SOUNDTRACK: THE PERCEPTIONISTS-Tiny Desk Concert #661 (October 20, 2017).
The Perceptionists are Mr. Lif [Jeffery Haynes] and Akrobatik [Jared Bridgeman] two emcees whose names rock bells among true hip-hop heads. The duo of Boston natives first teamed up as The Perceptionists in the early aughts to release Black Dialogue on El-P’s Def Jux label in 2005. Their side project went into indefinite hiatus soon afterward, but now LLif and Akrobatik are reunited on their new LP, Resolution.
In a world that often appears to be spiraling out of control, their Tiny Desk set provides a much-needed breather.
With sharp, heartfelt lyricism, The Perceptionists critique the current political climate on “Out Of Control.” There’s some great lyrics in this song. I especially like
Man, I’m right there with them
Keeping it funky
If I’m African American, tell me which country
Our differences shouldn’t make you wanna hunt me
When in reality every fruit came from one tree
The song has a groovy funky bass from the really animated (H)Ashish Vyas.
On “Lemme Find Out” they rhyme about the symbiotic human relationship with technology. They say our lives are just so dominated by technology… Mr Lif wonders “if I am living in the real reality or just a predetermined reality that I’ve been programmed with.” Akrobatik says, “50 years from know humans are going to have craned necks from [cell phones].” The track opens with a cool echoing somewhat sinister guitar riff from Van Gordon Martin [“Not known for shit startin’ but his name is Van Martin”]
Once again, I love Akrobatik’s rhymes:
Microchip implanted in my hip
Got me feeling like an alien that landed in a ship
Probed my frontal lobe now I’m standing here equipped
With abilities to flip
But I can’t get a grip on regular shit
I’m about to dodge my competitor’s wit
Hit them with something that they’ll never forget
Deprogram, roll up a hell of a spliff
And smoke Master Kush at the edge of a cliff
I really like the little growls that Mr Lif does at the end of the verses.
The next song is “A Different Light.” This chorus is great:
Want to crucify me for toughest era in my life?
That’s all right…
Thought the world of you but now I see you in a different light
That’s all right…
The duo’s
conscious ethos is perfectly encapsulated by Ak’s lyrical run. He raps: “But I’m above all of the melodrama / When they go low / We go high / Michelle Obama.”
Mr. Lif says, “Everyone enters a relationship with different levels of expectations.” Sometimes we are looking too closely at our expectations and not looking at the other person and being present with the situations right in front of us. The song is mellow with some gentle synths from “Chop” Lean Thomas. The end of the song has a retro flute sound. There’s also a mellow guitar line that runs through the song.
The song tells the story of Ak’s near-death experience with a pernicious aortic dissection, as well as the betrayal of a close friend during his convalescence.
About that incident, Acrobatik raps:
I don’t need to call your name out – I ain’t trying to embarrass ya
This is not about revenge, it’s more about your character
Or lack thereof, step back there brov
How can you call someone a friend and then attack their love?
The final song is “Early Morning.” It’s got some great funky bass and some great funky drums from “Tommy B” Benedetti. They say they hope this resonates with us all.
As the song ends, there’s some great riffs on the guitar and then Ak says, “we can’t make a crazy exit… don’t wanna knock shit over.”
[READ: February 13, 2017] Hip Hop Family Tree 3
Book three continues the rise of Hip-Hop and bands who really start selling big.
Interestingly, it starts with Rick Rubin setting the tone for hip hop: “Sorry but girls don’t sound good rapping” (said to Kate Schellenbach of Beastie Boys. And then getting the Boys all dressed in matching tracksuits (Puma). Kate gets two rather unflattering drawings of her as the Boys tell her that the three boys will be the first white rap group (with Rubin as DJ).
Two art critics also get involved with tagging and graffiti at this time. Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant take photos of the art but find time and again that “legitimate” businesses want nothing to do with this illegal work. This also accompanies the rise of break dancing–there’s a funny page in which people think that a group of kids break dancing is actually fighting with each other.
But this book really tracks the rise of Run D.M.C., with the promise by DJ Run that he wouldn’t leave Jay behind. He was good to his word.
Russel “Rush” Simmons continues to feature large–with his crazy lisp and bug eyes.
The book mentions some classic tracks that have been used as samples Kurtis Blow’s “Party Time” gave us the Beastie Boys’ “Hey Ladies” sample.” Lovebug Starski’s “You Gotta Believe” was sampled by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Joeski Love’s “Pee-Wee’s Dance” is mentioned because in the video you can see a young Ice-T.
At this time, cable TV was just starting to get around and Michael Holman gets a cable access show about hip hop–he has some good live shows and dance moves. It does well and he wants to go national. But like with the graffiti books, no one in the States will touch it [Subway Art was released in 1984 by a British publisher].
There’s a fun story of Charlie Stettler, a Swiss soccer star and born hustler. He makes an audio cassette called Tin Pan Apple full of environmental New York City stories. He gets it out there successfully, but not enough for his liking. So he creates a hip hop battle and gets Coke to sponsor it. The trick is that they have to use his sound effects tape as background. And the unanimous winner is band called Disco Three– a group who would later be known as The Fat Boys.
Henry Chalfont eventually gets funding for his movie about graffiti–but it comes from the UK. Some of the young taggers have gone on to successful artistic careers–often in sculpture.
There’s an amusing scene in which at a street battle a scratching DJ mocks the group Positive Messengers for not being able to scratch (Wikki Wikki Wikki). So on their next record (they renamed themselves Newcleus) they make a track called “Jam on Revenge”and end it with munchkin voices and a strategic diss with some wiki wiki wiki.
Some major hip hop came out to Adelphi University in Long Island. We see the beginnings of Flavor Flav’s career. He went by DJ Flavor then, along with his pal MC Chucky D–who was at Adelphi for graphic design. We also see cameos from Hank and Keith Shocklee.
A surprising cameo also comes from KRS-One. Nicknamed Krishna (real name Lawrence Parker) because he crashed at a shelter run by Hare Krishnas. He begins tagging as KRS, but soon others were following suit: KS, KRESS, KRIS, even CRS, till finally the original added the ONE (Over Nearly Everyone).
There’s a lot of mention of a guy named T La Rock. At the same time Jazzy Jay introduces the Beasties to his favorite beverage: Brass Monkey!
Around this time Rick Rubin started DefJam, using the mailing address from his dorm room. But he didn’t have any cache yet. At the same time Doug E. Fresh and MC Ricky D released “La-Di-Da-Di” and the Fat Boys changed their name with a sponsorship from Tower Tecords and Pepsi–guess their weight and win that much Pepsi!
Next we see Run D.M.C. complaining that they don’t want guitars on their record “fuck this hillbilly shit.” But their produce Larry Smith insisted and guitarist Eddie Martinez laid down the riff for “Rock Box.” Their debut album sold well and they even wanted to make a video (black artists were finally getting airplay on MTV), but they are dismayed that it will be “Rock Box.” But the interracial video proves to be a huge success
Around this time a TV show Graffiti Rock is created, (so long as there are white dancers visible). Run DMC is on the first episode. There’s even a faux battle between Run and Kool Moe Dee. The show is syndicated.
Around the same time Rick Rubin is introduced to Russell Simmons (Simmons is shocked that a “white boy made my favorite rap rekkid out right now.” Russell is really impressed by Rubin’s set up and beats. They beats are given up to “Whodini” who makes the first platinum rap album Escape.
Kurtis Blow’s wife came up with the idea for making a song about basketball and so he came up with “Basketball”–a massive hit. Two other songs from the album are “8 Million Stories” and “AJ Scratch”–“noteworthy for being rife with sample fodder and its references to the DJ.”
Rick Rubin had been getting phone calls from a man named Ladies Love Cool James. Adam Horowitz says they need to hear that demo. There’s a hilarious sequence when LL Cool J shows up at Rubin’s dorm: “I thought you was a black dude.” My pal Adam has been programming beats for you to rhyme to: “Another white boy?” We see the hilarious outfit that LL Cool J is meant to wear: (artistic license included). And then Rush encouraged him to wear the trademark hat.
Charlie Stettler became The Fat Boys’ manager and coordinated a tour with money from a friend in Switzerland who owned Swatch. This created the Swatch Watch Fresh Fest! featuring Newcleus, The Fat Boys Whodini, Kurtis Blow and Run DMC.
Around this time Russell Simmons and Lyor Cohen get ready to put on live shows in L.A. The bill for the evening: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ice-T, Fishbone and Run DMC. It’s a huge success.
Moving back to KRS-ONE we see the bureau of child welfare sent him to the School of Visual Arts. Unfortunately he gets arrested for carrying weed and is sentenced to 60 days in jail.
We see the brief rise of UTFO (UnTouchable Force Ortganization) and their song “Roxanne Roxanne.” They have a scheduled show on Mr Magic’s Rap Attack but for some reason they don’t show up. The DJ of the show knows a young 14-year-old girl Lolita Shanté Gooden. She sings the response “Roxanne’s Revenge” as Roxanne Shanté. Then UTFO responded with their own female rapper “The Real Roxanne.”
The book ends on KRS-One. He’s out of jail, but the social worker says that he is just like all the other gangsters. KRS bristles and says he’s the illest rapper out there. “Oh you’re a rapper, MC Jobless?” Turns out this social worker a house DJ at Broadway international nightclub.
The last dozen pages include some cool pin ups–full size drawings of people not necessarily in the book:
TLC, Biz Markee, Kool Moe Dee, Kool DJ Red, Blowfly, Jay Z, Wu Tang Clan, Mantronix, DrDre, MC Hammer and Digital Underground
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