YC The Cynic - Say Superman Top $ Raz - Spilled Milk Dyalekt - Dance Coolzey - Look Vinnie Scullo - Hearse Sketch Tha Cataclysm - The Meditation Kidd Russell - Be.song Big Stat - No Problems Billion w/ Mena - Crusher 4-IZE, Señor Kaos & Anthony David - Hard To Quit The Rhyme
When Billion’s album, SPF Dirty, hit my desk it instantly caught my eye. How could it not? The cover is a gorgeous bikini-clad woman at a beach. No head, though, just the body. Being a big fan of flat stomachs I popped the album in. Turns out, the listening experience is just as good as the visual one, as Billion is nice on the mic. That’s why this week I caught up with him to find out more about his work, the change he’d like to see in hip-hop, and why he’d consider interrupting one of Clint Eastwood’s award acceptance speeches.
Adam Bernard: Start me off with the Billion story. Where are you from and what’s your history in hip-hop? Billion: The city of Miami made me the man I am today. Although I don’t subscribe to any set gender roles, they say your mother teaches you how to be a nurturing and caring person and your dad teaches you how to fight and take a punch graciously - in this equation, Miami was my dad. My beginnings with hip-hop go as far back as the mid-80’s when the older boys would teach us how to spin on the floor and up rock; listening to the Beastie Boys and Run DMC. But it wasn’t until the mid-90’s that I started rapping. Back then I was inspired by the Beastie Boys, Jay-Z and Wu-Tang. I’d say those three artists, mixed together, are where my sound comes from. That being said, I have to give props where props are due, I would not be here if it wasn’t for Miami rappers like JT Money and Trick Daddy.
Adam Bernard: What does the name Billion represent? Your number of rhymes? Dollars you hope to stack? Women you would like to be with? Hit everyone with some insight! Billion: The name Billion was given to me, I didn’t pick it out. For me, it makes it a little more special, and personal, that one of my roll dogs from back home would name me. That’s how it was in the hood back in the day, you never picked your own nickname, and that left some people out there with some ridiculous ones like “dildo” and “tittie,” these two cats I knew back home. Hilarious. I was fortunate enough that one of my dogs believed in me enough to say that I’d be the first to come up, so he named me Billion as a motivator. Personally, though, the name is not about money at all, but more so the people of this planet.
Adam Bernard: Your album, SPF Dirty, has my favorite cover art of the year. Who is she and why isn’t she following me on Twitter? Billion: I actually worked as a fashion photographer for a number of years when I first moved to NYC, so that’s just one of the many models I’ve photographed. I thought it was a great fit for the “beachy” tracks we wanted to put out, and the label, Kwality Records, agreed and backed me up on my image choice for the cover. As far as her following you on Twitter... I’ll see if I can hook you up and make that happen. {laughs}
Adam Bernard: If you could pick one set of bars from SPF Dirty that you feel are a perfect representation of what you’re all about, which would they be? Billion: Don't try and cock back and shoot out my name Wild west, you couldn't draw your way out of a tie game I rise above, I be like David Blaine I'm Mayan, predicting floods, fuck making it rain I'm on my grind like I tre flipped this ledge And you like a dull blade, you lost your edge Billion, bully on beats I give you wedge Shut it, take a seat and eat this meat and two veg I pledge I dead any affront We hit grand slams while your team just bunts I'm so ill it's 3/4 my deal I don't keep it real I just keep it Bill (from the song “Temperature”)
Adam Bernard: I hear you attended the Parsons School of Design. How are the skills you learned there coming into play with your music career? Billion: I think it’s been immensely beneficial, especially coming at the business from an independent standpoint. The skills I picked up at Parsons allowed me to shoot my own cover photos and videos as well as the graphic design that comes with laying out cover art. It’s allowed me to be involved in every step of the promotion and packaging thus making every project more and more “me.”
Adam Bernard: Clearly you had a great college experience. Do you think if Kanye wasn’t a College Dropout he wouldn’t be interrupting so many people’s award acceptance speeches? Billion: I know people are going to jump down my throat after I say this, but I don’t really fault Kanye. Anyone who goes into any facet of the on-camera entertainment industry has to be a born attention seeker. I know I am. I know there are times I feel uncomfortable not being the center of attention and there are also other times I do very obnoxious things to ensure I’m the center of attention, and I’m not even famous yet. I suppose at his level you’re just drunk on the fame and want more of it.
Adam Bernard: If you could interrupt one person’s award acceptance speech who’s would it be and why? Billion: Ah, man! I’m not sure I’d want to take someone’s moment from them like that, but if there was ever a moment when I saw someone get an undeserved award it would have to be when Clint Eastwood won best director for Million Dollar Baby. He went up against Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator and took it. Scorsese, at that moment, had never won a best director award… Scorsese! He deserved that award for that movie. He was later vindicated the next year when he won best director for The Departed, but I don’t think it was as good of a movie as The Aviator, so yeah, I’d interrupt Clint Eastwood and call him out on breaking a huge rule of filmmaking - if you need to narrate it, your scene isn’t telling the story. Sorry, I’m still sore about that. {laughs}
Adam Bernard: When you’re not recording where are people most likely to find you? Billion: Definitely at home. Working on any project is draining so it’s important for me to have moments when I disconnect and spend the day relaxing. At this point I’m my own assistant and handler, so I have to schedule myself some chill out time. I actually make it a point to not answer any phone calls or messages at least one day out of the week so that I can have some space to decompress and think, BUT I also live by the adage “I’m never not working,” so it doesn’t mean I’m completely inactive, I just shut the left-brain stuff out, the office stuff, and perhaps spend the day thinking about purely creative things. It helps me balance it all out.
Adam Bernard: Look into your crystal ball, what’s going to happen in hip-hop in 2010? Billion: Hopefully a lot. I’d like to see more expansion of the craft. I’d like to see the music pushed and pulled in all different directions. I very much like that white college kid song and all the comedy hip-hop that’s going around. I think hip-hop needs to lighten up a bit and some of that Saturday Night Live stuff is doing exactly that. They’re reminding people that they shouldn’t take themselves too seriously. I think I write like that from time to time; playful, cheeky and punchline driven.
It's the day after Christmas and if the Grinches and Scrooges of the world were noticeably absent from your holiday proceedings it might have been because Sav Killz rounded them all up and threw them out of town. Don't believe me? Check out everyone's favorite everywhere man's latest single, "Scratchin the Surface," and see for yourself why Sav Killz is not to be F-ed with.
Every year culminates a bevy of Top Ten lists, but this is the Top Ten list you’ve been waiting for - Adam’s World’s Top Ten Albums of 2009! The list is not genre specific in any way, shape, or form. Hip-Hop, pop, soul and rock are all represented here. To be on this list the only rules were that the album had to have been released on CD in 2009 and it had to be really freakin awesome. So without further adieu, here are my picks as the best of the best from 2009.
Forget the fact that mainstream radio is determined to play every song off of this album until we hate it. The very first time I spun The E.N.D. I was blown away with what the Peas were doing with pop music. I knew right away that the techno-funk of will.i.am was going to be a game changer in the pop scene because it was different, but not too different, it was motivating in that it made you want to get out of your seat and move to it, and it was incredibly catchy. Let’s be real, at this point does anybody not know Fergie’s verse off of “Boom Boom Pow?” Case closed.
I’ll admit, when Attention Deficit hit my desk I didn’t have high hopes for it. Wale’s buzz was huge, but that buzz was coming from sources that I don’t usually agree with. Less than halfway through the album, though, I realized I was listening to something special - an underground emcee who had found a way to incorporate mainstream sensibilities without losing who he was. The album is a gem and Wale is a heck of an emcee. Imagine Kanye West if Kanye was as good as he thinks he is. Call me a bandwagon jumper if you want, but Wale’s bandwagon is one worth jumping on.
Although I’m not a fan of labels, it wouldn’t be unfair to call the music of Nicholas Howard blue eyed soul. Howard’s vocals have always been amazing, but on God is in the City, which is his sophomore effort, he also shows some fantastic growth in his songwriting ability. That’s not to say he wasn’t good with a pen and a pad before, but the realness and the emotion of God is in the City is on another level completely. This is reality music. It takes you back to when R&B/soul music was a lot deeper, both topically and emotion-wise. Howard has the vocal range to pull off everything from joy to pain and on God is in the City he not only does that, he does it with aplomb.
Rife with frustrations over the political banter coming from both sides of the table, Vinnie Scullo put together an album that took those discussions and blew them all away. With his trademark style of mixing a heaping dose of humor with his vitriol, I Spit on Your Grave is Vinnie’s take on American politics and society as a whole. Angry, poignant, and at times incredibly funny, ISOYG proves that an artist doesn’t have to be preachy to get his, or her, point across about something they feel is important. (Those with good memories will remember I accidentally listed this album last year, not knowing it had been pushed to ’09)
It’s hard to put my finger on just one thing that makes the Yeah Yeah Yeahs great. They’ve created a rock sound all their own (you always know when a song is a Yeah Yeah Yeahs song), their lyrics are always incredibly unique, and lead singer Karen O has a voice unlike anyone else in music. Even though It’s Blitz! features the band at their frantic best, the album unfairly flew under the radar thanks to a lack of radio stations, and music video stations, that embrace anything too outside the norm. Don’t let it fly under your radar.
This was a VERY long awaited album, but one that was certainly worth the wait. As someone who loved Tribe, but wasn’t a fan of Q-Tip’s “Vivrant Thing” phase, Kamaal the Abstract is the soulful/jazzy album I always knew Tip had in him. With all the musicality, perhaps even more, than he had during his A Tribe Called Quest days, Kamaal the Abstract puts Tip on another level, not as an emcee, where his status has no reason to be questioned, but as a musician. Imagine if Mos Def had developed a fifteen year career as an emcee before venturing into his attempt at jazz and you begin to scratch the surface of what Tip is doing here.
If you listen to old school soul music and wish that R&B artists still did it like that, The Revelations are the answer to your prayers. Tre Williams and his band bring it back to the good ol’ days and unlike a lot of artists that try to be retro, Williams and crew don’t have to try, they have that vibe naturally, and the authentic nature of their music is what makes it so fantastic. Listening to The Bleeding Edge it seems totally reasonable to be imagining the music being performed at a smokey club in the 60’s, but it has just enough modernity to it to make it totally relevant to today’s listeners.
Alison Sudol, AKA A Fine Frenzy, has one of the most beautifully emotive voices I have ever heard and Bomb in a Birdcage is a perfect example of all the things she can do with that voice. At times painfully beautiful - it’s virtually impossible to listen to a song like “Beacon” and not feel something well up inside you - at other times playfully fun, such as with the song “Electric Twist,” and even going all the way to being downright inspiring with “Stood Up,” Bomb in a Birdcage is one of those rare albums that works on all levels. A cross between adult-contemporary and pop, all you really have to call it is great. Just make sure to hold on to your heart when you’re listening to it!
Extremely powerful, both lyrically and production-wise, Never Better showcases pure, raw emotion. P.O.S. has never been a quiet guy as his ideology is one part hip-hop, one part punk rock, but with Never Better he has seemed to up the ante, which I didn’t even think was possible. Embracing his outsider nature, P.O.S. utilizes his incredible lyric writing ability and some amazing punch-you-in-the-face production to get you to stand up and want to fight for something. Not physically, but emotionally. Inspiring to the end, Never Better is a perfect example of what hip-hop, at it’s best, can be.
With a voice that sounds a bit like a modern version of a young Susanna Hoffs, and some crazy amazing keytar skills, Lights caught my attention the very first time I heard her and she hasn’t let go since. This is probably because Lights creates an atmosphere with her work, which is something very few artists can do. Her music is friendly and there’s a real genuineness to it. I realize friendly isn’t an adjective normally used to describe music, but her openness, and her personable nature, shine through so much so, both in her lyrics and the way she delivers them, that one can’t help but believe they’re truly getting to know her. Adding to the friendly nature of her work is the fact that her music is 80’s synth pop inspired, and there’s very little that’s angry or mean spirited about that genre. You can be sure I’ll be listening to The Listening for a very long time.
After last week’s first half of Pop Shots’ Top 10 Pop Songs of the Decade I know how much you’ve been eagerly awaiting the next installment, which is why this week’s Pop Shots is coming to you a day early. So without further adieu, here are Pop Shots’ picks as the top five pop songs of the decade.
The Diggin in the Crates crew is one of hip-hop’s most respected, and legendary. After collaborating on the song “Weed & Drinks” on O.C.’s Bon Appetite, DITC members O.C. and A.G. felt a musical chemistry they wanted to explore further. The initial results of that exploration hit stores in November in the form of Oasis, the first of what the duo says will be many O.C. and A.G. collaborative efforts. This week the two emcees sat down with me for a collaboration of a different kind; an interview, as both O.C. and A.G. opened up about their work, what’s been going on with DITC, and why they feel that sometimes the price of success isn’t worth the reward. Here are some of the highlights from the interview:
O.C. on one of the meanings of the album's title: A lot of people grow up in certain situations, no money, no food, no parents with good jobs, and you have to make your surroundings like an oasis. You might not have a million dollars, you might not come from a wealthy family, so you have to make due with what you got.
A.G. on the original concept: It started with an idea of doing a song about God and the devil. That’s how extreme we were and how deep we wanted our concepts to be.
A.G. on the price of success: Sometimes that success might mean sacrificing your integrity, or your trueness to yourself, or your niggas. That’s too high of a price for me.
Hailing from the small town of Dallas Center, Iowa, Coolzey’s life story is an interesting one. How else would you describe a life that has involved a headlock on MC Paul Barman, a tour with Vanilla Ice, and a friendship with Sadat X? Over the past few years Coolzey’s work has been showing up on my desk pretty regularly. This is due, in large part, to his love of the EP format. It’s a love that stems from a dream that he’ll one day be able to release all of his work on vinyl. This week I caught up with Coolzey to find out more about his wild ride, what went into the making of his upcoming EP, The Honey, and where you can find him with Fred "The Hammer" Williamson.
Adam Bernard: First question - What makes Coolzey cool? Coolzey: In fourth grade I needed a rap name, because I knew I was going to be a rapper. My friends and I formed a group called Shot Guns and Dandelions and we did a rap parody of “Welcome to the Jungle” called “Welcome to the Restroom” using a Casio SK-1 and a keyboard. I thought Kool Rock from the Fat Boys was the coolest name. I'm also a minimalist and I'm super into vagueness, so I called myself Cool Z. At the turn of the millennium I changed the spelling to Coolzey. It used to be an ironic thing to me, I never really thought I was that cool. Really, until people started asking me questions like this, I never even thought of the fact that using this name implied my coolness, but really, what makes me cool is my minty fresh breath.
Adam Bernard: Nice. Now hit me with the rest of the Coolzey story. How did you get into music? Coolzey: I was really into Weird Al Yankovic. I used to ride my Huffy around and play Weird Al tapes on my handheld tape recorder and eat candy. We recorded freestyle sessions about girls and Garbage Pail Kids in the 80’s onto boomboxes. Cassettes cassettes cassettes. I loved making mix tapes. When our small town started getting cable television, which to me meant Nickelodeon (Nick Rocks) and MTV, I got to see the video for “Night of the Living Baseheads” by Public Enemy. That was it. I started writing letters to Chuck D, that I never mailed, and changing my rhymes from parodies to actual storytelling and descriptive rhymes. Then I went to college in Iowa City and started getting into rock and roll. I joined a group called The Sucka MCs in the late 90’s. We were really fucked up. Signed to indie rock label Ace Fu out of NYC (Pinback, the Ex-Models, Manman) we toured the country opening up for Vanilla Ice, Paul Barman, the Arsonists, The Frogs, Wesley Willis. We were, apparently, a novelty act; white guys from Iowa rapping. We kept getting messed up and ruining shows. One member put Paul Barman in a headlock at the Middle East in Boston. We also got the cops called on us in Champaign, Illinois for trying to steal beer at a Vanilla Ice show we were playing. The group broke up and I went solo.
Adam Bernard: Based on those stories alone I think there should be a book on your life. In addition to all that, you’ve also worked with a fairly impressive roster of artists. Who have been some of your favorite people to collaborate with, and has any artist brought something out of you that you never knew you had in you? Coolzey: To me, collaborating with and becoming friends with Sadat X of Brand Nubian has been such a great landmark. I used to be concerned about how racist rappers that I grew up listening to were, and Sadat was notoriously one of the worst, up there with Da Lench Mob and Ice Cube, but (it turns out) Sadat is one of the most relaxed and adventurous people I know. He's comfortable anywhere, we even got him drinking PBR when he comes to the midwest now! Good man. As far as bringing something new out in me, that's the name of the game for me when it comes to recording. I love collaborating with my friends, the local artists, and heroes of mine. It's how I relate to people the best, I think, making music with them. I am really into letting other people shape the tracks, the sessions, the sound. Then I get alone with my engineer and chop it all up and mix it nice. I love producing. I'm super into post-production.
Adam Bernard: Your upcoming EP, The Honey, is due out on January 29th. What are you hoping people get out of this effort? Coolzey: I try to make albums that will initially allow people to relax, get loose, get stoopid, laugh, all the things that help you live longer, and the more that you listen to them, and you hear the lyrics, you can follow threads of references and thoughts and get deeper into the songs.
Adam Bernard: You have some really heavy content on The Honey. What was going on in your life when you were putting it together? Coolzey: I went through some heavy stuff recently. My father nearly passed away from bone marrow cancer, I've had some friends and relatives die, I broke my leg, I got ripped off for a lot of money, I was arrested, had to go to court, but I just remained active and tried to keep a positive attitude and remember to say "Thank You" to life, to everything, all the time. This helps you see all of the awesome things that are always around you on a daily basis. The Honey is the good stuff in life, it's the reason we come back and choose to be reincarnated, to get The Honey, the love, experiences, relationships, see the colors, smell the smells, kiss the cheeks, hug the moms. The Honey is focusing on positivity.
Adam Bernard: Outside of music, on a typical day, if you have downtime how are you spending it? Coolzey: I love seeing movies in the theater, even not very good movies. I love the outdoors, trees, I really dig graveyards, walking through them. I think about death a lot. I write short stories. I’m working on a couple screenplays. I like to draw pictures of animals and people with charcoal. I love drawing with ink pens. I like taking pictures, driving, getting coffee. I'm doing a complete gut rehabilitation on a house, tearing it apart and putting it back together all nice and new. I am working reception at a youth center in Iowa City as we do this. I play guitar a lot I like spinning records in the basement. Basketball when I can, swimming, BRUNCH! I'm all about brunch and lots of beverages at brunch.
Adam Bernard. I’m glad you lead that off with movies because there is a Coolzey on IMDB with two movies to his name. Is this you? Coolzey: Yes. This is mainly from a series of really bad Troma style horror movies called Resist Evil that I was in. I think they are editing it down to one film, but there are a bunch of awesome B movie stars in them, like Fred "The Hammer" Williamson, Ed O’Neill and Tiffany Shepis. It was pretty fun, and I'm looking to do some more acting soon. It’s one of the most cathartic things to do for me.
Adam Bernard: Finally, you can say it, guys with glasses are fucking awesome, right? Coolzey: Funny you should say that, I actually was thinking about getting Lasik surgery, but everybody talked me out of it. I think they are a great prop, but sometimes I get tired of looking through glass all the time. Plus, I'm rowdy and I always break them. About every six months I need a new pair cuz they get so scratched and busted. There’s usually tape on my glasses. However, even when I'm rich and famous I think I'll stick with the glasses, because I think I'm going to try to heal my eyes by solar gazing.
Jern Eye is an emcee who is a part of one of my favorite hip-hop scenes in the country - the Bay area scene. Check out his video for “Beautiful/Something’s Wrong,” and you’ll see why the weather isn't the only reason I’m hoping to make another trip out west ASAP.
For more on Jern Eye check out my interview w/ him at RapReviews.
She was in the most recent installment of the Saw series of films, and in March of 2010 you’ll be able to see her starring in the SyFy Channel movie Mongolian Death Worms. To say Jon Mack’s been having an interesting couple of years would be a bit of an understatement. Mack, who’s first name is pronounced with a soft J, also has a band, Auradrone, and a very impressive geeky side to her. Being that I’m always down to spend some time with gorgeous geek, and I can’t possibly resist a movie titled Mongolian Death Worms, I caught up with Mack to find out more about her film work, including her extended resume of films that involve blood and screaming, her music, which involves significantly less blood and screaming, and the geeky things she enjoys most.
Adam Bernard: Your IMDB page is sorely lacking in biographical information. Let’s fix that. Tell me the Jon Mack story. Where are you originally from and what were some of your early inspirations growing up? Jon Mack: I’m originally from a small town near Detroit, and I started doing theater and acting when I was five. My mother was a drama teacher and directed theater so I grew up on stage. I’m an only child, so I spent a lot of time with my imagination and movies and doing plays. That was kind of the start of it all, I think. I started doing music when I was a teenager and was sort of self-taught on that. I painted and drew and designed things. I always tried to be creative in some way.
Adam Bernard: Your resume includes a film with a title one can’t help but be interested in - Mongolian Death Worms. Was this movie, which will hit SyFy Channel in March of 2010, as much fun to make as it is to say the title of? Jon Mack: Yeah, it was a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to seeing it, to seeing the creatures and the whole thing, when it’s completed. It should be really great.
Adam Bernard: Other than the obvious, what’s it all about? Jon Mack: It’s about this mysterious plague that hits this poor Mongolian village and we’re out there as doctors trying to take care of the villagers that are getting sick from this mysterious illness. Little do we know it’s caused by these creatures, these giant worms. It’s basically us trying to figure out what’s going on, and then once we figure out what’s going on we have to battle these gigantic worms.
Adam Bernard: With Mongolian Death Worms, Saw VI, and the upcoming Unearthed, you seem to have a very specific genre of film you end up in. Do you think there’s something about your headshot that makes producers and directors go “I bet she screams well?” Jon Mack: I know, right? That’s a good question. I’m not sure, but it seems like it’s been going that way lately and I’m fine with that, I think it’s great. I love horror movies when they’re done well and I’m a huge fan of sci-fi, so for me it’s really cool because I love both genres and I think it’s really fun to do those kinds of movies because you get all kinds of special effects and you get to really stretch your imagination. The sky’s the limit. It’s cool.
Adam Bernard: It would be funny if they had been in a meeting and said “that one! That one looks like she’d be good with some blood on her.” Jon Mack: Yeah, exactly. {laughs} “She was born to wear blood.”
Adam Bernard: Since you’ve done some scary movies, I’m wondering, what scares Jon Mack? Jon Mack: I like a good psychological thriller, so Saw, in some ways, can be pretty scary. I like movies like The Shining, which is a classic psychological horror kinda thing. Those kind of movies scare me more than the giant creatures because those things mess up your mind.
Adam Bernard: So you’re not afraid to take on the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but Patrick Bateman from American Psycho... Jon Mack: Yes, I love Patrick Bateman. {laughs} It’s totally wrong to love that character, he’s such a despicable character, but he’s also very charismatic, so there’s something quite fascinating about that kind of character, I think.
Adam Bernard: What are some of your favorite films of all time? Jon Mack: I love A Clockwork Orange, Bladerunner, again more psychological and more sci-fi kind of stuff. Ridley Scott’s earlier films are great. The Godfather trilogy, I love all those classics. I just saw District 9 last summer, which I really enjoyed. That was one of my favorites of the year, but I’m more a fan of directors and their particular styles; Paul Thomas Anderson, Darren Aronofsky, I like a lot of what they do, Quentin Tarantino, the Cohen brothers.
Adam Bernard: If you were to work with any of those directors, what type of role would you like to have? Jon Mack: With Tarantino I know it’s gonna be something edgy and interesting. I love edgy roles, they’re so different from me in person. I kinda like somebody who’s tough and kind of off their rocker a little bit. To me those kinds of roles are fun. Or maybe even some kind of space creature, something crazy, that would be kind of neat to play, too.
Adam Bernard: Are you saying you’re not edgy at all in reality? Jon Mack: I’m a little edgy, but I don’t know if I’m psychotically edgy.
Adam Bernard: So you’ve never woken up like “I don’t how this knife is in my hand.” Jon Mack: {laughs} No, not yet.
Adam Bernard: I’m glad you threw “yet” in there to leave the door open to the possibility. Jon Mack: Yeah, you never say never, right? {laughs}
Adam Bernard: You also have some musical skills. Tell me about your band, Auradrone, and what you get to express through your music that you can’t through acting. Jon Mack: The music itself is a hybrid of dance, electronica and post modern rock. It kind of pulls from Nine Inch Nails, Blondie, even a little bit of Bowie, and Underworld. It’s kind of a hodgepodge of all that. With music, the thing I love about is that it’s my expression. With acting you’re handed a script and unless you’re the writer, or producing it, you’re hired to do a certain thing, which is act. With music I do it all. I compose, I write, I play, I sing, so it’s really my conception from birth to the end. I do collaborate with other people, but ultimately it’s my conception because it’s my project.
Adam Bernard: I really love the name you chose, Auradrone. Hit me with the meaning behind it. Jon Mack: Aura is a human energy field and the drone is a continuous tone, so for me it’s another way of saying sympathetic resonance, getting everybody in tune energetically and harmonically.
Adam Bernard: Have you been able to place one of your songs in one of your films? Jon Mack: I have one in a SyFy Channel movie called Ice Twisters, it’s at the end credits. We’re looking to get more, maybe even in Unearthed. We’ll see.
Adam Bernard: So far you’ve told me your music is electronic, mixing everything from Nine Inch Nails to Blondie, you like Bladerunner and other psychological sci-fi flicks... Jon Mack, are you a geek? Jon Mack: A little bit, yeah. {laughs} I’m proud of it.
Adam Bernard: What other geek qualities do you have? Did you have to put down a comic book to pick up the phone? Jon Mack: I haven’t looked at a comic in a while, but I appreciate all of that stuff and I think that I have a secret, or not so secret, geek inside of me. I’m definitely a geek with my computer. I run Pro Tools and Reason and Live and I spend a lot of time on my computer geeking out. I just picked up something really cool that’s an early Christmas present; an Eventide vocal effects processor for the my live shows. Most girls want diamonds, I want a vocal effects processor. {laughs} I like gadgets, I like little sonic gadgets, that’s where I geek out.
Adam Bernard: Hypothetically, let’s say you’re getting married, which stores would you be registered in? Jon Mack: Oh gosh, that’s a good question. The Apple Store and Guitar Center. You can always make me happy at Guitar Center.
Adam Bernard: “Screw the gravy boat, I need an MPC.” Jon Mack: Yeah, I’d rather have an MPC than a gravy boat. Are you kidding? {laughs}
Adam Bernard: “I serve beats way more than I serve gravy!” Jon Mack: Yeah, you can put gravy in a bowl.
Adam Bernard: Is there anything else you’d like to add before we part ways? Jon Mack: I’m pretty into green causes and vegetarianism and veganism and stuff like that. I produced an electric car calendar a couple of years ago. There’s that side of me that’s kind of like an urban hippy rocker chick. I gotta throw the rocker thing in there.
Adam Bernard: Who was born to wear blood. Jon Mack: {laughs} Exactly. There it is. That’s my whole epitaph right there. I like that.
It’s here, the list you’ve waited ten years for (which was difficult being that this column hasn’t existed that long) - Pop Shots’ Top 10 Pop Songs of the Decade! Before getting to the list, however, I want to really quickly go over the standards for it. Anyone could simply list the ten most popular songs based on their time on the charts, or album/single sales, and although those things should obviously play a factor in any list of this kind, I don’t think they should be the only factors. For this list, in addition to being a big hit, I wanted to make sure the songs were actually good songs, either lyric-wise, or production-wise. I also wanted to make sure the songs had some real staying power and could easily be played 5-10 years after they were first released and still have their intended impact. My feeling is, if they’re the top ten songs of the decade, they should have some staying power in our collective pop consciousness. That being said, here are songs 10-6 of Pop Shots’ Top 10 Pop Songs of the Decade.
Our hip-hop scene here in Connecticut made some really impressive strides in 2009. They were the kind of strides, both locally and nationally, that can help to provide a strong foundation to grow from as long as they’re utilized correctly and built upon throughout 2010.
What may have been our most important stride this year was our scene’s venturing outside the state’s borders. For any scene to grow it needs to become visible and the moving and touring of prominent CT emcees and DJs spread the word of CT hip-hop to people who previously never knew we existed.
2009 saw Sketch Tha Cataclysm move to Minnesota, where he recently performed in a cypher with the Doomtree clique. Eclipse packed up and headed to Los Angeles to freestyle his way to fame there. Big Stat managed to cover the entire country, going on tour with hip-hop legends Method Man and Redman, and DJ Halo also toured the country and will be out on the road again in January of 2010 with Freestyle Fellowship co-founder Myka 9.
While those artists were creating a buzz outside the state, d_Cyphernauts (pictured above) continued to develop two of our most important events within it. Enter The Cypher, which happens every third Friday of the month at Cousin Larry’s in Danbury and is organized and hosted by the d_Cyphernauts duo of Othello and Nemesis Alpha, celebrated its fourth anniversary in 2009, making it an official CT hip-hop institution. It’s been so consistent, and become such a staple, that it now has to be mentioned whenever discussing the history of the state’s scene.
In addition to Enter They Cypher, d_Cyphernauts also continued their annual hip-hop summit at Westhill High School in Stamford, educating the youth on what hip-hop is really all about and showing everyone a great time in the process.
If our scene becomes large in the next half decade it will be, in large part, because of the work done at the ground level by Othello and Nemesis Alpha. Their determination to build homes for hip-hop within the state has been nothing short of remarkable.
Some artists who were formerly, and in one case still currently, in groups released solo projects this year. Both Plus, formerly of Nervous System, and The Protege, of Phenetiks, decided it was time to show listeners that they can stand on their own, and did so with aplomb. This was in addition to Connecticut’s bevy of established artists, including (but not limited to) The Rising Sun Quest, Chase Davis, Apathy, Prolifik, Deto-22, Workforce, Uncut, Logic, and Oncue, who also continued to work hard to get high quality hip-hop to people.
There’s only thing our state was really missing in 2009, and that’s a true youth movement. A scene needs its veteran emcees, but it also needs a fresh crop of young, hungry artists looking to make a name for themselves. The Protege is young, but he’s still a veteran due to his time in Phenetiks. Oncue is also young, but has been around for years thanks to getting a very early start on his hustle. Where are the future emcees of the scene, the kids who are writing in their rhyme books during study hall when they know they’re supposed to be working on something for class? I’ve met a couple college-aged guys who can rhyme, but I’m not sure how serious they are about trying to turn it into a career. There have to be some members of the next generation that have that fire in them.
I’m at shows in NYC all the time, and one of the most exciting things that’s been happening in that scene is the involvement, and ascension, of young emcees. I’ve seen Top $ Raz, who is at the ripe old age of 21, release his second album in two years, and artists like YC The Cynic and the entire OISD crew make major moves at equally young ages. Rising star Kalil Kash is only 24. These are all artists who are already extremely well respected by both their peers and the veterans of the scene.
When I hit up CT shows I don’t see anything like that. I think we have a great community of talented emcees, but there haven’t been very many additions to that community in the past few years. Without a youth movement we’re just going to keep hearing the same voices, and while those voices are good, who will carry the torch when their output slows down, or they move out of state?
Right now is the perfect time for a young emcee to step into the scene. We have a great core of artists in-state, a historically relevant monthly event a young artist can aspire to perform at, and an evolving national base of Connecticut artists that are laying the groundwork for avenues outside of the state.
If you’re a young emcee, my only question to you is - what are you waiting for?
Think a big man can’t have a high energy show? Then you definitely need to see Warren Britt perform. The Brooklyn emcee is the highest energy guy in most places even when he’s just in the crowd. I finally had the pleasure of seeing him hit the stage last month and lemme tell you, I think I was more exhausted than he was after his set! If you haven’t been lucky enough to catch him live, he has an EP out, @ The Meth::Lab, and he's working on a side project called Absolute Truth. This week I downed a case of Red Bulls to catch up with Warren Britt, and he filled me in on where his unbelievable energy comes from. Britt also revealed what some of his earliest influences were, and in what ways he feels he’s one part Michael Phelps and one part Patrick Ewing in his prime.
Adam Bernard: Hit me with some background info. What were some of your earliest influences growing up and what have you experienced during your time on the come up in NYC’s hip-hop scene? Warren Britt: We're definitely gonna start off with LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out". I remember sitting in my grandmother's living room with my older cousin and his friends and that video came on and I just remember the energy of that song; "I'M GONNA KNOCK YOU OUT! MAMA SAID KNOCK YOU!" I’m pretty sure that chorus helped shape my life. 2Pac's "Keep Ya Head Up" is a major reason why I picked up the pen, and Busta Rhymes’ The Coming was my very first musical selection in '96. I loved that record. As far as my musical experience in the underground scene, it's been a huge beautiful ugly, kind of reminiscent of high school at times, but without the awkwardness, the lunch tables to bang on, and the gang members bangin' on. I mean, you see the same people every day. Go home, work on some new material. The next day you hand in your “homework” to spectators consisting of familiar faces and strangers, and they check it to make sure you at least get a 65% and aren't failing {laughs}. More or less everyone I've encountered on the scene has been positive, supportive, and overall dope. Everybody is goal oriented, dedicated, and passionate about their music and it's re-instilled my hope and faith in hip-hop music as a whole. I'm proud to be a part of this.
Adam Bernard: You have A LOT of energy on stage. Where does all that energy come from, and what’s the longest set you think you can do before passing out? Warren Britt: You know what? The energy. That's all me, man. My emotions. I get a feeling in my bones and I just feel that thump in my heart that makes me get loose. I try to take the moment and capture it and have fun. I'm not sure what I look like, but I don't care. I read Chuck D's autobiography and in it he said they used to perform with all these bands and they would be so loud. He said that he never wanted to be outdone live by anyone, so from that point on he took to the stage and made sure people saw and heard what he had to say. I'll also share a bit of a secret with you; sometimes before shows I listen to a few of my favorite bands to draw inspiration. I’ll watch live performance DVDs of The Used, Paramore, Set Your Goals, or Motion City Soundtrack, just to see how to really work the stage. It works. The longest set I've had was 20 minutes at Hip-Hop Evolution in September. I was ready to pass out halfway through the second joint {laughs}, but I made it through and ended my set on the bar of the venue. It was totally random, but I had a GREAT Time!
Adam Bernard: What creatures, living or mythical, do you think can keep pace with you? Warren Britt: Michael Phelps' lungs, without question, and I think Patrick Ewing's legs in the '94-'95 season could've possibly kept pace with me. If only he could've made that lay up! Damn! That still hurts to watch and I'm not even a Knicks fan.
Adam Bernard: Aside from your incredible energy, what do you think separates yourself from the pack and makes Warren Britt a unique artist? Warren Britt: I'm an artist who really does support artists. I'm paying attention, and if I like it that much, I buy it. (Former Artist Of The Week) Creature told me that I'm different because I actually take the time to hit up other people’s shows besides my own. I'm a dedicated fan of the music and the artists that do this. If I can make it to your show I will, especially if I really dig your material. You learn a lot that way. I also think I operate a little more with production as opposed to just rappity rapping on tracks. I hear certain things in musical composition that I try to weave in vocally and lyrically. It could be the pattern of a drum, and I'll wrap myself into a drum kick sandwich and take shape and form in the rhythm. I love and appreciate each and every crevice of the sound if I feel it.
Adam Bernard: What are some of the things other than hip-hop that get you motivated? Warren Britt: My family. I've become the worst when it comes to contact these days, but I truly do love my family. My mom is the driving force when I write. One of the main reasons I try to leave cursing out of my recordings - keyword “try" - is that even though she's not my target audience, I'd like to make material that I believe she'd understand and love, as well. My friends also motivate me. Women. Live shows. Music is my oxygen.
Adam Bernard: Finally, if you could collab with any three artists in the world, who would they be and why? Warren Britt: 1) 88-Keys. I respected his work with Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and Evidence, among other projects, but that Death Of Adam concept was genius. 2) Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes. I’ve thought that kid was pretty dope since The Papercut Chronicles days. Vastly underrated in my opinion. I'd like to witness his process of creating music and see exactly what makes his mind tick. 3) Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy. I loved that "Little Weapon" joint he produced off of Lupe Fiasco's The Cool and his production work on the last Gym Class Heroes album. Production wise that kid is on the come up something terrible.
I don't know how many times I can say it, but here goes one more time - Top $ Raz is the future of hip-hop. Longtime readers of Adam's World already know this, but if you still need more proof, click play on his latest video, "DEAD!," which is off of his highly acclaimed sophomore album, Spilled Milk. The clip is absolutely stunning and is one of the most well done underground hip-hop videos I have ever seen. If you weren't a fan of Top $ Raz already, this will undoubtedly make you one.
Artists have practically begged fans not to steal their work and download it for free. The RIAA and the record labels have cried foul, saying that file sharing has been the cause of the incredible sales plummet the music industry has experienced. Just about every possible person who could be affected by file sharing has come forward as a victim, but what about the real victim? What about the one person who can’t make profits off touring like an artist can, and can’t lock artists into money sucking deals like a label can? I’m talking about the forgotten victim of file sharing, the guy you used to see all the time but has now become extinct - the bootlegger.
In the glory days of CD bootlegging one could find these marketers of marked down music at practically every street corner in the city ("the city" being New York City). They were the guys who were the first on their block to have a CD burner and they kept their folding table, or blanket, stocked with copies of the latest hits. The albums had horribly photocopied front and back inserts that always looked like whatever copier the bootlegger had used was running out of ink, but you could get just about anything you wanted for five bucks, oftentimes getting a better deal with the more you bought. File sharing, however, for as bad as it’s been for the artists and the labels, put the CD bootleggers out of business.
Now relegated to hawking fake Gucci bags and cheaply made Obama merchandise, our once heros of album price adjustment have had to make some adjustments of their own. The t-shirts they now sell may say “Change,” but you know they can’t be happy about the changes they’ve had to make. Nothing moved quite as well as cheap CDs.
Sadly, with the end of the bootlegger, as the years go by fewer and fewer people will understand the classic Onyx skit “Bichasbootleguz.” In fact, in honor of what file sharing has done to the bootlegger, let’s take a look at the lyrics of that skit one more time in hopes that we can keep the bootlegger’s memory alive for at least one more day.
[Immigrant bootlegger] Onyx tape, $3.99 my friend. Come buy from me. No no... [ gun shots]
[Onyx] The bitch ass bootlega mothafucka sellin my tape, you get shot
The bitch ass bootlega mothafucka sellin my tape, you get shot
The bitch ass bootlega mothafucka sellin my tape, you get shot
The bitch ass bootlega mothafucka sellin my tape, you get shot.
Oh, you got shot Mr. Bootlegger, shot down in the prime of your bootlegging.
So the next time you hear an artist, or a label, complaining about file sharing, remind them of the intrepid bootlegger who is now sitting sadly behind a folding table, trying to sell you a fake Rolex. He’d rather be giving you a deep discount on a potentially scratched copy of a copy of a copy of Rated R.
Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from the makeover the Grammys have given themselves, to Selena Gomez and Usher helping out on Extreme Home Makeover, to Carrie Underwood’s hopes of making over a TV network’s lineup, and since it's Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.
Unless you were living under a rock in 2007, and a very heavy rock at that, there’s little chance that you didn’t the phrase “A Bay Bay” at some point. In fact, you probably heard it a lot. The Hurricane Chris song launched the then 18 year old from the local fame of his hometown of Shreveport, LA, to national superstardom. In 2009 Hurricane Chris has the clubs buzzing again with “Halle Berry (She’s Fine)” and “Headboard,” which are the first two singles off of his sophomore effort, Unleashed. With Unleashed due out later this month, I caught up with the king of ratchet and found out he’s not just about making the clubs go crazy, he’s also dedicated to giving back to his community, and he’ll whoop your ass at Call of Duty. Suspicious about that last item? Well, you can hop online and take him on yourself, he gave us his PS3 handle. Here are some of the highlights from the interview:
On his inspirations for "Halle Berry": I was inspired by the women who keep themselves up to par every day. Big, small, skinny, or tall, but they still got their attitude because they know they keep theyself up and they know they keep theyself fresh.
On the definition of ratchet: It’s doing you without caring what nobody else has to say. When a song comes on I’ma move exactly how I want to move to the song, exactly how it make me move, without caring what you got to say about it.
On his contributions to his community: I come from having nothing. I come from the bottom of the bucket. With that said, I automatically wanted to help people that were in the lower positions once I got high up and able to help people.
Dope female emcees can be hard to come by. Sure, you may find one here or there, but as a rule, the majority of hip-hop shows and street corner cyphers are filled with male dominated line ups. The few females people get to hear on a mainstream level are, for the most part, using their sexuality to get attention, rather than attempting to learn, or hone, any kind of rhyming skills. This is why listening to Rita J’s debut album, Artist Workshop, is such a nice change of pace. She’s a smooth emcee with a style of her own, and what’s between her legs is not a topic of conversation. Point blank, Rita J has skills, and this week I caught up with her to find out more about her path leading up to her first LP, her thoughts on why there’s such a dearth of female emcees in the game, and how a hurricane picked her up and moved her.
Adam Bernard: Start everyone off with a little background info. What originally made you want to be an emcee? Rita J: Well, I never really set out to be an emcee, it just kinda happened over time after I had been engineering music in college, writing poetry, and becoming more and more encouraged to do so. I just wanted to expand my writing and try different ways of doing so. Emceeing came out of that, and being very familiar with hip-hop from a young age helped me progress naturally.
Adam Bernard: Although there is a growing community of female emcees out there, you’re still far far outnumbered by the boys. Why is this? Are women not drawn to emceeing, and if so what do you think makes it such a male-dominated craft? Rita J: I really can't tell you why, or speak for all women, but I think that we're not taken seriously, and our contribution to the craft is overlooked and overshadowed. Men are still in the higher positions controlling what music is accepted in the mainstream, so until somebody changes the perspective of women from just being sexual objects, the image, and lack of female emcees, will exist. The female emcee also has more authority and demands than a video chick. It might be intimidating for a male to recognize a female really being a dope emcee. There’s a lot of machismo and ego in hip-hop, as well, and I don't know many woman that express themselves in that manner, or want to take on that role.
Adam Bernard: Other than the changes you mentioned that are needed to create a better space for female emcees, what do you think needs to happen in order to inspire more girls to want to grow up to be emcees? Rita J: There needs to be better role models and a better success rate (i.e longevity) of women in Hip-Hop. They need to see more examples of female emcees with class, respect, style, power, and the proper skills to pay the bills.
Adam Bernard: Since you have the skills to pay the bills, let’s talk a little bit about your album, Artist Workshop. Musically, what’s the direction of this project? Rita J: Good rhymes, good beats, hip-hop with different musical production styles and influences, raw, organic, soulful, positive lyrics... I wanted a cohesive album that you can play all the way through.
Adam Bernard: What are the main focal points of your rhymes and why are you passionate about those subjects? Rita J: I just want to uplift and encourage listeners to become better versions of themselves. I vary in topic throughout the album, but always keep in mind a positive message. I talk about education, empowerment, spirituality, passion... I am a firm believer of what you put out into the universe comes back to you full force, so I want only the best for me and what makes me feel good about myself and others. Also, I want women and girls to know that there is an alternative to what has been seen/heard thus far in hip-hop.
Adam Bernard: If you had to pick just one song from the album - which you do, because I’m controlling this interview! Bwahahaha! - which would you say most represents who you are as a person? Rita J: I would have to say “Inspiration” because I can really feel those emotions and lyrics and it was one of the first songs that I ever wrote. I'm always feeling challenged and consistently looking for inspiration.
Adam Bernard: Keeping with the theme of your personal life for a moment, you’ve had some pretty bad experiences with weather. What this I hear about you having to flee from not just one, but a number of hurricanes? Did God just really want you to move? Rita J: I experienced three devastating hurricanes in 2005 and it was scary to know that everything you know can be taken away from you in an instant. To see the destruction of a hurricane was eye opening, but yes, to answer your question, I feel like that was my confirmation to move. I'm a midwestern girl, I'll leave the hurricanes for the Floridians. There really wasn't much I could do in those situations but pray that everything would turn out okay. It landed me in Atlanta, GA, where I've continued to pursue music.
Adam Bernard: Finally, tell me one thing you miss from your youth that you wish you could see, or do, today. Rita J: I really miss dancing on stage. I was trained in dance for thirteen years. I still dance today, but not professionally. I also miss just being with my family, all of us living together, that's what made me who I am today.
Josh Martinez's video for "Underground Pop" combines two of the things I love most in life - dope hip-hop and Hunter S. Thompson. Really confused as to how those things could possibly go together? Hit play on this Fear and Loathing inspired clip and be prepared to be wowed.
This should really go without saying, but after an incident I had earlier in the week I guess it needs to be reiterated; if you’re an artist, no matter what stage of your career you're in, if someone wants to give you press, make the time for the interview. If you’re one of the highly intelligent artists out there reading this, thinking “man, that’s a no-brainer,” you ain’t gonna believe this sh!t...
As you all know, I get assignments from a number of places. Many are for phone, or the occasional in-person, interview, but some are for email Q&As. As a writer, email Q&As have their own unique set of advantages and drawbacks. The advantages are that there’s no transcribing involved and editing usually ends up a little bit easier because there are less random digressions from the interviewee. The disadvantages include the lack of ability to do a lot of follow up questions, and if you happen to catch an interviewee who thinks one sentence answers are enough you can end up with a very light interview (I’ve actually told artists to beef up their answers or their interviews won’t be run).
For the artist the main advantages of an email interview are that they can do it on their own time (within reason) and they can edit their answers. There’s little chance of a slip up, or of them saying something supremely stupid since they have the opportunity to read everything over before sending it in. The lone disadvantage for the artist is that writing out answers takes a little bit more time than saying them.
This week I was dealing with a handful of email interviews at once. They were all assigned by one of the websites I write for and the artists had agreed to do them. With the questions having been sent out over two weeks ago, and all but one artist getting me their replies, I followed up with the lone straggler. The response I received was fairly unbelievable:
Thanks for the opportunity, but I'm not really interested in being featured on your site. Have a great day!
I will have no problem having a great day because I’ll be assigned a replacement story, but the artist, for seemingly no reason what-so-ever, just turned down press from a very large website. It boggles my mind to see that happen. Answering the email questions would have taken him twenty minutes. I’m guessing at some point during those two plus weeks he had the questions he wasted at least twenty minutes doing something - playing a video game, watching a television show, checking out videos on YouTube - yet he decided he didn’t want to invest those twenty minutes into his career and have an interview that would be featured prominently on a large website and live on forever in the annals of Google and other internet search engines.
I think most every artist understands that any interview is one worth doing. Either it will get you on the newsstands, or give you one more item people can find when they do a search for you online. An interview is an opportunity to spread the word of YOU!
Common sense? I think so, but apparently common sense isn’t quite as common as I had thought.
Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from Adam Lambert’s genius gay kiss, to Toni Braxton’s moronic heterosexual kiss, to the kiss Jason Segal was looking to plant on quite a few Swell Season fans, and since it's Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.
Most of us have, at some point, been stuck on a Metro North train with an insufferable drunk. They make what would normally be a quick ride seem like an eternity. But did you know there’s a person you can call to rid your train of these pests? Your friendly neighborhood beatboxer.
In Connecticut, the best in that biz is New Haven’s Seme Rock (pictured left).
Seme recounts his latest late night train ride, saying, “the last person to get on the train was the drunkest guy you have ever seen. He was loud and obnoxious and he had a bottle on him.” A realization began to sink in, “I was like, this is going to be the worst hour and a half of my life.” The rest of the passengers felt the same way. Seme, however, overheard the drunk asking how far it was to Stamford, and when the train made its first stop at 125th Street a devious plan entered his mind. The drunk hadn’t heard the announcement of where the stop was, so Seme, who was sitting directly behind him, went to work. “I imitated the conductor’s voice. I knew his stop and I mimicked that stop, so I dropped this guy off in Harlem at two in the morning. When he got out and the doors closed the entire train started clapping.”
Very few people can imitate the sound of a conductor over a train intercom, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Seme’s skills. According to Brooklyn emcee Tah Phrum Duh Bush, “Seme is an inhuman android. I don’t know how sounds that dude makes can come from a creature made of flesh.” AFA member, and frequent collaborator, Sketch Tha Cataclysm adds, “I remember how it blew my mind the first time I heard him do his vocal transformer scratch. It’s so precise. ’ve never heard anyone do it that well. It constantly impresses crowds that don’t believe it’s not a DJ.” Tah counts himself as one of the impressed, saying he experiences, “pure astonishment and awe every time I see him on stage.” On stage, or in the case of the passengers from a certain late night Metro North ride, on the train.
Moving from one kind of train to another, Seme Rock is also heavily involved in Beatboxer Entertainment’s annual Subway Series, where beatboxers and emcees get together on a specific train and collaborate musically. Seme appreciates these events because of the way they utilize the beatboxer. He notes one of the main reasons he started beatboxing was that he was tired of hearing rappers use a lack of a beat as an excuse for backing out of battles. “If you were able to beatbox,” he explains, “there were no excuses.”
Beatboxing has made some impressive leaps in recent years from the subways and small stages of NYC to national ad campaigns for the likes of McDonald’s and Chili’s, and even Broadway, where beatboxer Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights took home a Tony Award in 2008 for Best Musical. Seme has performed at Madison Square Garden, been featured on MTV, and, in what can only be described as some sort of divine poetry, did the voiceovers for a campaign for the Albany metro system.
Ironically, while beatboxing is gaining mainstream notoriety, it’s still not being fully appreciated by many in the hip-hop community. “I think more people are recognizing it now because of the explosion of beatboxing, but I’m still not sure that in the hip-hop world it’s where it needs to be,” Seme laments. “I remember three to four years ago, circling to some of the local clubs in Connecticut and you would see people who would claim they’re hip-hop artists, or rap artists, and they would look at beatboxing like it was something they had never seen before. I was like, this is insane, you represent the same culture that I represent and you’re not familiar with this at all. It amazes me.”
Seme has been working hard to change all that as he recently provided beats for Chadeo that will be used for a project by Adeem (of Glue), and did some work on Sketch Tha Cataclysm’s collaborative effort with Phenetiks’ Deto-22, The Sharing Is Caring EP. Seme also has a still unreleased album that he recorded with his former group, Green Acres. Green Acres consisted of Seme, Kris Keyes, and Chadeo, and according to Chadeo, “the material is timeless, and if/when the time is right, it may still see the light of day.”
To say there’s a lack of competition in the beatboxing field would be an understatement, and while many would be thrilled to be in such a situation, Seme sees the dearth of beatboxers as a very big problem. “I would like to see more (beatboxers),” he says, “we need another generation of beatboxers, soon.”
Without a new generation of beatboxers we could lose a key element of what makes hip-hop what it is, and for as much as people may love their iPods, they can’t provide the soundtrack to a battle, and they stand no chance of ever being able to drop off a drunkard in Harlem.
B-Listers are a select group of artists that were featured in my Artist Of The Week series that ran every Monday from April of '06 to April of '11. All of these artists have two things in common; extreme talent, and a flight path far too under the radar for my liking. They took on the title of B-Listers as they embraced being featured by me, Adam B. Check out the AOTW Archives for all the interviews.
