Preview
ROOTS
February 9, 16 and 23
Brew Brothers
It sounds monumental, if not a bit presumptuous, to attempt to tell the history of hip hop and rap in three days, but that’s exactly what Calgary outfit Allciti is endeavouring to do. Since last year they’ve been organizing an event that attempts to reflect the involvement of African-Americans in popular music. This three-day series is entitled Roots: A Tribute to Blues-The Father of All North American Music-The Culture of African-Americans.
The first instalment, "The Genesis of Blues, Funk and Soul," features a live performance by Motown legend Gary Martin and the Jr. Funk Bros, and DJ Pump. The following week, "The Evolution" celebrates the 30th anniversary of hip hop with live performances by Firearms Quartet, Blackrose and the Allciti crew featuring DJ Finesse. The series concludes with "The Movement," which features reggae and dance hall music with live performances by Ibo and KinDread, and Boomshot Sound.
As a Calgary rap group Allciti considers organizing this event their duty and co-founder and MC Ryan Perez says it isn’t about promoting his band, but rather sharing this music with the world.
"We’re more than a rap group. We want to bring people back to the past," he says. "There are a lot of negative connotations about hip hop. We want to change that. We want to reverse that. We want to be the good example, you know – show a lifestyle of young males that are students or entrepreneurs. Show people that there are other ways to make money than going on the street and selling drugs.
"If people come to our shows, they aren’t going to hear us rap about gang violence and guns. The whole idea is that we’re providing edu-tainment. When we’re doing our shows, you learn about the history of music, especially with this show. We see that people are embracing the hip-hop music and culture, but no one knows where it came from. No one knows the history, so they don’t pay respect or have any respect for all music. We want to show the evolution of music. If they knew how rap started, they’d know about the Last Poets."
Even in a history as complex and fantasy-ridden as rap and hip hop, the influence of the Last Poets is hard to undermine.
Upon meeting in prison, inmates Jalaluddin Mansur Nuriddin, Omar Ben Hassen and Abiodun Oyewole unknowingly guided the birth of a musical genre that would become one of the most powerful music movements of the 20th century. After their release from prison, the trio returned to the ghettos of Harlem and began performing their fusion of spiels – an early form of rap mixing spoken word and singing – and musical backing on street corners. In 1969, on Malcolm X's birthday, they officially formed The Last Poets, assuming the name from the work of South African Little Willie Copaseely. A year later, The Last Poets had a record deal and released a collection of works condemning white oppression and black apathy
"It started out as a political movement, but we don’t see it today," says Perez. "We want to show people a better appreciation for the form. We’re being judged on the street today. Kids (are) wearing bandanas and baggy pants and can’t get jobs because people (think) that we’re all about gansta rap, but that’s not the roots. It’s not what we’re about.
"We want people to respect all music, and that’s why we chose to put on this event during Black History Month. We believe that the industry commercialized rap and turned it against us. The industry didn’t like groups Public Enemy and NWA. We’re saying ‘Fuck the Police.’ They didn’t want rap to be about social change." |
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