First I’d like to send my heartfelt condolences to Xzibit and
his family; last week, just over a week after his birth, X’s newborn
son, Xavier, passed away. Damn. RIP.
I’d also like to send my condolences to the family and friends of
Tero Smith, known to the rap world as Camu
Tao—MC/producer, member of the MHz crew, the
Weathermen clique, the Cardboard City collective,
one-half of S.A. Smash (with Metro), Central
Services (with El-P), and the Nighthawks (with
Cage). Camu succumbed to a two-year battle with lung cancer. “To
those who knew Tero, he was an almost uncategorizable force of nature,”
El-P wrote in a MySpace blog. “Wild, hilarious, proud, loving, tough,
outspoken, spontaneous, and brilliant.” All my peoples who knew him had
universally described him as one of the funniest cats on the face of
the earth, and regaled me with some stories that are not exactly fit
for print.
Me, I didn’t know Camu. But I knew his music very well; for some
reason, he’s been one of my favorite underdogs for years. I first heard
his introductory single, 2002’s “Hold the Floor,” on a DJ Scene tape. I went from I-don’t-know-if-I-like-this-dude to repeated-rewind
status. I certainly wasn’t alone in this either—”Hold the Floor”
quickly became a Seattle anthem. Its gutter-skronk beat (produced by
the late great DJ PRZM, RIP) was known to induce riotous
behavior on the floor of Chop Suey in the early days of Yo, Son!
Tao’s flustered, rabid style made him one of my favorites out of the
whole of the Def Jux/Weathermen roster. He was the unsung hero in a
crew of indie heavyweights. But it was his last song that was the real
goods—the chugging, anthemic “Plot Just a Little”: a half-sung
track that was as much David Bowie as it was Def Jukie.
I’d been anxiously anticipating where his music was going, especially
after he came to town with Cage and ripped a brilliant, crowd-stumping
set that sounded like a complete departure from the jokey, druggy,
brass-knucks East Coast indie rap he’d become known for.
I echo the words of a good friend of mine: “I sincerely feel
shortchanged on all the music he had left to make.” RIP. Camu
lives on through the family and the music he left behind. I’m gonna go
bump Smashy Trashy in his honor.
But first I gotta take the Roots‘ new Rising Down out
the deck, which is yet another brilliant addition to their illustrious
catalog. You’d better figure out a way to go see ’em play in
gorgeous Marymoor Park with Erykah Badu on Thursday, June 5. Ms.
Badu’s brilliant New Amerykah is surely worth your hard-won
shekels too, and she is a must-see live performer. As for those Roots
dudes, if you don’t go to this show, hit Neumo’s later that night for a
Rising Down listening party hosted by Black Thought and
Brother ?—I mean Questlove. Will it be only “coffee-shop
chicks and white dudes”? Really, who gives a fuck? 