Cultural diversions illustrates
Boise’s musical progression

Let’s take it back, way back to the roots of rap – where

Project OM took it Friday night in the Jordan Ballroom with one of

BSU’s own English professors, Norm Weinstein.

Now who would have imagined that this older cat who teaches at BSU

would have this kind of knowledge to bring to the table? You had to

be there to really feel it. Weinstein played seven selections of

music that represented the roots of hip-hop. “You gotta honor the

ancestors,” he said to the cheers of the crowd.

The first selection, “Young Girl,” was a six-year-old African girl

banging shells together to make a beat while she chanted a counting

song. This began eight centuries before drum machines were

invented, according to Weinstein. Other selections included word

magicians and Pine Top Perkins, a blues pianist from 1929 who later

played for Muddy Waters.

The usual suspects were in attendance passing out their CDs: Verb,

Mad Ro, Tay, and – okay I admit: I passed one of my own out

to the Wonder Twins from New York who were passing out their copies

of The Connex magazine and promoting their Sirius radio shows. Lord

Vader even happen to privy me to his plans to make the front half

of an Impala into a BBQ grill!

DJ Styles and Obe One were spinnin’ while the break-dancers got

down, and cyper sessions were breakin’ out all over the place.

Twelve emcees battled it out over a hot mic to be crowned the emcee

of the night. Each was given forty-five seconds to claim the prize.

Dirty, Gravity, Nemisis, Mike, Mr. Evil, J-Rey, I.B., Space man,

Muchedi, B-Kashz, and Tripleopts kept it hot while DJ Rob spun a

web of beats.

I caught up with Nemisis, age 21 out of Virginia, and asked him how

he felt about rap and hip-hop in Boise. “Be easy, keep it real with

yourself and your area. If you’re not in the streets of New York,

don’t try to act like you are. Om, this is underground, and Boise

is getting too commercial, everyone is trying to make the next

radio hit.”

B-Kashz responded to the same question with “It’s a gold mine

waitin’ to happen.” I must say that I concur, and with events like

Project Om that continue to be put on in support of the urban

lifestyle, those who stay down will be the ones comin’ up.

Danaka Oliver
A&E Writer

Related Posts:

1. 2010: A musical odyssey
2. 10 anticipated movies: Mayhem, a musical and a bit of mirth
3. Snow Patrol blankets Boise’s musical landscape
4. Cultural Diversity
5. Palin boosts ‘SNL’ audience and its cultural relevance