"Welcome to everything there is to know..." Ah, the pleasures of Little Brother. Their The Minstrel Show LP hastens that current of fresh air that swept in when Brother West opened the door. The group's Cackalack mathematics, however, are closer kin to the Farmer's Boulevard magic of A Tribe Called Quest; equal parts porch reportage, vibey boom bap, and goofball boasts. 9th Wonder has his sound down to a soulful science; too bad summer's done, cuz every track is pure barbecue music—smoky and scintillating. The underrated Phonte's sly snaps are underpinned by Big Pooh's endearing earnestness, deftly touching on subjects like fatherhood, the love-don't-pay-the-rent perils of being "critical darlings," and the general wackiness of the majority of hiphop these days. I dunno if this can fuck with their classic debut, The Listening, but it's nonetheless top-shelf shit. It's worth your ducats just for the fucking hilarious R.Kelly/Ronald Isley spoof of "Cheatin'." Cop it—and support your indie superheroes!
Also, support your local talents, as yet another dope local platter landed in my hands recently—Civilized by Ricky Pharoe & Budo. You might recall Ricky in his previous incarnation as Greasy Earl, but whatever his name is, he quite insightfully deconstructs Masonic machinations, modern mating rituals, and commercial radio with supreme wit and a sprightly flow. "Civilized is my explanation of how the world we live in got so fucked up," says the mysterious Ricky P. "How we went from balanced to chaos... we live in chaos—very precisely interwoven chaos, and now we jump through hoops just to live a basic life and use drugs like TV, cigarettes, and alcohol to escape from it. Now we got a whole lot of fucking problems but what's the solution? Fax machines? Cell phones? Hybrid cars? Nanotechnology?" Sardonic, and sprinkled with references to Sirius B, Behold a Pale Horse author William Cooper, and the Illuminati, one wonders if this is in fact a rapper or Robert Anton Wilson... add it to your collection and tell 'em I sent ya.
"Now you see that I am 68 inches above sea level..." That's right—Ladybug Mecca—whom ya might've caught onstage doing the Bumbershoot with her reunited Digable Planets—is coming to Nectar on Saturday, September 24. Seeing as how I had to miss her silky rhyme slanging a couple weeks ago, I gotsta go see this one.
While we're talking about live hiphop, Geologic (Blue Scholars) is on his Back to School mini-tour this week, starting at Oregon's Pacific University September 23. Geo then hits WWU on the following night, before lighting up the UW campus with Massive Monkees and Zion I come September 28. The Scholars' spank-new The Long March EP will be out near the end of the year; hopefully you can catch some of that new material at a campus near you. But you already know the science—"fuck class, getcha education on the Ave."
