FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1998 All Rights Reserved.
| MUSIC Maestro Long before Coldcut or KRS-One ever laid their hands on that durable organ sample from the Mohawks's "Champ," there was "Let Your Backbone Slide" by Maestro Fresh Wes. Released in the late '80s, it came just at the right time, literally blowing up and making Canucks country-wide realize that the nation can and will make decent stabs at hip hop. "Backbone" was immense, ripping it not only in the clubs but on mainstream charts as well. And while it looked like bigger things were in store for Maestro Fresh Wes, that first single has turned out to be his most popular and acclaimed effort to date. Jump to the present and almost a decade later, Maestro (dropping his last two names) is back on the streets with his fourth album, Built to Last, serving notice that he's going to kick it again on the national level. Undoubtedly, there will be those who will be presumptuous and dismiss his effort as a crazy attempt at a comeback way after the fact, but think about it - has anything new or groundbreaking in hip hop really happened since the beginning of the '90s? Has Maestro missed so much that he's completely missed the hip hop boat? Not really. "When I dropped Symphony in Effect," recalls Maestro from his hometown, Toronto, "that was '89. Kool G Rap was out with Dead or Alive at that same time, (Big Daddy) Kane was out with his second album, NWA was out, Public Enemy was out. So different dimensions of hip hop were already out there. Every aspect of the game was out there. There's nothing new (since that time), really. There's different styles, different flows, what have you. But concept-wise, there haven't been that many (new ideas)." What has changed from the time Maestro dropped his debut album in 1989 to his most recent album, is that there are now pockets (albeit small ones) of hip hop across the country today. Artists like the Rascalz on the West Coast to Hip Club Groove on the East have joined the hip hop recording fraternity, as well as all the regions in between where people would never expect to see hip hop exist. "I remember a show in Saskatoon," says Maestro, "this cat was freestylin' off his head, man, you know what I'm sayin'? This cat was mad nice - really dope. That's why I never sleep on any region, because America's been sleeping on us. So imagine a cat from Saskatchewan knowing that Toronto slept on him. He's gonna bring it, you know what I mean?" While there are very few hip hop artists with the kind of passion and longevity Maestro has, he realizes that many more are in the industry to make the fast buck. He believes the recording industry is just that, and ultimately it is a game of one person exploiting another in some form. "This is a record business - you've got to sell records," says Maestro. "I've accepted that fact and this is what I've chosen to do. So when groups come out and do stuff that I'm not really feelin', I'm not gonna point my finger at them. I know we're all being exploited in one way or the other, and we have more similarities than differences. So you never heard me, on record, ever, disrespect a man for doing his thing. "When Public Enemy came out, they were so powerful, they didn't have to say anything derogatory towards NWA or 2 Live Crew, who were different (from them). But they recognized that PE and NWA and 2 Live Crew had more similarities than differences." |