Tanya Morgan — Live @ SOBs

Monday night shows can be hit or miss.

Patrons need a good excuse before blowing 4 days worth of rest on the first night of the work week.

A damn good excuse.

If its a dinner or happy hour, then in better be dinner or happy hour with an old friend who is only in town on that Monday.

If its a concert, it better be a concert featuring an act who rarely performs, or an act that you’re personally invested in and not sure when you’ll see again live.

Its the difference between “must see” and “might see.”

And even those who classify an event as “must see” still might leave early. Its Monday after all. People have to work tomorrow.

Tanya Morgan headlined a solid line up this past Monday. Bronx upstart Emcee, YC The Cynic, P.SO of the AOK Collective, and North Carolina natives Kooley High joined “a team called Tanya” on SOBs legendary stage.

Mic to plug, the show was quality.

YC The Cynic continues his props-snatching city wide tour, running through now crowd favorites “The Return of Slick”, “Why Cee La”, and “Say Superman” while also bringing out Homeboy Sandman to assist on “We Aint Scared”.

P.SO, formerly P.Casso, delivered as expected, bringing out Von Pea, Homeboy Sandman, with several members of AOK lurking in the background for one of the most official live posse cuts I’ve seen in some time. Other than an odd “Guitar Hero” segment — where P.SO attempted to rock the actual “Guitar Hero” guitar live on stage (with little success), confusing a number of people in attendance — “The Earth Tone King” put together a rather tight set.

“Kooley High / truly high / spittin mathematics. / Got you addicted like a bad drug habit.”

Raleigh based Kooley High arguably generated the nights largest crowd reaction. From there visual and sonic diversity, to their Golden Era angled set (Biggie remakes, Michael Jackson tribute), to their live poetry segment, to their bounce friendly ode “Mami Is A Dancer” complete with an accompanying jig — there was something for everyone.

Tanya Morgan debuted their video for “Bang & Boogie”, Brooklynati’s next single, before hitting the stage for their live set. Judging by crowd reaction, Von Pea, DonWill, and Ilyas did not disappoint.

Unfortunately — since it was a Monday night after all — the vast majority of those remaining in the building were press related or fellow supportive artists. All walk-ins, SOBs regulars, etc left the venue before the headliners hit the stage.

To put it in perspective, SOBs was more packed for the opening act than it was for the headliner.

FACT.

Monday shows are like that — unpredictable. Those of us still around for Tanya Morgan were personally invested to be there. Maybe we were friends or had a friend rocking that night. Maybe we were press covering the event.

Maybe we worked for SOBs…

That part is less important. The overall quality of the show is the only thing that matters.

And front to back, each act entertained.

Regardless of who was left to witness.

YC the Cynic and Homeboy Sandman

Hot off the presses, er, camera, check out Homeboy Sandman and YC the Cynic throwing down at SOB’s on February 24th.

Initiative Radio Salutes Ralph McDaniels

Don’t miss this historic as we salute and celebrate one of the most important people in the history of Hip-Hop – BHF host, Bodega mentor and inspiration Uncle Ralph McDaniels.

Initiative Radio with Angela McKenzie Salutes Black History Maker Ralph McDaniels
Hosted by our own Wes Jackson

Friday February 19th
9pm
Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery
NYC

With: Homeboy Sandman, Children Of The Night, Prophit, Eric Sosa and more

For more info email amck83@hotmail.com
Or visit the Angela’s site

Still need some something to whet your appetite and make you go to the event? Then check this out: Angela McKenzie re-airs portions of her exclusive interview with Ralph MaDaniels along with commentary from a new generation of Hip-Hop artists and entrepreneurs; an interview with Kool DJ Red Alert, the man who bestowed the moniker Uncle Ralph upon McDaniels early in his career and shout-outs from other music industry insiders, including Wes Jackson. Take a listen and get on out to BPC on Friday.

In

Homeboy Sandman rocks “Paralell Perpendicular” at Forever Fresh

Farewell Forever Fresh – Canibus Recap

Its been quite a journey for The Greatest Rapper That Never Made it.

The journey continues for Jah C, the mind behind the increasingly popular Forever Fresh concert series.

Canibus came into the game with Nas-like buzz, blitzkrieg-ing mixtapes and battle cyphers in the mid to late nineties like a German offensive — terrorizing would be lyrical foes metaphor after metaphor.  Had his fortunes been different, had he never brazenly blasted LL Cool J on the infamous diss track “Second Round KO” or teamed up with Wyclef to drop one of the most disappointing debut albums in Hip Hop history (Can-I-Bus), perhaps his legacy would be more substantial.  Perhaps we would remember him less for his untapped promise, and more for those 7 other — rather obscure — albums he dropped over the course of the last decade.

Frontman for Underground jam band The Antidote, Jah C has financed, organized, and promoted Forever Fresh, a steadily growing, consistently reliable Brooklyn based Hip Hop concert series.  Since 2008 he’s hosted legends like KRS-ONE, Nice & Smooth, Talib Kweli, Styles P, to popular under the radar rappers like R.A. The Rugged Man, AG & OC, to rising stars such as Homeboy Sandman, Wordspit, YC The Cynic.  Had his fortunes been different, had Forever Fresh been less successful and not opened additional doors to more conflicting responsibilities brand managing events for Red Bull, perhaps he would be able to continue crafting and adding to the Forever Fresh legacy.

This past Monday, Canibus headlined the Forever Fresh Finale, the concert series’ final throw down.

Bronx native YC The Cynic opened the festivities displaying the slick wordplay and I-can’t-believe-he’s-only-nineteen delivery thats now generating a buzz throughout the 5Boroughs.  With only one mixtape to his name, YC dazzled the crowd with quotables like “I’d rather stick six foot daggers in my lips than be average / or un-adequate, / back from the forefront, / or un-accurate more young dumb rap advocates” and “these wack rap cats double my age. / YC’s in the building like government planes.” Its rare to see opening acts with little notoriety earn immediate respect from fickle rap Hip Hop audiences.  YC raised the bar straight out the gate.

Brooklyn Bodega December Show & Prove victors St. Joe Louis followed with ample energy, ripping through their set with dreadlocks swinging, closing out with their raucous anthem “Black Magic.”

Che Grand rocked suitably through his array of mixtape jams.  The undeniable highlight occurred when Brooklynati homies, Von Pea and Don Will of Tanya Morgan joined him for a surprise guest appearance.  During set closer “Live N***** Only”, Che spit his final verse crowd level stating “I don’t even know the rest of this shit. Too much Jameson…” A rather suspect ending to a fairly decent set.

Two-thirds of rap trio Dominion touched down in a major way.  Pack FM and Mr. Mecca picked up the slack for third member, Substantial (who was snowed in in Baltimore), bringing hard beats and menacing rhymes straight to the face, charisma oozing through every lyric.  Each emcee took time out to kick solo tracks, culminating with Pack FM’s jollily edutaining “Happy Days.”

As always, Homeboy Sandman delivered with his performance, running through “Not Pop”, “Fuel”, “Lightning Bolt. Lightning Rod”, “Airwave Air Raid”, and the sublime “Parallel Perpendicular”, catching much love all along the way, garnering the night’s second largest crowd response.

I’ll say this first, Canibus rocked a solid set, hitting the audience with what they paid to hear — “Second Round KO” and “Buckingham Palace” — a hand full of new joints from his recently released LP “Melatonin Magic”, a worthy Big Daddy Kane tribute, and several other tracks that a couple cats seemed to remember.  He looked energized on stage, smiling often, as if he genuinely enjoyed himself.  Occasionally he stumbled through lyrics.  Occasionally he seemed surprised more people didn’t remember more of his other songs from his other albums.  Overall he did what any professional Emcee is supposed to do: rock the mic right.

The real story is the fact that Canibus still brings heads to the venue.  Cats came out to see The Greatest Rapper That Never Made It on a cold Monday night in Brooklyn — some actually wearing Canibus Tees!  The initial impact that this Emcee had over a decade ago is still enough to interest enough people to pay to see him perform today.  That part is refreshingly surprising.

Whats not surprising is the overall quality of Forever Fresh’s final lineup.  From YC to “Can-I”, every performer exhibited a solid range of lyrical skill, showmanship and passion for The Culture.  Thats what will be missed most about this concert series: the diversity and reliability of every bill.

Thats where Jah C deserves credit.

Whether its KRS or Canibus, Styles P or Hezekiah, Nice & Smooth or Eternia — as an Emcee, you had to be dope to grace this stage.

As a fan, it was dope to witness each event.

Farewell Forever Fresh.

Bodega Approved Feb 5th

Bodega Approved for This Week.
All about the brother J Yancey

Canibus set to battle it out in Brooklyn

The night before Canibus releases his new album, Melatonin Magik, he will be performing live at Southpaw in Brooklyn in anticipation of the event. As an added bonus, he will be joined by Bodega favorite, Homeboy Sandman. This show comes on the heels of the announcement that the 4Hrsmn (a group Canibus was part of) will be re-forming.

Sandman, Dominion
Monday, February 8th, 8 PM
Southpaw, 125 Fifth Ave, Park Slope
$10-$15

Homeboy Sandman on MTV

Check out the brother (and BHF Alum) on MTV dropping some gems.
This is a good look!

New Homeboy Sandman (produced by J57 of BBAS)

New from our brother and BHF alum Homeboy Sandman – an unreleased cut from his upcoming album. Getting some spins on DJ Premier’s show on Sirius and Cipha and Rosenberg debuted it on hot 97 yesterday. The track was produced by J57 of Brown Bag All Stars

ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES

Homeboy Sandman to host Second Stage

Brooklyn Bodega also announced the addition of Homeboy Sandman as host of the second stage and DJ Brina Payne as the DJ for the second stage.
Sandman performed at the 2008 Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival and had been a part of the Bodega Family ever since. After wowing crowds all over the city Sandman has become a staple of New York Hip-Hop. The rest of the country should get ready for Homeboy Sandman as he is set to hit the road this summer promoting his two albums, “Nourishment” and “Actual Factual Pterodactyl.”

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