With Adam Yauch Dead the Beastie Boys are Gone Too

The accolades for the Beastie Boys has already started and will no doubt continue for weeks. With Adam Yauch losing his battle with cancer, the Beastie Boys’ status as one of the longest running hip hop groups is now over. Even if they make more albums it just won’t be the same. And for those of us who were ensconced in their music from the very beginning, there is no doubt what Yauch meant to his crew and his fans. He was the raspy, tough guy who balanced out the squeaky-voiced Adam Horowitz (Ad-Rock) and the mid-level cadence of Michael Diamond (Mike D.)

The Beastie Boys arrived on the scene at a time when hip hop was just beginning to carve its path into the mainstream, unlocking the minds of an entire generation while giving many of them a new craft, a new art form. Personally, I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard Licensed to Ill, their first full length LP. It was at my Catholic Elementary school when I heard Ad-Rock’s voice trickling down the hallway. A girl one year older named Dorothy laughed at me when I asked what they were listening to. To her it was laughable that I wasn’t on the inside track of music history. Even funnier – she was right. See, The Beastie Boys were like no other group, as far as I can tell. They were one of the first to team up with the now legendary Rick Rubin who produced Licensed to Ill, still the best selling album in Def Jam’s history.

The Beastie Boys were also the first group who went from the underground to the mainstream on the backs of both punk and hip hop, a testament to a time gone by where these two scenes were actually allies, playing the same clubs and collaborating extensively since the 1970s.

Yauch also directed many of the Beastie Boys’ videos under the pseudonym Nathanial Hörnblowér, a character he brought to life when he crashed the stage at the MTV video awards to interrupt the acceptance for best video being given to R.E.M. when he figured the Beastie Boys should have won. No, Kanye West was not the first. Yauch was not seen as arrogrant, however. He was in character. That’s another thing about the Beastie Boys – their personas were meant to intrigue and challenge people, but as a collective, not as solo artists. This is why there can never be another Beastie Boys record…it just wouldn’t be the same.

No doubt there will be tributes in the coming year. Expect a documentary too.

Yauch is survived by his wife Dechen Wangdu and their daughter Tenzin Losel Yauch.

Ultimate MC Battle Epic Failure

Cattle-call audition gimmick and amateur judging kills competition

 

First off, congratulations to Quantum and Charron. It ain’t your fault most of the emcees were garbage…and big ups to White Fang for putting on the best performance. And now to the real story….

Most real hip hoppers knew it from the get go – that The Ultimate MC Battle was just another yawn-fest in a long line of boring competitions the city has seen over the past decade. Not only did the end result seem fixed, or at least judged by meth-heads who didn’t seem to be watching the last round, but the initial line-up was suspect and proves that the open audition format will never yield a good show.

 

Perhaps most telling in this latest of failed battles were the participants. Other than Bishop Brigante, Canada’s most heralded battler, the entire Ultimate MC team is a who’s who of who cares in Canada’s urban scene. Don’t let the youtube hits fool you, King of the Dot is garbage. Not only does it shine a spotlight on a weak format (they mostly battle in acapella because most of their emcees aren’t skilled enough to stay on beat AND freestyle), but the rappers are unskilled, prototypical rookies that would get eaten alive against a typical, seasoned battle emcee. Brigante, if he isn’t embarrassed, should be wondering how he went from a respected emcee killer to the host of a wack enterprise destined to keep Toronto’s rep as ‘mediocre’ in the hip hop world.

 

Things were not always this bad. Back in the day Toronto had a communications pipeline that led straight to the 5 boroughs of New York. Artists from T-dot worked with local promoters who brought in some of hip hop’s most legendary emcees during the Golden Era of the music. The list of artists who graced the stage of the Concert Hall reads like a manifest of hip hop history: KRS ONE, Big Daddy Kane, The Roots, Kid Capri, just to name a few. A mutual respect for realness and talent led to collaborations with local artists like Maestro Fresh Wes, Michie Mee and a slew of up and comers still trying to get heard. Today it is the up and comers that can’t hold their weight. King of the Dot exemplifies this ineptness through their habit of showcasing emcees who don’t deserve the spotlight, and Ultimate MC ultimately followed suit.

 

That’s not to say Toronto doesn’t have emcees with the necessary skills to put on a good show, it’s that the self-proclaimed representatives of the scene don’t know where the talent lives. They seem to only have a pipeline on rappers who can’t rhyme to beats, can’t battle without spitting rhymes that are obviously written and simply don’t have the kind of swagger that creates memorable battle moments. In short, Toronto is currently being grossly misrepresented in hip hop, especially in the battle scene.

 

Usually, when a genre is being pimped by watered down artists, there is a backlash in the underground. We see it in rock music, electronic music and jazz where a collective frustration towards the mainstream results in a buffet of budding artists and new sounds. But it isn’t every day when the underground hip hop heads would rather listen to the latest Drake album instead of scouring for new, local emcees. The tragedy is nobody thinks there are any local cats anymore, and those that do believe the Toronto underground is alive and well are swallowing the shit fed to them by KOTD, Ultimate MC and rappers who simply can’t spit. Until a scene veteran steps up and calls these fraudsters out we may be stuck with the mediocre moniker for years to come.

 

 

A Page From the Past

How a typical evening evolved into conversing with a voice from yesterday

Sometimes we are reminded of the past through the voice of a musician when his or her music served as the soundtrack to our lives. It is as universal as math – the ability to be transported back to a time and place with relative ease and off-the-charts nostalgia through music.  It is similar to how certain fragrances take me back to my childhood, like how musty scents in houses remind me of my grandparents’ cottage.

Last night I met the guy whose voice was the sole representative of my life for a solid year. The year was 1994.

My father let me venture to Bella Coola, British Columbia, so I could work with my uncle who did government environmental work. I was 18, a shit disturber and reeling over what now seems like a meaningless broken heart. But I guess every broken heart has its meaning, hindsight be damned.

As a hip hop head I was easily able to keep my inner feelings under strict control, preferring a head nod over nostalgia music as a way of keeping my cards to myself. But, along with my change of scenery came a change in the soundtrack, so instead of packing Gangstarr and KRS I opted for Counting Crows and Skydiggers. Funny, I almost just lied about the Counting Crows, but whatever, August and Everything After is still a great album. And Just Over This Mountain, the Skydiggers album, was organic and spoke to the changes in scenery almost daily.

I went to Bella Coola, connected with my father’s brother, worked deep in the Rockies and traveled the BC coast. Andy Maize, the lead singer of Skydiggers, provided a sort of melodic commentary as the cassette replayed over and over throughout my trip and then for months when I returned home. He was there when I reflected on the prospect of never succeeding. He was there when my butterflies waved their wings over some girl who showed an interest. He sang lyrics that matched my mood seamlessly, and ever since, whenever I hear some of those songs, I am instantly transported back into the mindset of that 18 year old kid. Interestingly, I never really got sick of the album, I just put it to rest when that chapter of life was complete and thus went back to the hip hop crate.

Thinking about life in my 30s, I am convinced the era of having soundtracks for life chapters are gone. Everything is so accessible that it can be best expressed through ‘Random Play’. Ever since I began this crazy journey of running for mayor I’ve noticed I am listening to everything from Nina Simone to Johnny Cash, Jazzmatazz to Hibernate. There isn’t just one voice serving as the backdrop and I don’t think there ever will be again, not until I am an old man perhaps.

So last night, after attending a beer tasting with a friend, I headed over to another friend’s bar and shot the shit with a few regulars. This guy with dark rimmed glasses steps to the bar and waits to be served, and I blurt out “Hey, are you a musician?” He says ‘yes’. He didn’t look familiar, he just looked like a musician. The girl on his arm then says “This is Andy, lead singer of the Skydiggers.”

I could opt for using a word like ‘trippy’ or ‘weird’ or some other adjective denoting a glitch in the pattern of the day to day, but I really haven’t found the appropriate word to describe meeting the dude whose voice was so poignant to me for so long. So I just told him the truth – that his album, while likely ancient history for him, paints a vivid picture of a time in my life when things were confused, different and important. I shook his hand and thanked him, adding “It isn’t every day you get to meet the guy responsible for the soundtrack, if you know what I mean.”

He and I talked for about 45 minutes. He bought me a pint and I returned the favour. I guess the best part of this particular story, and it is hardly surprising, is that he was just a regular guy. I went out for a smoke and ended up getting a light from Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies, and it made perfect sense to me.

Page confided to me that Andy was his mentor when it came to stage presence. So I told Page that his cover of Bruce Cockburn’s ‘Lovers in a Dangerous Time’ still hit the nostalgia portion of my brain nicely.The three of us chilled for a little while, they gave me props for running for mayor and I left, preferring to be the guy who said goodbye rather than trying to unnaturally stretch out the evening.

I walked to the subway with ‘I Will Give You Everything’ playing in my head for the first time in years. When I finally got home I even took 4 minutes to watch the video for Lovers in a Dangerous Time. Two bands in the same vein as far as Canadian music goes, but who hold completely different meanings for me, all in one evening that went from a typical night of drinking to complete and utter reflection of where I’ve been and where I’m headed.

I just realized that there is still room for the chapters in our lives to have a soundtrack, but it might be the same voice we have heard in our heads for years.

Hanging With Matisyahu

By: James Di Fiore

Last year’s Winter Music Conference in Miami proved to be a first for many people. There was certainly a young contingent of 21 year olds finally old enough to get into events featuring their favourite DJs; a plethora of new musical technological products featured at the presentation hall; and one non-electronic music act making his WMC debut. His name is Matisyahu.

For those who are still unfamiliar with the name, Matisyahu is the Orthodox Jew who has come into his own with a style of music normally associated with Rastafarian culture, not the New York suburbs where young Matthew Paul Miller grew up. The up and coming reggae star has turned heads with his roots inspired flow and Hasidic attire, all while performing at some of the continent’s funkiest venues. So when I was given the opportunity to act as his liaison for the week during the 2009 WMC, I packed my bags, left my L.A. apartment and headed down to South Beach.

As a Canadian, L.A. proved to be a breeding ground for celebrities who had too much dust in their eyes, so to speak. To hang with Matisyahu was more than just an opportunity, it was a chance to sit down with a performer who has the reputation of being humble and down to earth – a rarity in my experience interviewing well known acts.

I knocked on the door, room 318, at The Riviera South Beach Hotel. Answering the door was Matisyahu’s manager, Don VanCleave, who has also managed the illustrious career of none other than Lenny Kravitz, making the young reggae artist in very capable hands. Upon entering the room I immediately took in a whiff of what most would associate as the main pastime of any performer in this particular genre; and while it wasn’t much of a surprise to know that Matis smoked weed, I was at least taken aback that his first motion towards me was not a handshake, but an offering of a bowl stuffed with high grade gear. Yes, I did oblige, and the gesture seemed to set the tone for a relaxing first encounter with the man that has literally surprised the bulk of the music industry.

“I just make what comes naturally,” he said while sifting through his unreleased material. “People always ask what inspires me, who my influences are. Those kinds of questions are redundant, because we are all inspired by everything we have ever heard…and continue to be influenced.”

It was clear the young performer has begun to come into his own, typified by his obvious need to broaden the horizons both musically and during interviews. I took my cue and asked him about his upcoming release with Crystal Method, the Grammy nominated electronic music duo who pioneered a commercially viable brand of hyper produced beats in North America. ‘Drown in the Now’ appeared on Crystal Method’s album back in May, and Matisyahu was honored to be a featured artist.

“They are such a tight unit. Working with them was really easy and we plan on making more music together sometime down the road,” he said with a smile.

Crystal method feels the same way.

“We met Matisyahu at a festival in British Columbia last July,” Scott Kirkland mused in his online blog. “His tour manager (Green) approached us about him joining us onstage for a song and we thought it was a cool idea. He came by our trailer and we played him ‘High Roller’ off ‘Vegas,’ and he thought it was great. He came out with us about an hour later and his performance was magical.”

This seems to be the avenue that is working for Matisyahu. On the third day of his arrival he teamed up with beat boxing pro Komikaze and lit up the stage at Dolce Ultralounge in South Beach. The two have performed together before and sat down in the penthouse of the Riviera to talk with me in our first on camera interview since he landed in Florida. Matis is a fierce proponent of technology and how it can benefit musicians in their need for universal promotions, so when I asked him about the significance of the major labels in today’s industry, he was both quick to embrace the digital world and careful not to tread on Epic, the major label who backs him.

“They give me a lot of freedom,” he points out, “which is good because I don’t know what I would do without my own persistence online and through all my gadgets.”

Matisyahu loves Twitter, and through his site (www.matisyahuworld.com) he frequently posts impromptu vids and journal style blogs for his fans. He also is fond of jamming on the spot and surprised me (a hip hop emcee) when he asked if I wanted to cipher with him and Komikaze at the end of the interview. The jam was refreshing and a rarity – a blossoming performer willing to throw down with an unknown artist, and gave me yet another layer to this already multi-faceted young singer.

Eminem to star in horror flick

After moderate success in his debut film ’8 Mile’, Eminem is taking another crack at the big screen in his upcoming film entitled ‘Shady Talez’. The 37 year old will play three different characters in the comic book style horror flick, hoping to deflect the assumption that he only had the range to basically play himself in a feature length film. Eminem apparently also co-wrote the flick with Underworld star Kevin Grevioux.

The rapper, whose popularity has diminished over the years after 2 sub par albums, will try to jump start his career after a series of embarrassing moments in the spotlight, including being dissed by diva Mariah Carey and being teabagged in public by Sacha Baron Cohen. Eminem admitted he was in on the publicity stunt, a startling admission considering the bulk of his fans are homophobic and were already becoming disenchanted with Em’s deteriorating music career. Over the years Marshall Mathers’ flow has become a shadow of what it once was, his verbal gymnastics morphing into a predictable, monotonous style, turning the one time hip hop hellion into just another emcee.

It has been rumored that his ability to rhyme was directly related to his consumption of ecstasy, but since experiencing a near methadone overdose while on tour in 2005, Eminem has apparently been clean. In what some are calling an obvious imitation or at the very least an unbelievable coincidence, a leaked photo of Eminem in his Shady Talez make-up has a striking resemblance to Heath Ledger as The Joker in the Dark Knight. Art may be imitating the life of a deceased artist, and the risk Mathers is taking by potentially attempting to remind viewers of Ledger’s brilliant performance could be the nail in his acting coffin.

No word yet on who will be directing or co-starring in the film. Shady Talez is scheduled to be released in the fall of 2010.