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Archive for the ‘Raekwon’ Category

Witold Szabłowski–“Koftaesque” (Harper’s, March 2020)

Posted in Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Dictators, El Michels Affiar, Freddie Gibbs, Koftas, Leon Michels, Madlib, Marco Benevento, NPR/PRI/PBS, Raekwon, Saturday Night Live, Tiny Desk Concert, Translation, Witold Szabłowski, Wu-Tang Clan on March 8, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: FREDDIE GIBBS AND MADLIB-Tiny Desk Concert #921 (December 6, 2019).

I was watching this video and I thought–that piano player looks like Marco Benevento.  And holy cow it is!

And he is amazing–playing his jazziest, prettiest melodies.  In fact, the whole band is fantastic.  They’re a band that I didn’t know Benevento was part of called El Michels Affair.  Okay, maybe he’s not.  It turns out that El Michels Affiar is a band founded by Leon Michels (who plays saxophone here).  And check this out

After performing with Raekwon at a concert, the group began working with other members of the Wu-Tang Clan and covered several of their songs … [which]…  yielded an album released in 2009 as Enter the 37th Chamber, a play on the album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).  El Michels Affair followed this with a second album of arrangements of songs by Wu-Tang Clan and from its members’ solo releases, titled Return to the 37th Chamber.

And evidently producer Madlib really wanted to work with El Michels Affair

This Freddie Gibbs and Madlib Tiny Desk performance was a year in the making, largely because Madlib insisted on playing with El Michels Affair, a vintage funk and soul band based out of New York. But it was worth the wait. When pianist Marco Benevento opened with a delicate, almost jazzy run, it created the perfect opening — and juxtaposition — for hard-hitting emcee, Gibbs to jump in and ride the hell out of that beat.

Gibbs brags about Madlib the legend while Marco plays and Madlib makes all ind of weird sounds with the thunder stick.  Marco opens with a pretty rill, the funky bass from Nick Movshon kicks in and the horns (Leon Michels and Dave Guy in trumpet) play a wonderful melody. Its jazzy and improvish.

From the moment they launched into “Education,” a cut off the latest MadGibbs project Bandana, it was obvious Gibbs has spent countless hours honing his style. Meanwhile, Madlib, an enigmatic and reclusive producer known for his analog head-nodders, brought along a small thunder tube and vintage electric bongos circa 1960. Just getting a chance to see him ignited excitement in the NPR crowd.

I love the way drummer Homer Steinweiss shifts gears in what seems like mid song to a faster beat for “Gat Damn.”  Marco is on a soft synth sound while Madlib plays electronic bongos.  Of course, there’s some funky bass too.  Gibbs does some impressive quick jazzy rapping through the middle part.

“Soul Right” sounds great with some soft keys and horns. It’s slow and smooth and has a really catchy chorus.

Throughout the set, Gibbs’ uses the N-word about a million times and this song has a fantastic refrain of

‘Cause I been struggling my whole life, yeah
So I broke it down and it was all white, yeah

I had to wonder if it was awkward that everyone in the band is white.  Although Freddie says that there’s a white nigga up there-Leon.  The band is all his fam.  Leon… My boy!

But the conclusive jam in this killer set was “Freestyle S***,” a track that drips with the smoothness of satin and swagger of the seventies. It and the rest of the set elevated the room for both longtime purists and new fans alike.

“Freestyle Shit” opens with a great horn riff and Gibbs does some great fast rapping in the middle.  It is a fantastic musical jam.

But the way Gibbs emphatically showed his love for Madlib was just as beautiful to witness. There’s little doubt about their deep admiration and appreciation for each other. It was hands down, for me, the best Tiny Desk of the year.

This has turned into one of my favorite Tiny Desks.  Let’s hope this gets Marco Benevento his own show!

[READ: March 1, 2020] “Koftaesque”

This is an excerpt from Szabłowski’s book How to Feed a Dictator: Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Enver Hokha, Fidel Castro and Pol Pot Through the Eyes of their Cooks.

This sounds absolutely fascinating and this excerpt was certainly enough tom make me want to read more.

I’m also fascinated that this book was written in Polish (translated into English by Antonia Lloyd-Jones) and was most likely translated to him from whatever the chef’s language was.

The example in the except is from Saddam Hussein’s chef Abu Ali.  He says that Hussein invited a bunch of friends on his boat and Ali, his personal chef, was to cook for them.  They were not at war with anyone and everyone was in a good mood. (more…)

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Lydia Davis–“Pardon the Intrusion” (Harper’s, January 2019)

Posted in #metoo, All Songs Considered, Cappadonna, Chili, Harper's, Huh?, Inspectah Deck, Lydia Davis, Masta Killa, Raekwon, RZA, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert, U-God, Young Dirty Bastard on December 20, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: WU-TANG CLAN-Tiny Desk Concert #810 (December 5, 2018).

Wu-Tang Clan is more myth than real in my mind.  I didn’t even know they had released so many records.  I thought they had done two or three and then that $2 million record and that was it.

Of course I knew that each Wu had a hugely successful solo career as well.

Somehow I even missed that they are doing a show in Philly next month ($100/ticket for GA seats).

So I was pretty surprised to see them at the Tiny Desk.  And after watching the show, I totally see the appeal of seven or eight lead rappers flowing off of each other and backing each other up.  Each guy has his own style and it’s a ton of fun hearing them play snippets throughout their career.

Obviously I don’t know many of their songs, so I couldn’t even speculate how many songs they do a snippet of.   But I enjoyed watching them pivot around each other in this small space.  All the while the live strings (!) sounds great and RZA played DJ with turntables and a whole lot more.

The rest of the Clan include:

Cappadonna: black leather jacket/backwards baseball cap
U-God: gray hoodie and sunglasses
GZA: blue hoodie
Masta Killa: camo jacket
Raekwon: aqua jacket
Inspectah Deck: White hoodie blue sleeves
Young Dirty Bastard: black sweatshirt and fun hair

So what was this all about?

The Wu-Tang Clan gathered at the Tiny Desk to commemorate the 25 years since the release of the group’s landmark album Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). With more than 60 albums between the various members, The Clan’s combined discography left them spoiled for choice when it came to narrowing down the set list for their performance. The result was an extended, 20-minute medley of songs from across the group’s iconic catalog.

The retrospective mashup of Wu classics started with the posse cut “Triumph.” Backed by strings (The Green Project), the performance morphed into an old-school cipher as Raekwon, Inspectah Deck and Cappadonna traded verses with GZA, Masta Killa and U-God. Young Dirty Bastard, son of original member Ol’ Dirty Bastard, provided a spark of energy reminiscent of his father.

As RZA cued up songs, the Clan got the crowd to chant along

Wu-Tang clan ain’t nothing to fuck with

The medley includes “Glaciers of Ice” and “Protect Ya Neck”

They give a shout out to Method Man who couldn’t be there, while RZA plays a clip from one of his songs.

After about fifteen minutes RZA says

We could do this shit all day we having fun like a motherfucker.

This leads to RZA rapping “Duckseason.”

At one moment in the performance, RZA — the mastermind behind the Clan’s success — omits some explicit lyrics from earlier in his Wu journey, while alluding to the #MeToo movement mid-cadence.

They finish up the set with “C.R.E.A.M.”  [Doll bill, Dollar bill, y’all].  This gets everyone going.  When they end, RZA has one more request.

He says he’s always wanted to play with a trio.  Is it okay if I do one dart and you can play whatever the fuck you want.

But it’s the poetic interlude, read from his phone at the close of the set, that better reflects his current state of consciousness.

The Green Project plays a great little mildly menacing melody as he does his brand new lyric.

They end with a big “Wu-Tang is for the kids.”

Kinda makes me want to spend $100 to see them.

[READ: December 20, 2018] “Addie and the Chili”

Lydia Davis is known for her short, quirky stories. But I often wonder if her stories get published just because of her name.

This is a story in which nothing happens.  And three-quarters of the way through, it even bemoans the fact that nothing happened.

It opens with

Years ago, Ellie asked me to write the story of our friend Addie and the chili.

She says she tried to write it then and gave up.  But now, 30 years later, she tries again. (more…)

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