I went to a hip-hop concert and an Occupy Wall Street rally broke out. Lacking a backpack filled with spray paint and Howard Zinn tracts, I felt a bit more out of place than usual at the Granada on Sunday.
Backed only by DJ Last Word, Brother Ali, Bambu and Mally performed over two hours of old-school hip-hop for the 100 or so people who had ponied up $15 to gain entry.
Ali explained that he embarked on a tour without a new album or promotional support in an effort to reconnect with his real fans. He added that he selected his tour mates partly because they were good fathers to their children. The Minneapolis rapper is so painfully sincere that I had to take him at his word. Coming from most anyone else, the assertions would have seemed like weak rationalizations for the pitiful turnout.
Long one of my favorite MCs, Ali performed most of his best known material, from the scathing political attack "Uncle Sam Goddamn" ("Obama is killing people with drones") to the self-esteem anthem "Forest Whitiker" ("you ain't gotta love me"). A rap about raising children in the aftermath of the Mike Brown incident was the clear highlight of the evening.
The contradictory messages espoused by Los Angeles' Bambu irritated me so much that I considered giving him a piece of my mind after the show. Minneapolis' Mally was likable enough. The trio issued an informal performance of "Home Away" earlier this week.
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I reviewed a concert by the Flaming Lips and Electric Würms.
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The video for Kansas City Bear Fighters '"You're In Kansas" is clever. (Via Tony's Kansas City.)
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Here's the video for Farout's "Bittersweet".
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Marc Myers' remembrance of Joe Sample is invaluable.
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Howard Reich reports on Steve Coleman's genius grant.
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Polar Bear is better on paper than on headphones. In Each and Every One is RIYL: Radiohead, jazz for people who don't like jazz, the Pat Metheny Group. Here's "Life and Life".
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Cold Specks' Neuroplasticity is another album I'm supposed to like. I loathe it. RIYL: Patti Smith, "Art", Neneh Cherry. Here's "Absisto".
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Steve Arrington continues to funk everything up.
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From the Why Didn't Any of You Jerks Tell Me About This Department- GoGo Penguin's excellent v2.0 is RIYL: Esbjörn Svensson Trio, European jazz, the Bad Plus. "Hopopono" is a representative track.
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The Mark Turner Quartet's Lathe of Heaven looks promising.
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Donnie McClurkin's Duets is RIYL: Sunday mornings, the Winans, clapping.
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Bahamas' Bahamas is Afie is RIYL: Jimmie Spheeris, lite rock, Dan Fogelberg.
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Death Metal Angola.
(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)
