This may be old news to some, but I stumbled across this album a while back, and became instantly obsessed with a number of the cuts… upon many listens, I have come to the conclusion that this album deserves some attention. The jamband/hip-hop collaboration is a great idea, especially when the backing band is Galactic.
Galactic formed in 1994 as a jazz/funk group featuring bass, guitar, drums, sax, harmonica, and the all-nasty hammond organ. They are from New Orleans, which pretty much guarantees that they have some serious skills. I had the opportunity to see their drummer Stanton Moore with his trio at a free jazz fest in my hometown of Iowa City… he blew me away… easily one of the most entertaining drummers I’ve ever seen. He’s made of nasty beats, and this album has lots of those. More importantly, I stumbled across the Bonnaroo fairgrounds last summer into the last 20 minutes of the Galactic show. Needless to say, I desperately wish I could have seen that entire show. They ended with a heavy Kashmir jam (everyone kept covering Zeppelin because John Paul Jones was in the house) while a dozen MCs spit hot fire onto a crowd that was freaking out harder than any other show I saw there. If Galactic comes near you, and they most likely will, get out there and see them. They are touring with various MCs from the album right now, and I guarantee that they will knock your socks off. I missed the Boston show thinking it wouldn’t sell out, and my buddies who went made me exceedingly jealous with their descriptions of the night… don’t let that happen to you.
The album itself features some MCs you probably know, and some you may not… most notable are Lyrics Born, Gift of Gab (from Blackalicious), Mr. Lif (who I saw last night and it inspired me to write this post), Ladybug Mecca, Boots Riley, Juvenile, and the always awesome Chali 2na (from Jurassic 5).
If you like hip-hop, give this a try… If you don’t like hip-hop, give this a try. Its good either way. Great band, great MCs, progressive album. Listen:
From the Corner to the Block (2007):
Galactic – Think Back w/ Chali 2na
Galactic – The Corner w/ Gift of Gab
Galactic – …And I’m Out w/ Mr. Lif
And here’s a pretty sweet video with Boots Riley… They are playing in a music store, and they still bring it. Stanton Moore is so cool.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=G3x14rQ99XI&feature=related[/youtube]
I’m so glad you posted this because they’re coming back to New Orleans for Jazz Fest in April & I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see them or not. They’re hip-hop & all & I don’t useually get into hip-hop, ya know? Rap maybe, but not hip-hop. But if you suggest them, I’ll definately give them a shot. :P