SOUNDTRACK: RAKIM-Tiny Desk Concert #759 (June 25, 2018).
I have been really delighted with old-school rappers bringing live bands with them to the Tiny Desk. And Rakim brings a huge band with two violins, two horns, in addition to the standard set up of keys, guitar, drums and bass.
It’s really the live drums that make the songs–the complex rhythms, hi-hats and awesome stops and starts that make the songs flow so well.
I remember Rakim from Eric B & Rakim
It had been nearly a decade since Rakim released new music, but that drought ended Friday when the godfather of rap lyricism and one half of the revered duo Eric B & Rakim released a new song, “King’s Paradise.” The track was written for Season 2 of Marvel’s Luke Cage, which premiered on Netflix the same day, but it wasn’t entirely new to select NPR staff; they heard it days earlier when the God MC performed at the Tiny Desk.
The New York rap icon wasn’t the only legend in the building that day. Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest — who produced and co-wrote “King’s Paradise” with keyboardist Adrian Younge under their new project The Midnight Hour — played bass, and rising blues torchbearer Christone “Kingfish” Ingram sat in on guitar.
Rakim starts with the new song “King’s Paradise” which
pays homage to the heroes of the Harlem Renaissance as well as its fictional superhero, the bulletproof Luke Cage. Rakim tipped his hat to Philip Payton Jr., Joe Lewis, Lena Horne, Malcolm X, Maya Angelou and Louis Armstrong, before concluding with a few bars about the comic book-inspired series.
The live guitar solo totally rocks a well–it’s a nice addition.
When they finish, Younge tells Rakim, “you a legend, with Ali on bass, we need to get into some classics.”
Younge then led the nine-member backing band through two of Rakim’s undeniable classics: “Paid in Full” and “Know the Ledge.” For the former, drummer David Henderson rolled right in with the unmistakable breakbeat, — originally sampled from The Soul Searchers “Ashley’s Roachclip.”
Rakim introduced the song by encouraging everyone to “Put your hands up and rub your money fingers together.” I was surprised at how short that song was (the whole set is not even ten minutes).
They do one more “classic with some band fun…. some blaxploitation type stuff.”
Ali Shaheed Muhammad, who’s been playing bass since age 19 despite being known for his production and DJ work, provided the low end for “Know The Ledge.”
This was my favorite song of the bunch. The flow was great with some sinister edges and great horn sounds.
Rakim released his first single 32 years ago, yet the timbre of his voice and Dali Llama aura remain strong. Let’s hope this is the beginning of another renaissance.
The full complement of musicians includes
Rakim (vocals), Adrian Younge (keys), Ali Shaheed Muhammad (bass), Jack Waterson (guitar), David Henderson (drums), Loren Oden (vocals), Saudia Mills (vocals), Angela Munoz (vocals), Stephanie Yu (violin), Bryan Hernandez-Luch (violin), DeAndre Shaifer (trumpet) , Jordan Pettay (saxophone), Joi Gilliam (vocalist), Christone Ingram (Kingfish) (guitar)
[READ: May 21, 2018] “I Do Something That I Don’t Understand”
I don’t know how often a title of a story pretty much sums up the whole thing, but this sure does. And, as the title is kind of vague and not compelling, so is the story. Luckily it is quite short.
In this story a woman opens, “Today I did something and I have no idea why I did it.” This seems to be stated as if it were a revelatory, singular experience. I can’t even begin to count the days when I have done something and don’t know why I did it.
Hers is a bit more theatrical than some, but not that drastic. She is on an an airplane and sees a woman who almost gets hit by a bag from the overhead compartment. The man who took the bag down did not apologize but the woman looked as if she was certainly expecting one””‘well-bred’, the woman looked.”
And so, rather than going to the car that was awaiting for her, she followed the woman and her schlub of a husband to their next gate.
She followed them, they boarded their plane and that was the end of seeing them. She took a train home.
And that’s that. This is basically a diary entry rather than a story.
Gordon ties it together with two other stories about doing things impulsively. One was kissing a boy on the neck–this story of her and the boy was far more compelling than the first (although I do admit that I was intrigued about the woman who almost get hit by the bag–shame we lost her).
The final story involved hiking up a mountain at 11 years old–an impulsive act that could have gotten her and the ten-year old she was supposed to be entertaining into some physical danger.
So, three stories of impulsive but not outrageous behavior.
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