SOUNDTRACK: SMIF-N-WESSUN-Tiny Desk Concert #787 (September 17, 2018).
As this Concert opens, you hear Steele or Tek, the duo who make up Smif-n-Wessun say, “Very mysterious as you can see. I’ve been his partner for 20 plus years, so it’s alright.” The other replies “I’m not gonna do nothing crazy, I promise.”
And with that yet another old school hip-hop act whom I’ve never heard of gets their 15 minutes of Tiny Desk time. And once again, they are pretty great.
And the blurb seems to really love them:
Brooklyn-bred hip-hop duo Smif-N-Wessun – consisting of partners in rhyme, Steele and Tek – illuminated the Tiny Desk with their signature, 80-proof poetry: straight, no chaser. Their music, inspired by their gritty and pre-gentrified Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brownsville neighborhoods, offers the vocabulary of veterans who survived the grimy streets. The[y] represent quintessential ’90s true-school hip-hop from the bedrock, when Timberland boots were standard issue.
Backing Steele and Tek is D.C.’s own Black Alley band. The Black Alley Band played (and were awesome) with Nick Grant some shows ago. About the band I wrote
I really like the live band, Black Alley. The percussionist (Walter Clark) is particularly interesting with his congas and an electronic “plate” that plays all kinds of effects. The bass (Joshua Cameron) is also great and the guitarist (Andrew White) plays a lot of interesting sounds. I also like how muscular the keyboardist is playing simple chords. And the drummer is pretty bad ass too.
For this show, they were more subdued and there were only four of them, but their live music was great for the duo and made the whole thing sound great.
Steele says, “It’s always different for us to perform with a live band. If I look a little sweaty it’s because I’m catching the holy ghost, alright.”
Smif-N-Wessun set things off with their classic debut single “Bucktown,” an ode to their native Brooklyn, which uses their love for lyrical clapbacks as an allegory for overcoming the violence-ridden reality of their wonder years.
Tek says “This was the first single from our first album. Came out in ’92 that’s probably older than most of you all in the room.”
Throughout the performance, the two emcees dance, share easy banter and express their spiritual connection to the music they’ve created over the years.
Things climax when the two perform “Stand Strong,” another favorite from their debut album Dah Shinin’. Anchored by the mantra, “I never ran / never will,” … the music decries the struggles of late-stage capitalism and the plight of the disenfranchised. It’s a revelation of love, life, and brotherhood in an era when the antiheroes were really just the ones cunning enough to avoid becoming victims.
Steele says this goes out to our street soldiers. Then says he says Rest in Peace Anthony Bordain, Rest on Peace Todd Banger. Stay Alive, people!
That survivor’s drive is personified when Steele lets his guard down during the performance and gifts the audience a little boogie, “You can dance to Smif-N-Wessun music too, y’all.
The set concludes with an exclusive premier of their new single, “One Time,” from their forthcoming album, The All, produced by 9th Wonder & The Soul Council.
Steele says “I’m nervous about the next one, this next song has never before been performed. It’s fresh off our yet to be released (maybe by the time you see this the album will be out). Hope you enjoy it because we definitely don’t know what we’re gonna do. I know these guys sound amazing so just listen to them.”
The song is smooth and cool and again the live band (this is the first time they’ve played with Black Alley) sound fantastic.
[READ: January 6, 2017] “A Modest Proposal”
I don’t always get to read Sedaris’ pieces in order (if they are even published in order). But this one follows up on a piece he wrote a while back about him picking up trash by the side of the road.
If memory serves he was picking up trash as a way to get extra exercise. Anyhow, he states that he is still doing this. And while it doesn’t actually impact the story directly, it’s great to see the continuity.
It’s also hilarious to see that while he usually find candy wrappers and the like, on one outing he found a three-inch dildo: “You’d think that if someone wanted a sex toy she’d go for the gold-size-wise. But this was just the bare minimum, like getting AAA breast implants.” (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: BLUE ÖYSTER CULT-compilations and live releases (1978-2010).
For a band that had basically two hits (“Don’t Fear the Reaper” and “Burnin’ for You”) and maybe a half a dozen other songs that people might have heard of, BOC has an astonishing number of “greatest hits” collections.
This doesn’t include any of the “budget price” collections: E.T.I. Revisited, Tattoo Vampire, Super Hits, Then and Now, The Essential, Are You Ready To Rock?, Shooting Shark, Best of, and the 2010 release: Playlist: The Very Best of).
The lesson is that you evidently won’t lose money making a BOC collection.
And, although none of them have “Monsters” for the average person looking for some BOC, any disc is a good one.
Then, in 1994 we got Live 1976 as both CD and DVD (which spares us nothing, including Eric Bloom’s lengthy harangue about the unfairness of…the speed limit). It’s the most raw and unpolished on live sets. 2002 saw the release of A Long Day’s Night, a recording of a 2002 concert (also on DVD) which had Eric Bloom, Buck Dharma an Allan Lanier reunited.
They also have a number of might-be real live releases (fans debate the legitimacy of many of these). Picking a concert disc is tough if only because it depends on the era you like. ETLive is regarded as the best “real” live disc, although the reissued double disc set of Some Enchanted Evening is hard to pass up. Likewise, the 2002 recording is a good overview of their career, and includes some of their more recent work.
If you consider live albums best of’s (which many people do) I think it’s far to say that BOC has more best of’s than original discs. Fascinating. Many BOC fans believe that if they buy all the best of discs, it will convince Columbia to finally reissue the rest of the original discs (and there are a number of worthy contenders!) in deluxe packages. I don’t know if it will work, but I applaud the effort.
I Just Read About That... 