Student musicians build from the ‘ground up’

Making it as a musician is not as cut and dry as simply being “discovered.” Unknowns have to labor for some time to get recognition, and that is exactly what two freshmen are doing with the help of many contributors.

Ground Up by name, “ground up by nature,” Malcolm McDowell and Alex Azar, also known as Malakai and Azar, respectively, create tracks in their home studio with producer and friend Bijan Houshiarnejad.

Behind a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle curtain, Azar and McDowell rap their lyrics and complete tracks using Pro Tools.

Their latest album, Best Friends Vol. 2, was inspired by their personal lives, Philadelphia and the art of making music. A hip-hop amalgamation of genres, Ground Up is inspired by Kanye West and Jay-Z, who McDowell thinks is the “greatest rapper of all time.” Other idols for Ground Up are Notorious B.I.G. and T.S. Eliot.

“The Wasteland is genius,” McDowell said, who has written and published his own book of poetry, All The Great Poets Are Dead.

Ground Up wants to make music about real life.

“I would like to think we make songs everyone can relate to – no rims, that’s just unrealistic,” Azar said.

“If people are going to take the time to listen, you might as well say something,” group manager and local rapper Jonathan “J-Row” Secchino said. “It all started when I met these guys. We were making magic.”

Azar had been rapping solo for two years before meeting McDowell and the group’s promoter, Robert Mooney. He produced Best Friends, the group’s current album.

The members met at freshman orientation last semester, seemingly by cosmic intervention, as McDowell and Mooney were supposed to have attended another orientation that was full.

Becoming more serious as the weeks passed, the McDowell and Azar began performing in their house, located near Main Campus, in February.

“We get a lot of noise complaints,” Mooney said.

“We listen to everything, even if we don’t like it,” Azar said. “Nowadays, you have to stay current.”

Case in point: Soulja Boy, whom the group considers a musical fraud.

“Even Soulja Boy is an influence because he is anti-Ground Up, making music for money,” Azar said.

Houshiarnejad, a California native, began making beats in high school.

“Al is the one who introduced me to hip-hop,” he said, “I played violin, guitar, piano. I was a musical kid and never really did anything with it. Music is my passion now.”

On his night table, Azar has a framed photo of philosopher and scholar Cornel West. On his wall is a quote by Henrik Ibsen: “The strongest man is the one who stands most alone.”

“All of my friends listened to hip-hop,” Azar said. “I just connected to it. When you see flaws in something, you want to do it better and make a contribution.”

“It’s a big process,” Zecchino said. “It takes a lot of thought, but we have fun with it, of course.”

“We all inspire each other,” Azar said of the group members. “We couldn’t do it by ourselves.”

Ground Up plans to play at nearby universities, and McDowell jokingly suggested cranking up the record at Best Buy and walking away.

Bianca Brown can be reached at bianca.brown0001@temple.edu.

Hip-Hop Funk an intense workout

Why go to Funkytown when the IBC is right on campus?

Cardiovascular workouts can make it difficult for participants to remain motivated as they exercise. The IBC Student Recreation Center offers a new cardio session that not only helps to burn calories but also improve dance moves.

Hip-Hop Funk is a workout offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays during the evenings to accommodate student participants’ busy school and work schedules.

“It is a lot of fun, even if I don’t get the routine right away,” said Aileen Rimando, a senior violin performance and music education major.

Rimando is a frequent dancer at Tuesday night sessions.

Tuesday night sessions of Hip-Hop Funk are taught by Alyssa Spangler, a junior kinesiology major. Spangler is also a member of Temple’s Diamond Gems dance team.

Each time, the class begins with a warm up, which isn’t difficult even for the rhythmically challenged. If the warm up is hard to understand at first, it can easily be learned with practice.

Each part of dances are taught and performed in counts of eight. After repeating the warm up several times in order to increase participants’ heart rates, dancers then move into a series of stretching moves.
Spangler said she wants to ensure every muscle is loose and each dancer is able to move without any tension in his or her body.

After simple stretching moves, it’s time to learn the dance routine.

Spangler goes over all the movements a few times to help make memorization of the routine easier. Although some of the routines can be long for those who don’t dance often, she always repeats the moves.

She also gives personal attention to anyone who is having difficulty with the moves. Spangler offers about 10 minutes of abdominal workout at the end of class for anyone who is interested, but it is not a mandatory part of the session.

“The Wednesday night sessions are such an intense cardio that I can barely breathe after that session,” said Rachel Halkias, a junior journalism major.

Halkais attends both the Tuesday and Wednesday night sessions with two different leaders. She does this to get the best out of the IBC Hip-Hop Funk experience.

Tuesday and Thursday night sessions have a more choreographed dance, and the routine is repeated a few times. Wednesday night sessions are typically made up of shorter dances, but the routines are repeated often to ensure a maximum cardio workout.

Don’t be discouraged from attending Tuesday and Thursday sessions because not everyone in the class is a skilled dancer. You won’t be the only one who will have to practice a few times before grasping it completely.

“Even if I don’t get the routine, it’s a great way for me to blow off steam,” said sophomore music education major Catherine Fish.

Stephanie Mullen can be reached at stephanie.mullen@temple.edu.

Local hip-hop duo defies stereotypes

With an enthralling message of environmental, communal and economic issues that potentially damage the psyche and pledge communities, a teenage girl is lost. Not in the sense that she is physically missing but lost in the challenges of her environment. Her story begins after she is raped by a classmate and left to raise a son alone. Her discoveries, misfortunes and triumphs blossom into a beauty that is usually missed by those who are lost on the surface.

Through eclectic elements and sensational sounds that challenge mainstream hip-hop, ((Stereo))type, a local hip-hop duo, is breaking musical barriers.

Temple alumnus Andre “Drematic” Pascoe and Villanova University alumnus David “Dalmar Verite” Brown recently celebrated the release of Ultrasound, their latest album.

Tracks include the hit song “The Grind,” “Poor Man’s Stroll,” “Don’t Leave (Baby Please)” and “2nd Tri.” There are also cameos from other artists including Brandon Tyler, Geovanni and Brittany Mason.

The album release was held in March at the Fire at the Philadelphia Bar & Grille, located at 412 W. Girard Ave.

“Playing at the Fire was a memorable experience,” Dalmar Verite said. “There are few experiences as gratifying as moving crowds.”

((Stereo))type has also performed at World Café Live, the Rotunda, the Underground, the 25th Annual Turks Head Music Festival, PhilaLive at Patterson’s Palace, the Raven Lounge and the Connelly Center at Villanova.

Last month, the group also released its first music video for “The Grind” online. So far, it has received about 1,000 hits.

Continuing to receive hits and sales of the album, ((Stereo))type is a refreshing musical group – nothing close to a stereotype.

According to the group’s biography, “the Philadelphia-based duo blends insightful social commentary, versatile poetic forms and jaw-dropping metaphorical lyricism while boldly forging a unique paradigm that honors the fidelity of black musical heritage.”

((Stereo))type’s lyrical sound confronts mainstream hip-hop culture to mature ideas and empower communities. Moreover, its music challenges people to strive above generational illnesses that have hindered social, political and economic sectors within communities.

Dalmar Verite calls ((Stereo))type’s music “unconventional,” and Drematic calls it “universal.”

“My mission is to help liberate consciousness,” Dalmar Verite said.

“My mission is to raise the bar creatively, in hopes of expanding what people think is possible for music, especially hip-hop,” Drematic said. “My ultimate goal is to be fulfilled creatively and to challenge listeners to demand more from themselves as well as the artists they entrust to entertain them. I’m all about the challenge.”

In 2007, ((Stereo))type came out with a mixtape, The Phillysophical Project.

“They were free, promotional in nature,” Drematic said.

Since then, ((Stereo))type has matured and will continue its growth.

“Five years from now, I plan on being on a much higher level creatively, spiritually, as well as socially, and I hope my art will reflect that,” Drematic said. “In that time period, I plan on expanding the ((Stereo))type musical catalog, creating an effective platform for a handful of artists that I respect, most notably, Brandon Tyler, Y?Arcka, Aquil, Ipso Facto and taking calculated steps to pursue other realms of expression. I plan on taking over pretty much.”

Drematic’s passions for music, journalism, African-American studies, photography and film are inspired by Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley, Nas, Tupac Shakur, Wu-Tang Clan and Spike Lee.

As the leader and founder of the INDIfferent Art Collective, Drematic dabbles in an array of artistic collaborations and provides a source for others who share interest in ushering a rebirth of hip-hop culture.

In contrast to his partner, Dalmar Verite’s inspirations include musicians Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart, J.S. Bach, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and Nina Simone.

According to his biography, he “seeks to infuse different aspects of many arts to expose the elements in the audio, visual and literary realms.”

For inspiration, Dalmar Verite uses a quote from Dr. Cornell West – an American philosopher, civil rights activist, author and professor.

“Music at its best is the grand archaeology into and transfiguration of our guttural cry, the great human effort to grasp in time – with the most temporal of the arts – our deepest passions and yearnings as prisoners of time,” West said. “Profound music leads us beyond language to the dark roots of our scream and the celestial heights of our silence.”

With a résumé of socially conscious music, ((Stereo))type strives to stay away from hip-hop stereotypes and plans to dynamically elevate the industry.

Trenae McDuffie can be contacted at trenae.mcduffie@temple.edu.

TTN Exclusive: Interview with rapper Nas

Photos by Juila Wilkinson

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Activists kick off Student Labor Action Week

Students, labor activists and artists filled a South Philadelphia art studio Friday night for “Voices of the Rebels,” as part of Student Labor Action Week, a week of protests and flier dissemination that will start in earnest on Monday.

Temple Student Labor Action Project and Jobs with Justice will continue their ongoing fight for improving the conditions of AlliedBarton by distributing informational material throughout the week.

Philadelphia hip-hop artists Rev 1 and Son of Nun, high school students from the Philadelphia Student Union and other Temple students also performed at SoulPurl, a hybrid stained glass and collage studio on South Ninth Street.

Caresh Walker, who runs SoulPurl with fellow artist Peter Javian, offered the space to the SLAP at the price of a night’s electricity bill and told them that they are welcome back whenever they like.

This week, students on campus will be offered fliers and handouts by SLAP on the conditions of AlliedBarton workers and other employees of Temple.

On Tuesday, SLAP and JWJ will support the protest of Temple’s professional and technical union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees local 1723, which is stalled in its negotiations for a new contract with the university. Temple is trying to institute a merit-based pay system, which would link pay raises to performance.

The week’s capstone event will be on Sunday, when activists and AlliedBarton workers will commemorate the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the birth of Caesar Chavez by marching from Arch Street Methodist Church to a currently undecided location. Organizers are considering marching to either the Kimmel Center, where a theater is named after AlliedBarton’s biggest shareholder, Ron Perelman, or AlliedBarton’s headquarters.

Organizers say that targeting Perelman will inextricably attach his name to the conditions of workers for the first time.

In his day job as an event coordinator for the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Walker frequently comes in contact with AlliedBarton guards.
“I know what they’re going through, and hearing about it sends a chill up my spine,” Walker said.

Jacob Winterstein, a senior geography and urban studies major, performed spoken-word poetry while Philadelphia artist Zack Dean stood next to him, furiously scrawling an image of queued marchers onto a canvas.

“The service economy is the dominant economy is this city, so it’s the most important to unionize,” Winterstein said. “As a Temple student, it’s imperative that I support workers at Temple.”

SLAP and JWJ have tried to unionize AlliedBarton workers since October 2004. Their most recent campaign began in September last year and focused on winning the workers five paid sick days.

Workers instead received a benefit of one sick day per year of full-time employment with a maximum of three sick days, which Fabricio Rodriguez, president of JWJ, called “a PR stunt.”
“They acted like they were cutting us a break, and it was a PR stunt,” said Rodriguez. “We will get everything we want because we are on the side of the angels.”

Andrew Thompson can be reached at andrew.thompson@temple.edu.

Learning through hip-hop

Hip-hop is an imperfect, but charming, language.

It is derogatory toward women, it thrives off power, sex and money, and it’s all one big bleep after all obscenities are taken out. But what great cultural movement in history didn’t have its kinks?

Hip-hop surrounds us. It blares through the headphones of the kid walking on the street, in the passing cars whose passengers are too cold to take off their coats, but too cool to roll up the windows, and from every DJ’s speakers.

So why, if it is inescapable, is it not used more in the classroom? If “Free Lil’ Kim” was on the syllabus of my Journalism and the Law class, getting up at 8:40 a.m. would be much easier.

If we, as students, are educated about American culture in general, why not also be educated about hip- hop culture? Hip-hop is often more accessible.

Here at Temple, the urban education department is paying attention to using music as a teaching tool. Marc Lamont Hill has taught several classes on hip-hop and urban culture. As a senior, I regret not being able to take one of his classes, where students often listen to lyrics and debate their meaning.

“That’s a common misconception about the class,” Hill said. “Hip-hop studies are rigorous and academically rich. One-third is music and the rest is reading.”

One book assigned is The American Project by Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh, which breaks down what Venkatesh calls the modern ghetto and housing projects.

“It helps students understand the social aspect of the people who live in the projects, and how the housing culture shapes people,” Hill said.

But to understand the deeper meaning of their lyrics, it’s necessary to understand what flaws in society fell on their shoulders.

“We use rappers to understand society,” Hill said.

In Hill’s class, and in classrooms around the country, students are studying the culture, history and politics of hip-hop.

“It’s just like you would with any other cultural phenomenon. It is a means to understand broader issues in gender, class, sexuality and urbanization,” Hill said.

“I am most delighted to see people that think they know everything about hip-hop, give them new lenses to look at it through, and see how surprised they are by the academically rich, vibrant and thoughtful [context] of hip-hop and the possibilities they see in themselves.”

Hip-hop started as an outlet for a victimized race, and while the journey from Afrika Bambaataa, the godfather of hip-hop, to Soulja Boy has been anything but customary, the genre has become tailored with grills, a clothing line, and new dance moves.

Jena Williams can be reached at jena.williams@temple.edu.

Hall meets Oates, makes music history

The story has been told so many times that they recount it the same whether they are together or not. It is the story of how Hall & Oates, one of the most successful duos in rock history, came to be.

“It was at the Adelphi Ballroom in West Philly,” said Daryl Hall, 61, the taller, blonder and more vocally present of the pair. “A fight broke out between high school fraternities and gangs. Chains and knives came out, and the whole room erupted.”
“We went in a service elevator,” said John Oates, 58, shorter, with dark curly hair.

“That’s where we met,” added Hall, in a telephone interview with The Temple News from his home in upstate New York.
From that famed 1967 WDAS-sponsored Battle of the Bands came a group of two former Temple students who sold more than 60 million records worldwide, produced eight No. 1 singles, and still tour today – four decades after they first hit the road.

Raised in North Wales, John Oates attended North Penn High School. However, he had aspirations beyond his small Montgomery County suburban childhood.

“I wanted more of a city experience and to get involved in the music business,” Oates said in a telephone interview. “That’s where Temple came in for me.”

Oates came to Temple in 1966, taking the train in each day. He taught guitar lessons and slowly involved himself in the burgeoning Philadelphia music scene. Oates was a journalism student, crafting his writing skills on an old typewriter in the then-new Annenberg Hall.

“I satisfied everything I needed to satisfy on campus and pretty much spent the rest of my time playing music,” Oates said.

Hall grew up in Pottstown, at the time a small town outpost rather than part of the Philadelphia suburban sprawl. By 17, he wanted out.

“I guess you could say that I had a pretty wild childhood,” Hall said. “I had vague ideas of a music career. I was always a musician.”
He said his choice of Temple was an outgrowth of that.

“It was considered to be the city college,” he said. “I wanted to move to Philadelphia for the music.”

And move he did – first to Overbrook, then to Mount Airy, and after becoming friends with Oates, to a Philly row-home on 406 S. Quince St. It is as an effective memorial to Hall & Oates as any. Though they’ve both left Philadelphia – Hall to upstate New York and Oates to Colorado – there is no questioning this city’s importance to the pair.

“If I ever had a home there, it was on Quince Street,” Hall said.

LIFE AS LEGENDS

Though their names may not be as familiar to young listeners of today, their music remains widespread.
Hip-hop group Young Gunz, another Philadelphia duo, sampled the 1977 Hall & Oates hit “Rich Girl” for their 2004 album Tough Luv. Wu-Tang Clan, De la Soul and Mobb Deep have all also sampled the duo. And they still retain a devoted following.
In January, Oates announced he would start work on a second solo album sometime next month in Nashville. He has also been working on a one-man, acoustic show.

Hall has been experimenting with podcasts, playing with a host of different artists at his home, appropriately titled “Live from Daryl’s House.” The next production premieres March 15 at www.livefromdarylshouse.com.

In May, the performing rights organization Broadcast Music, Inc. will support the group at the 56th-annual Pop Awards in Los Angeles for being among the most influential pop icons in American popular music history.

“I like to think of ourselves as originators that are a part of a great tradition,” Oates said. “The sound of Hall & Oates is the sound of Philadelphia.”

SCHOOLDAY MEMORIES

Neither Oates, who graduated in 1970, nor Hall, who dropped out, have been back to Main Campus in years. The closest was a drive by to visit the Uptown Theater while they were shooting a documentary about the roots of R&B music. Temple, the school in the city, was never as important as Temple, the time in their lives, for this pair.

“We put in our time. We had our friends. Our lives were centered off campus,” Hall said. “If I had a picture of Temple, it is hanging outside of Mitten Hall and singing . . . hanging on those steps with friends, street corner singing.”

“I got a good education, got a diploma,” Oates said. “It allowed me to have an entrée into the music business.”

Moreover, Temple affected where Oates calls home. In January 1968, then an underclassman, Oates walked passed the old student union building on North Broad Street and was stopped by a small sign advertising a ski trip to Aspen, Colorado. It was the first time he was ever on a plane and the first time he saw his future home.

But Philadelphia has had a lasting impact on both multiplatinum-selling, former Temple students.

“You don’t leave Philly. I traveled the world, but it is just one of those things,” Hall said. “I feel like the whole city is my cousin.”

Christopher Wink can be reached at cwink@temple.edu.

Come on, Bill: a review of Bill Cosby’s “Come on People”

It was around 2004 and the 50th anniversary of the Brown versus Board of Education Supreme Court decision that Bill Cosby began his transformation from legendary entertainer to third rail.

“People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education, and now we’ve got these knuckleheads,” he said addressing an audience in Washington back in the summer of 2005. “The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting.”

He has taken an active role in criticizing the shortcomings of black American culture, in the parenting, lifestyles and priorities. For it, he has gotten the Huxtable beaten out of him from black leaders, progressive whites, race commentators and activists of every other size, agenda and caliber.

He has tried to develop dialogue, through his discussions and speeches, even his Web site.

The thing is, news about Bill Cosby, who first went to Temple in the 1960s before leaving to pursue his comedy career, is intensely important to any Temple student worth the Hooter in their heart. And, you gotta at least respect someone for thinking an issue so important that he bets his career, his reputation is worth risking. The Cos has done both, news and risk, again.

Last month, Cosby and his longtime collaborator Dr. Alvin Poussaint, a Harvard professor of psychiatry, put out their latest attempt at enacting change, this a book from the world’s largest Christian publisher, Thomas Nelson, called “Come on People.”

The book is full of the things he has been saying in interviews and town hall meetings, at conferences and during speeches. Unabashed criticism for a sometimes undefined segment of the black population.

“…Black English in school and on the job gets the user nowhere,” Cosby and Poussaint wrote wrote.

For criticizing black slang, in addition to hip-hop music, materialism and other plagues they see in black culture, Cosby has been derided as a sell-out, his very authenticity as a black man questioned, despite his North Philadelphia upbringing, his seminal place as a black entertainer, and the reality of the place he seems to direct his words: the black community, not mainstream whites, as some have criticized his tenets most serve.

“When African Americans are committed to something, they make it happen,” he and Poussaint wrote. “The civil rights bills did not pass just because white people decided it was an idea whose time had come. We made it happen.”

“We all have some piece of Frederick Douglass in us… a slave wanting to read…” they continued.

Still, the criticism comes.

“While I don’t question his love for black people, his recent actions have appeared more venomous than valuable,” wrote Marc Lamont Hill, a professor of education at Temple, in the Baltimore Sun last month. “More condescending than caring and more hateful than helpful.”

At times, ‘Come on People‘ reads like an instruction manual – including things like advice about getting finances in order – but it is tough to believe those they hope to convince are going to read it. Community meetings might be a better forum, and I would be surprised if the Cos and his Harvard M.D. buddy didn’t realize. I suspect ‘Come on People’ is a way for him to promote his message, to get gigs on “Meet the Press,” as he did Oct. 14, and “Larry King Live” and other talk shows, as he has.

When this movement of his began back in 2004, Cosby told CNN that, “this is about little children, and people not giving them better choices.”

I can believe it. And, like most who aren’t living in the Richard Allen projects or Norris Homes, I agree. But what might matter most is the progress Cosby is making, which, sadly, appears to be not much. He hasn’t brought on enough high-profile black Americans to his side. Perhaps for the same reason his mission hasn’t caused much more than criticism. His influence may be waning, inching one of the most important, most iconic, most impersonated entertainers from the 20th century towards irrelevance.

Christopher Wink can be reached at cwink@temple.edu.

Bill Cosby to lay it down, a hip hop album

Temple’s favorite alumni and Board of Trustees member Bill Cosby is planning to release a hip-hop album titled State of Emergency, according to AllHipHop.com. Cosby, 70, has spoken out against vulgar rap music in the past, but his album is reportedly clean and issue oriented.

This album will be the Cos’ 35th to date.

Alex Irwin can be reached at a.irwin@temple.edu.

The Roots rock McGonigle

As should be expected from Temple, the doors that claimed to be opened by 7 p.m. were really opened closer to 8. Needless to say, Saturday night was a gorgeous 47 degrees with the ghastly wind making it feel more like 38 degrees. Luckily, the doors were opened just in time to prevent any students from suffering hypothermia.

Unfortunately, Temple students had to bear another hour and a half before The Roots would take stage. Until then, we were forced to listen to a horrible opening rap act and Temple TSG students killing time by talking about Homecoming events.

Finally, the announcement that The Roots were coming out was made, the lights went off and everyone scanned the stage, holding their collective breath from anticipation, for the band members to appear.

Just as we thought we were being hoodwinked again, we heard a faint beat from the other end of the gym. And there they were.

Led by drummer ?uestlove, The Roots walked out from the upper level entrance by the bleachers of McGonigle Hall. ?uestlove and the other drummer beat wooden blocks with their drumsticks on their way onstage.

Although few beat it out of there, the crowd’s energy seemed low throughout the concert. Whether that was due to waiting outside in the cold for more than an hour or the horrible opening rap act, one may never know.

Though The Roots’ individual songs were not outstanding, the best part of the show was indisputably the solos performed by each musician. The bassist started the solos with an outstanding performance, followed by the drummers, guitarist and the keyboardist, interspersing each solo with songs from their new album “Game Theory.”

It was no surprise that ?uestlove’s drum solo was by far the best. Known for his expertise in percussion – and his malleable fro –, he’s played on tracks for Christina Aguilera, Joss Stone, D’Angelo and was part of the “Philadelphia Experiment,” a collaborative jazz album featuring only city artists. But his set on Saturday night left his arms tirelessly flying across the drum set and left everyone in attendance speechless.

As they played their “final” song and said their “have a good night”s, most students seemed eager to exit the hall and skip the possible encore. But The Roots didn’t even fake an exit; the lights turned off for several seconds then turned back on as the MC Black Thought began talking again. Within seconds they were playing their hit “The Seed 2.0″ from 2002 album, “Phrenology” captivating the audience once again.

“The Seed 2.0″ kicked off a set of hip-hop covers including Talib Kweli’s “Get By,” T.I.’s “Why You Wanna,” Lil Jon’s “Snap Your Fingers” and the many-covered rock hit, “Black Betty.” This encore was by far the biggest crowd pleaser, allowing The Roots to leave on a high energy note. Just as they had come in, The Roots exited via the bleachers and around the upper level of the gym as students shouted their admiration and touched whichever band member they could.

Morgan Ashenfelter can be reached at morgan.a@temple.edu.

Next Page »