Get To Know: Backpackramento by Mahtie Bush

Being an ex Cali representative, we knew we had a nice Underground Hip-Hop and poetry scene featuring guys like Mantis, Orko, Bennie Heron, Jahsun, but we rarely gave credence to people outside of San Diego. It wasn't disrespect, it was just a real focus on our work. Now that I'm 2000 miles away, and older, I'm discovering the power of the North, Bay Area (not quite), Sac Town. I lived there for a minute with my pops, and oddly enough I discovered Digable Planets in Sac (yep DPs og backpackers, spiddyocks, sun moon and star, planet of Brooklyn). Gives you an idea of how long ago that was. Anyway, I got this link from Lou Slugga of MLS and anytime I can get a Roots allusion it takes me another level. The video is dope and I have to say it: ANTHEM! Check out Backpackramento by Mahtie Bush. Like the ish out of this video.

Get To Know: In Honor of Gil Scott Heron

I wrote this paper while I was enrolled as an undergrad at San Diego State University. I did not edit this in any way. I felt compelled to post this because people will allow Gil Scott's death to go uncelebrated, and unrecognized. I hope they won't. I won't because his death diminshes my creative world, but in his own words of Guan Guanco, we are born to discover ourselves and in doing so we have our rebirth and regeneration. Gil Scott is now among the ancestors and within all of us we carry his spirit and by sharing we keep him alive. This is long so come back to it if you have to. Chris B.

The Words of a Modern-Day Jali

(Gil Scott-Heron’s Influences, Social Commentary and his Affect on the Hip-Hop and Spoken Word Community)

I stood with the others along the shimmering coast as waves pushed loose sand from troughs and carried rocks onto the shore. We had awaited the call of the Atumpan for several days waited for the master drummer to tell of us any impending danger. Each day seemed longer than before. Our chieftain had informed us that we did not have the weapons to match the gunpowder that the British men carried. To calm us he asked everyone to listen to the sound of the talking drum. After listening he then told us that this was our advantage. I failed to understand. The Atumpan gives us notice, we see the enemy through the words of the drum, he explained. After waiting for close to five days for the White men to arrive the warriors began to finish the tasks of moving baskets of yams too heavy for the women and children to carry.

It was early, quiet. The sun made long shadows of trees on the shore. The waves echoed the warning from the Atumpan that the White men had returned and would be arriving with guns and various weapons, I felt my chest tighten. The women and children ran to safety. I prepared along with the others for what was about to occur. The speed of the drumming carried over the water faster, with more urgency. I felt fear. I asked my chieftain if the drums were wrong. In his heavy raspy words he informed me that the drums were never wrong. We all moved from the shore in accordance with the call from Atsimewu and prepared for battle. Atsimewu sounded They are here, they are here.

Get To Know: Martin Russell

When I coached high school basketball, I always looked around for the tallest kids on campus. Working at an inner city school in San Diego, that also happened to be the most multi-cultural/racial school in the city, presented problems. Our school, Crawford High School, had incredible soccer, wrestling, and badmiton teams because of the abundance of Africans, Latinos and Asians, but our traditional sports teams, the ones dominated traditionally by Blacks had to work really hard and it didn't help that there really weren't any tall kids running around the campus. There were a few, but they liked soccer, not basketball. I remember one kid, a tall light skinned Black kid, that I asked to play and he responded that he didn't play ball. I told him I could teach him and I basically wanted his size on the court. That kid never accepted and it was okay with me, because he was a funny kid. I remember him being this really quirky guy that didn't stand out, he simply blended into whatever crowd he was around. That's the way Crawford was, well most of the time. The students there were kind of their own rainbow coalition in the middle of a city where the poverty line is 70,000 dollars and most of the people in our area were no where close to making that kind of money.

This morning I ran across a post on Facebook, by that kid/man, Martin Russell. He is beginning work on a documentary and if this is any indication of what is to come... Get To Know Martin Russell. Watch this:

Get To Know: Rise Against

I have had countless discussions with artists about the responsibility of the creator of images and sounds. In these conversations, I have found the foundation for my understanding of the importance of art. I have also realized that my ideas about how art should be used, are very constrained. I think that art should serve a purpose and that the artists have to consider the audience, not to cater to the audience, but to promote discourse. The conversation does not have to be comfortable; on the contrary, it should be uncomfortable, but it should have a point. Right now, I can't say anything else about Rise Against. I need you to watch this video, amazing and powerful.

Get To Know: Lenny Kravitz

My favorite Lenny Kravitz album is 5. If you don't have 5 buy it simply because of the song Mama. I can't hear that song without crying. Yeah, I'm man enough to say that. While Lenny has always pushed the boundaries and I can consider him one of the best entertainers of my generation, this album goes back to his funk roots and the way this sounds, I think I'll have to play this and the Black Keys at the same time when I run. Okay, you already know Mr. Kravitz, but it's been a while. His upcoming album Black and White America, will release soon and if this video is any indication of what he's dropping, I'm copping. Thanks to okayplayer.com for keeping the updates rolling on all of these various projects.

Get To Know: Singa Bromfield

I recently went on one of my weekly excursions to buy a bunch of kicks to resell and standing in front of the store was a man with a guitar in classic NYC street musician style. His foot was against the wall, his guitar was held across his stomach and his fingers strummed the strings with agile movements, but it was his voice. His voice was a calming force of melodic, soulful gravity. I typically fail to find the sincerity in today's singers. Most people sound so polished and packaged that they fail to really resonate with me. In my mind I still live in a time where music was more important than the video and the sound connected you to a memory. Now musc simply ties you to a dance move and the memories are worth keeping. This man leaning against the wall played. It didn't matter if people thought he was homeless or hustling or keeping his guitar case open to just take the dough that people tossed in the box. He just played and I thought to myself, incredible.

Get To Know: Emilio Rojas' Right To Stay

I had a great conversation with Prof. Gee Joyner about the responsibility of the emcee. (we should have recorded that one) We finally got to a point in the conversation where we basically analyzed the problem of the Black artists and if there is a responsibility that inherently exists because of the skin we are in. Very good talk that should occur more often and in detail. If you follow the Get To Know posts on this blog, you realize that my taste and your taste aint' the same, but it really should be. Hip-Hop has not losts its outspoken edge in regard to social commentary, you simply have to look for it since there are so many forms of media available and a ton of new outlets. I say right now, Get To Know Emilio Rojas. Take a few to visit his myspace page here and download something. In today's era a download is support and so is a listen.

Get To Know: Cee Lo Green's 'Bodies'

A few weeks ago people stopped a little short of calling Cee Lo a coon for his performance at the Grammys. What most people who are not familiar with Cee Lo and the Dungeon Family is that when Cee Lo was with Goodie Mob, he was always a bit eccentric. When he left and launched his solo career even his bandmates hit him with "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show" an inside diss on him wanting to do something different. OutKast's Andre 3000 hit the same wall when he began wearing turbans on ATLiens. What no one was paying attention to was the maturation process of the emcee and the fact that Dungeon Family is one of the most musically diverse crews in the history of Hip-Hop. Cee Lo is one of the greatest emcees ever. If you want to try him, listen to Big Ole Words. This Get To Know though is about his new video and how the connection to his greatest song Gettin Grown show the growth and talent of the artist. In Gettin Grown Cee Lo uses the backdrop of a children's story/theme. The video is quirky and actually hinders the song, and makes the song great. A contradiction, yes, but it's the truth. Cee Lo Green may be the Marvin Gaye of our time. He creates concepts and performs with a passion that hasn't been seen in music for a long time. His songs go completely against the grain and rarely get airplay on traditional Black radio outlets. Cee Lo has expanded his audience in a time that is divisive and complicated. This new video, holds allusions to Michael Jackson's "Leave Me Alone" in the way it is created in 2D. Actually the whole video is a great marketing plan for the launch of a second video, new artists and is creative in its goal of showing you artists that matter. Common appears in the Shade Killer's (Janelle Monae) monuments as well as Bilal and Raphael Saadiq. Mikael Columbo has created a work of commercial art and in this case it's not an oxymoron. Enjoy and let me know what you think. Oh and Kerry Washington is in it, nuff said.

Get To Know: Official Release Date

Certain artists generate a response that makes you honored to hear what they have to say. As I grow old in Hip-Hop, I'm starting more and more to seek out artists that mesh all of the elements together: dope tracks, lyricism, creativity and inspiration. In mainstream music the heart is missing. You can't listen to the songs and get that spontaneous "Oh ish son, listen to that and rewind it." Well there isn't a rewind anymore, but you want to hear that lyric over and over again. I found a few of these moments in the MLS Cd I reviewed last week especially on Hard and Target Practice, but with this guy every track seems to be a genuine ode to Hip-Hop. Lupe may be one of the best in the game today. No, he is one of the best in the biz today. Instead of talking so much listen to I'm Beaming and understand that real Hip-Hop is alive and well. You don't have to listen to weed narratives and excessive party anthems to get to it, it's right here. Lasers is dropping March 8th. Oh I thought this album was going to be called LUP-END? Anyway...

Get to Know: Fashawn

Hip-Hop has had a black eye for so long that often emcees who drop an LP get love although they are actually pretty mediocre. Now I'm not saying that guys like Wiz, Currensy or Wale aren't dropping new age gems, but they are not quite there yet in terms of dropping classics. An album that dropped in 09, may be the best Hip-Hop album that has been made in recent years.  This is a big claim, but definitely needed.

Fashawn's name is highly regarded in circles that respect the art of the emcee, but is often overlooked when discussions of the best new emcees are dropped. I understand that longevity is the key but when Drake is hailed as the second coming, I guess it is in regard to mainstream. Fashawn at an early age has learned to weave narratives, and lines into a quilted pattern of blankets that cover the tracks like black ice on streets in the winter. The flow is a fulid slippery slope of metaphors that pull the listener into their own adolescent struggles and makes you remember your first fight, girl, failure and success. Boy Meets World is a modern classic and earns the right to be compared to Nas' Illmatic. I just hope people will actually begin mentioning this emcee more often. The Ecology will drop in 2011 and I'll be watching for it; you should do the same.