YRB Inside: Prohibit NYC from YRB Magazine on Vimeo.
history, upcoming collabs and how to tell the real from the fake.
Shot and edited by Collin Masters
On Survival Story, the follow-up to Flobots' 2008 major label debut Fight With Tools, the band expands on their P.O.D.-flavored political hip-hop rock. After violinist Mackenzie Roberts joined the group in 2006, the group's sound has become progressively more reliant on dissonance. Whereas songs like “Handlebars” found a happy medium between overt political agendas and rhythm, Survival Story finds MC’s Jonny 5 and Brer Rabbit struggling to find their flow over a cacophony of heavy drums and gritty guitar licks.
Flobots has always been a band in transition, and after seemingly discovering their sound before the release of their last album, they have strayed from the music and fallen too far into the message. Sonically, Survival Story avoids boosting production by welcoming a harder rock sound, which leaves the listener in a state of confusion on songs like “Cracks In the Surface” and “By The Time You Get This Message.” When the band takes its time to craft melodies instead of forcing overly political rhyme schemes into spaces where they awkwardly fit, the result is a balanced marriage of genres like on “Whip$ and Chain$”.
You might not have yet heard of New Orleans native PJ Morton, but with his upcoming fifth album Walk Alone, the soul man is about to change all that. Morton, whose musical roots are in gospel (his father is a preacher), looks to influences ranging from Stevie Wonder to Sting on the new release, which sees him teaming up with producer Warryn Campbell for 10 crisp, soul-drenched tracks. And not only will the album knock your speakers, but it exposes a side of PJ previously unseen in his music, with his recent marriage serving as one of the key driving forces behind his romance-inspired tunes.
In anticipation of the Grammy Award-winning musician’s April 6th release, PJ hopped on the phone with YRB to discuss everything from his working relationship with longtime collaborator India.Arie to his love of Stevie Wonder. Speaking on the album, PJ discussed how this album musically compares to previous works, how Walk Alone is a “concept” album, why Tweet is the only guest star on the joint, what he’s thinking about doing for his sixth album and what else we can expect from this multi-talented performer in the near future.
It’s taken three albums, but rap duo Kidz in the Hall are starting to grow up. Having joined forces almost a decade ago after meeting at a talent show, Chicago-based emcee Naledge and NJ-bred producer Double-O have spent the last five years making an indelible splash on the indie hip-hop scene. With their 2006 Rawkus Records debut School Was My Hustle, the pair proved that it didn’t take age or experience to make rap music with heart and soul, following up their well-received debut with the fleshier The In Crowd in 2008 on Duck Down Records. Building on its predecessor, The In Crowd conveyed the duo’s growth and on-wax synergy, but instead of throwing listeners for a curve, Kidz in the Hall merely beefed up their sound rather than overhauling it.
But with their third album Land of Make Believe (in stores tomorrow), the Kidz tried something a bit different. Double-O, who had mastered the art of soul sampling on previous releases, went into recording the album without using a single sample. And instead of focusing strictly on partying and reflecting on hip-hop culture, Naledge decided to lyrically open up and turn the focus on himself. What the two have created is an album far more organic than anything they’ve previously done, and while they still love life in hip-hop’s fast lane, they’re beginning to challenge musically themselves and take their sound to the next level.
YRB checked in with the duo while they were on their way D.C., the next stop on their current Crowd Control Tour with 88-Keys, Izza Kizza and Donnis. Speaking on their new album, Double-O and Naledge discussed their unique approach to press for the album, how they used the internet to record the bulk of the album, why this album is much more vulnerable than previous releases, how their goals have changed since they first linked up and how far they’ve come in recording Almost Home, the follow-up to the newly released Land of Make Believe.
Spending most of his life in Pittsburgh's Hill District Projects and Flatbush and Harlem, NY, Antoine Fuqua tells the stories he knows best. He produced Bastards of the Party, a documentary directed by a former Bloods gang member exploring the history of the LA gang culture, and directed the Oscar-winning Training Day starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke along with cameos by Dr. Dre, Macy Gray, a wheelchair pushing, drug dealin' Snoop Dogg and real-life Mexican gangsters. But street cred doesn't always translate in tinsel town, so when shit got too real the powers at hand pulled him out of American Gangster and, according to him, the movie was everything but gangster. Training Day wasn't the first time he collaborated with hip-hop artists – Antoine actually got his start shooting music videos for Prince, Queen Latifah and Coolio so it's only right the love carried on to the big screen. But far gone are the use of platinum-status rappers and psychadelic filters.
Filmed mostly in Brownsville's notorious Van Dykes Houses, his latest film, Brookyn's Finest, is a raw too-true-to-life story about three cops doing all the wrong things for the right reasons. Fuqua brought Hollywood to the hood, enlisting Richard Gere as a crack-whore loving cop, a thugged-out Don Cheadle and, like the Tim Burton and Jonny Depp of corrupt cop drama, he once again joined forces with Hawke. The director caught up with YRB to talk about crooked cops, respect and why he could do it better.
YRB: How important do you think it was having control over Brooklyn's Finest to prevent another American Gangster from happening?
Antoine: It means everything. I had control over Brooklyn's Finest so I come as close as I can to the real thing and hired real people. We got the money independently, and part of the contract was I got final cut. No one was trying to get dirty with American Gangster. A lot of things in the script didn't make sense. I had Frank Lucas and guys from that era living with me so I was getting the real dirt. These country boys came up to New York with a different mentality about death. His hatred for authority came out of that and none of that was in the movie. They don't want that kind of movie because it can get scary. I remember they came to my office and I had scales with baking powder everywhere! They probably thought I was crazy.
YRB: How did you feel when you found out you weren't going to do it?
Antoine: When you come off the streets and you make it out people still have respect for you and you can keep your honor intact and keep your word and go into a business where someone's word doesn't mean shit. Especially if I feel like I've earned it. I just came from the Academy Awards and won – you'd think they'd have more respect for you. I'm the one who got Denzel to say yes to American Gangster because he wasn't really feeling the script when he read it.
YRB: What was the biggest challenge in shooting Finest?
Antoine: You can't control the streets. I remember shooting a scene with Wesley and Don and someone got shot and everyone started running. That world never stops. When you're filming, that train is running no matter, the violence pops off no matter what, cop cars are still going to fly by no matter what. I can't yell quiet on the set 'cause that's not going to happen. I love that energy, though; you could smell it.
YRB: What is it about crooked cops?
Antoine: All these police, they don't make any money and they're emotionally strained and no one is checking them. Then you hear about someone getting shot down in the streets. It's like, what's the psychological make up of that? What sort of pressure are they under that would make them make that kind of decision? I love to explore that. In Finest, Ethan is desperate and scared, Don Cheadle makes the choice of taking matters into his own hands and Richard's character only does the right thing when he isn't a cop anymore. They represent America. The way I see America and I see our police force, they are all beat up, bloodied and confused. But there's still hope if you do the right thing, believe me.
YRB: Richard Gere went from turning high-priced tricks in Pretty Woman to Captain Save-A-Hoe…
Antoine: Haha! He was fucked up. I thought I'd take Pretty Woman and turn it on his head. It was one of those things where I tried to make it really raw. That boy was delusional and lost.
YRB: Was there any hesitation or backlash about filming in the projects?
Antoine: Cops said, “If you go there, you're on your own.” You just can't run up in there, man, you have to ask permission. I had already sat down and had meetings with people who I thought I needed to meet with. Creatively, I needed to do it right but still make sure I don't mess with no one's money or business. This is their livelihood so I had to let them know they were not being exploited and that this gave their kids a chance to see something positive, be a part of a movie, have a film crew and movie stars in the hood everyday, and their business is not being fucked with.
YRB: So many movies use these neighborhoods to tell their stories, how important do you think it is for these companies to give back to these places?
Antoine: I put a lot of guys from Training Day in Reebok commercials and Bastards of the Party, but the majority of them are dead or in jail. These were real people, not actors. After that, I decided next time I go through the hood I'm not going to leave it how I found it. So when I went over to Van Dykes I put together a program to give these kids a chance to find their way into business or at least experience it. If they don't become a director they can be an actor, editor or grip. All they see are basketball players and rappers. They got to watch and ask questions… They even took over my director's chair! One thing I do know for sure is somebody's life was saved. There were too many people around for stuff to really go down, so I know somebody's life was saved somewhere.
By Carlos Matias
