KUUMBA FREEQUE Interview

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Friday, Dec 4, 2009. Lower Life Form performs at The Standard in Houston, TX and delivers a top-notch stage show. This clip contains the end of the show, where they perform “Run Go Get It”, along with a freestyle jam at the end. Drummer Eggy assures me that it was completely improvised. I believe him.

This is a jam session recorded during Lower Life Form’s rehearsal a few months ago. The lineup has changed a little since this footage was shot, but I think it was too good to not share. This is a good precursor to tonight’s show at The Standard.

We’re getting close to the finish line! Our week-long look at Lower Life Form brings us a look inside a recent session for “Classic Brew”, a joint project between LLF’s Brew and H.I.S.D’s E. Classic. Remix was working on cuts. The Standard is tomorrow. Already.

We’ve reached the halfway point of our week-long look at Lower Life Form. This footage is from a recent practice session, where they were working on “Story Of My Life”. The Standard is going to be unbelievable this Friday!

We continue our week-long Lower Life Form event with a retelling of the infamous “brownies” incident. They’re performing at The Standard this Friday. There won’t be any brownies there.

Full story after the jump:

Several months ago, I drove down to Austin, TX, where Lower Life Form was deep into recording their new album, their first with the live band. I can’t remember the name of the studio, but it was located in a pretty unassuming area of town; basically and old house that had been gutted out and reborn as a studio. A nice studio at that – but you couldn’t tell from the outside.

I arrived on the second day of their residency there, and immediately saw the trappings of a typical Low Life event: beer, pizza, and the bag of… what are those, brownies? I love brownies!

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa – these are special brownies”, said Wayne, the bassist at the time. I understood what “special” meant.

“I’ll pass. The pizza isn’t special, is it?” To my relief, the pizza had not been altered. I dug in and enjoyed.

The bag of brownies began to make its rounds. I noticed that everyone was taking pretty small bites – no more than half a brownie. They all spoke of the “richness” of the brownies, and didn’t want to get carried away. That is, everybody except Brew. Brew reached in and grabbed two complete brownies – 4 times the recommended serving size. And it just went downhill from there.

Luckily for the band, they were only recording scratch vocals, so it didn’t matter if the MCs were all the way on point. As the rest of the band recorded music, Brew sweated away in his own vocal booth, although it was about 60 degrees in the studio. He began to speak his own lagnuage. His eyes were closed for much of the session. Durig their next break, Brew stretched himself out on the couch and became unresponsive, meeting each question with a series of primal grunts and moans. I don’t think he even remembers much from that day.

In this video, the members of the band recall Brew’s spiritual journey, courtesy of a bag of magical brownies.

-Damien-

In honor of Lower Life Form’s performance at The Standard this Friday, we’re spending an entire week with the guys. We’ve dubbed this first installment “The Low Life”.

We wrap up HISD Week by having a talk with 1/3 of the production team, King Midas. Thanks again to Flash Gordon Parks  for the footage. Come meet the gang in person tonight at The Standard.

Catch The original “Get To Know HISD” and more after the jump.

Get To Know… H.I.S.D. from Ethos Music Group on Vimeo.

Some time during the making of his Taster’s Choice album, D. Rose emailed me a track called “The Caper” that he wanted Big Mon and me to hop on. No problem. We wrapped it up in about 24 hours and got it back to him. When I asked him who made the track, he said “This kid named King Midas. He’s one of the producers for H.I.S.D.”

Again with these H.I.S.D. cats! I still hadn’t officially met the crew, but they were definitely making their mark on the scene. A few months later, I receive a call from Midas, introducing himself and askig if I’d be willing to write to a track that he just created for their Summer Sessions EP. I’m always down to write, and i’d heard nothing but good things about him, so I said YES with no hesitation. I wouldn’t discover until months later that Justin “8 Months” Lewis was the one that referred him to me. Midas was  looking for guest spots on the song, and after running through a laundry list of talent, 8 Months suggested that he let me take a crack at it. The rest is history. “Summer So Good” was created.

In the time since, i’ve probably spent more time around him than any other musician around here. King Midas is a fascinating study, because he epitomizes the term “student of the game”. It isn’t simply enough for him to know whether something sounds good or not; he needs to understand WHY. I’ve only seen 2 or 3 other producers that are as meticulous at music creation as he is. One of them is DJ Cozmos, who he aligned himself with to form King Coz. It’s amazing to see how these two, nearly a generation apart, seem to have been cut from the same cloth.

I don’t think Midas ever takes a day off. He’s always working on music. Sometimes working on tracks just for practice. Not too long ago, he worked on a track for about 12 hours, only to discard it at the end of the day. He understands that some of your greatest lessons are learned from failures.

His home contains “The Gold Room” where the HISD collective meets every week to write, record, and debate. It’s a haven for creativity, and they’re all fortunate to have a place where they can tap into that synergy and bring ideas to life.

A simple blog post won’t give you an idea of how far-reaching his talent is. I’ll let his body of work over the next year or so speak for itself. And yes – i’m documenting every move. He’s one to watch.

-Damien-

By the way, he co-produced the KO “Willie Turner” project with DJ Cozmos. Here’s a taste:

The Legendary KO “Ch 2 – Laid Off (Snippet)” from The Ballad of Willie Turner

[audio:http://k-otix.com/koweekly/02%20Laid%20Off%20Snippet.mp3]

We’ve reached the penultimate chapter (big words!) of HISD WEEK, where DJ Soul One literally takes us on a trip. I need to work on my puns. Flash Gordon’s behind the camera. See HISD at The Standard tomorrow.

Background music: Lower Life Form “Move To The Side” (Produced by Soul One)

[audio:http://k-otix.com/koweekly/Lower%20Life%20Form%20-%20Move%20To%20The%20Side%20(Produced%20by%20Soul%20One).mp3]

Lower Life Form is hosting The Standard. Coincidence? No.

More below:

Soul One was the person that introduced me to H.I.S.D.

I’d already known him for years as one of the “young boys” on the scene, an up and coming DJ who kind of studied under the wing of DJ Cipher. Kind of an interesting read because he started as a DJ with no real affiliation; he made a name for himself through his own accord.

He was part of the crew that played ball at a local YMCA on Sunday nights. This was when I had hops. I think it was one of those Sundays when he first told me about H.I.S.D.:

(Pulled from my fragmented memory)

Me: “So what are you working on these days. I see that you’ve started producing now.”

Soul One: “Actually, i’m working on an album now with this new crew. Kind of like a collective.”

“Anybody I know?”

“Maybe. You heard of Savvi?”

“Yeah, Savvi’s cool. I finally met him not too long ago. I told him we need to work together.”

“Well, Savvi kinda put this group together. It’s like 4 MCs and 3 or 4 producers.”

“Damn – putting together your own Wildstyle!”

{Muted laugh} “Heh. Yeah, it’s really kinda cool”

“What’s it called?”

{Pause to figure out how he’s going to explain it} “Okay. The name of the crew is H.I.S.D.”

“Like… the school district?”

“Yeah but no. It stands for Hueston Independent Spit District, But Hueston is spelled with an H-U-E instead of H-O-U.”

“Okay – I follow you.”

“The one thing we’re still working on is the ‘S’, because it can really stand for anything, like Soul or Slang-”

“Or Southside.”

{Very reluctant laugh} “No – not really.”

I may have embellished the last part of my story, but I credit Soul One with introducing me to this collective of talent. He functions as their DJ, and 1/3 of their production team.

Whatever you do, don’t ask him about the time he tried to throw me an alley-oop; he’s thought little of me ever since.

-Damien-