So, I'm kind of a hater. Well, actually, I'm a big hater. But it's mostly out of fun and love. And I totally hated on Blue Scholars a while ago. I'm thinking about it now because I'm listening to them at work as I write some depressing piece on immigrants and the economic downturn, and am thinking about how much I love the self-titled album. I guess what I want to do right now is say I'm sorry--I actually feel bad about that entry now. I felt it a bit last August when I saw Geo and Sabzi open for Hieroglyphics in Omaha, Nebraska (Midwest, holler). And we all have our contradictions and tensions.
Okay, back to work.
Love is Growth / Butter&Gun$ EPLove is Growth
Taiyo Na (birth name: Taiyo Ebato), 25, is the curator of the aforementioned SULU Series (a monthly showcase of Asian American talent at the Bowery Poetry Club), combines hip-hop and folk/acoustic/soul in his debut release. His voice reminds me of Korean Am rapper/poet Denizen Kane's--raspy, somewhere between rap and song, weaving through poetry and music. Through his lyrics he articulates life on the grind, the push forward, the growth in love:
Pain is my dealer who break me with the language
Bless me with the insight to illuminate my canvass
My hurt got a honey, so you can comprehend this
Rock it like a rosary and walk with the anguish...
Taiyo Na - Love is Growth
Heavy on acoustic guitar and strings, the album features the creative input of an arsenal of East Coast Asian American artists--among them, Koba, Vudoo Soul, Craig Chin, Kevin So, and, my personal fave, Emily Chang (formerly of I Was Born With Two Tongues) lending her addictive voice on "Moonlight City (Reprise)." Other highlights include "Kasama," an ode to a sister in the struggle; "Lil' Tookie," in remembrance of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, the Crip-turned-peace activist sentenced to death by the state of California; and "Immigrant Mother (Lovely to Me)," Taiyo's ode to his, believe it or not, immigrant mother.
However, I definitely enjoyed the first two-thirds of the album the most; the last few songs, where Taiyo dips more into the acoustic-folk part of his repertoire, begin to blend together and lose the distinctiveness of the rest of the LP. Other than that, though, Love is Growth is a solid debut from an artist with much in store for the future.
Butter&Gun$
Blue Scholars, the Seattle, WA hip-hop duo of emcee Geologic (George Quibuyen) and deejay/producer Sabzi (Saba Mohajerjasbi), has recently gained national prominence through their distribution partnership with legendary label Rawkus Records and their 2007 sophomore album, Bayani. Since then, they've released two digital-only EPs, the first revolving around "Joe Metro," Bayani's closing track and Geo's ethnographic narration of riding the Seattle buses. (See my post on the somewhat surprising ballad, "Southbound.") Butter&Gun$--referring to an economic model that weighs a government's spending on military versus social service--operates more as a single for "Loyalty," a sonic ode to the group's followers and, in my opinion, the best track hands down off of Bayani.
Aside from the original version of the song, the EP features a reconceptualization of the theme, chopping-and-screwing segments of the original (I'm kinda ambivalent about that) amidst Geo's unusually rapid-fire delivery:
They put us in competition to cause affliction with opposition
The friction is part of their fiction, they’re looking for pots to piss in
Watch the bosses up in the loft laughing, upping the cost of living
To cop a billion while the cops are killing ‘em off, women and children
Politicians who mock religion and talk tradition to all, just wishing
That all the listeners fall victim, the pistols are drawn, the sinister laws
Is killing the cause, the citizens march, the sinners will start repentance
The minister calls deliverance, guerillas defending their villages...
Blue Scholars - Butter&Gun$ (Loyalty Pt. II)
The other original song, "27," recalls Geo's childhood as a military brat, developing a penchant for hip-hop in Honolulu. As always, Sabzi laces the beats with an eclectic mix of jazz, soul, and funk as Geo paints personal experience and popular struggle in the same breath. Butter&Gun$ is best described as a continuation of Bayani-- a fitting showcase of their talent, yet built upon the same formula that most of their recent songs follow. Nevertheless, Blue Scholars has been getting lots of attention in recent years and I'm excited to see where they'll take their music.
Geo and Sabzi, according to their website, "are just as much rooted in community as they are in music." They are "second-generation sons of working-class immigrants" that seek to "keep the music grounded." Through their lyrics and their beats and their continual support of progressive causes, they indeed remain true to these ideals. But, they do enjoy to struggle in style.
When we received the Blue Scholars "rider", we laughed. There was no other visceral reaction except general amusement. Then we realized that their demands were serious. The list included 12 bottles of Odwalla juice, 12 bottles of San Pellegrino mineral water, a deli tray, a fruit and vegetable platter, many clean white towels, 12 water bottles, and as Heiroku remembers, reparations for Filipino colonization. Panicked, poor, and caught off-guard by this perceived "bourgieness", we scrambled to meet their demands. I admit that what they required pales in comparison to what other artists want (see J. Lo), but the specific desires they had seemed so opposed to their message of being working-class, immigrant folk. What kind of message do you espouse when you water your plants in San Pelligrino? And write manifestos while sipping on some Odwalla?
To this day, we still find it funny, and the list did not detract much from our general admiration for the group. Many of us still find
I admit I felt like a big deal that night with this pass of arbitrary power.
Bourgie Blue Scholars Bananas? Banana Grabber?
They didn't finish their fruit and vegetable, so we knew what to do.
Geologic, cheese fries, and college students.