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Pasadena Weekly Archives 03/23/2006
http://www.pasadenaweekly.com/cms/story/detail/history_in_th
e_present/3228/
History in the present
A brief look at hip-hop in the Crown City
By Jon Lewis-Katz 03/23/2006
Raashan Morris, talking on his phone from somewhere in Oakland, is suddenly excited. "I wish you could feel the energy just thinking about it," he says.
Morris, known as Raashan Ahmad to underground hip-hop's devoted, is reminiscing about his years involved in the hip-hop scene in Pasadena (which he affectionately calls 'Dena) and Los Angeles.
"We'd roll deep to LA functions," he says proudly. With even more pride, he adds, "And lots of cats would come up [to Pasadena] from Good Life."
The MC of the Crown City Rockers approximates what one could call his hip-hop apprenticeship to the years between '94 and '99. Back then there were three Pasadena-area establishments in which you could get your b-boy on: E-Bar, Tabernacle and the Spot. Though he's moved twice since that time — from Pasadena to Boston, from Boston to the Bay — the 'Dena native hasn't forgotten his roots.
Ahmad graciously concedes that he couldn't have become the musician he is without his beginnings here. He credits two crews, 360 and Dillagas, with exposing him to hip-hop in the right way. At that time, all true hip-hop venues also had workshop components, which were usually led by someone older, often a man in his late 20s.
In addition to educating teens about the history of the culture and the music, these "older cats" taught aspiring b-boys how to execute their craft. Ahmad remembers this clearly: "They made sure you weren't a wack MC."
Some of the movement's leaders also functioned as role models, an important role during what were the final years of the 1990s gang epidemic. Che Ski, a member of the now- defunct The Colored Section, treated the young MC as family. "[He] watched out for me. Big brother mode," Ahmad says.
In describing the Pasadena scene, Ahmad paints a picture of the larger independent hip-hop scene that flourished in LA during the '90s. This scene included the Good Life Cafe, which was home to underground super-legend Aceyalone and had a hand in honing the talents of other successful independent artists, such as Scarub from the Living Legends, as well as Jurassic 5 and Xzibit who've met more mainstream success.
Sitting in the upstairs of Poo-Bah records with owner Ron Stivers and resident DJ Ras G, I couldn't help myself. I was there to interview them, but at the mention of Unity shows — a legendary series of underground shows throughout LA — I shut them both up.
In this space, it's impossible to describe the exhilaration that a 15-year-old from West LA feels when he escapes his mom's house to go to a hip-hop club downtown. The memory that stands out most is when Jurassic 5 DJs Cut Chemist and Numark stopped the show to play the melody of Jeru's "Come Clean" on a xylophone.
There was also the time that the pride of New York, Jay-Z, was booed off the stage for his money-hungry, gun-toting lyrics. I wasn't at the show, but I heard about it, and over the past eight or nine years I've daydreamed it into my reality.
After my excited speech, Ras G agrees that hip-hop culture will never again peak in the way that it did in the '90s.
Jay-Z is now an executive at Def Jam records, and the Good Life Cafe morphed into the Project Blowed workshop, which has refined and showcased the talents of quick-spitter Rifleman, The Source "Unsigned Hype" recipient Trensetta and Poo-Bah's own Ras G.
The Pasadena venues didn't have the same luck.
In Pasadena, few remnants remain of '90s hip-hop. Stivers says that E-Bar moved twice before finally closing down. No one seems to know what happened to Tabernacle. As for the Spot, it has been converted into a full-time recording studio. While it still supports hip-hop, it doesn't function as the breeding ground it once did.
It was, Ahmad feels, the older cats who provided what is now missing. That and "the 'building a community' thing isn't what it used to be."
DJ Ism, a resident DJ at Alhambra's World Records and Old Pasadena's The Muse, sees things differently. He too notices that hip-hop doesn't have a place in present-day Pasadena, but he offers a different explanation.
"This city — they're not feeling the hip-hop vibe," he says. "Pasadena is too conservative, too family oriented."
Altadena native Scipio offers yet another view.
"You say 'Dena is too family oriented? The black community here is not family oriented."
The soon-to-be-known-to-you MC is the protégé of "MC's MC" Ras Kass, who was featured in the Nov. 17 issue of the Weekly's sister paper LA CityBeat. He believes the local scene hasn't survived because "it takes somebody with vision." Scipio, who used to frequent another '90s LA hip-hop spot, Elements, believes he has that vision and says he will use his success to bring a hip-hop scene to 'Dena.
For years The Muse has been the place to hear a live DJ mix rap music. DJ Ism has spun at The Muse for seven years and with some good old-fashioned hip-hop braggadocio proclaims that he and his partner are "the best DJs in Pasadena."
But the scene at 54 E. Colorado Blvd. differs from the scene described by Ahmad. A good club, The Muse requires the men to sport dress shoes and a shirt, articles of clothing that were inconspicuously absent from the hip-hop scene of the '90s. Furthermore, the records that get play are mostly commercial hits. The reason for this is simple, "You get the women going, you get the club going," Ism says, reminding me that the crowds at Unity shows were about 99.9 percent male.
Enter Terrace Restaurant, which, with the help of promotions group Modalogy, has started hosting performances by some of underground hip-hop's biggest names. In January alone, its stage was trod on by Blackalicious, Living Legend Scarub and LA Symphony.
It's too early to tell what will become of Terrace's efforts, but Stivers says he would like to team up with the restaurant to create a Poo-Bah night.
Like most trends outside of mainstream culture, the Pasadena hip-hop scene was largely undocumented and lived the last half-decade by word of mouth. Therefore, there are various versions of the 'Dena hip-hop scene. Some place it on a mythical level. For many it was non-existent.
Regardless, following the success of their first album and its single "B-boy," the Crown City Rockers have returned to the studio to record their next album, and Ahmad is "putting the finishing touches" on his "solo joint."
And all their work, after all, is in the name of the Crown City (which is also the hometown of bandmate Woodstock). Though none of the band's three other members grew up west of Wichita, Kan., no one objected to the name. They saw Ahmad and Woodstock had "a lot of pride" in the city.
Ahmad says that Pasadena and the San Gabriel mountains are in "pretty much everything" he writes, which may be the most any counterculture movement can ask for — a history in the present.
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Pasadena Weekly Archives 03/23/2006
Influences:
Kool Hurk, Jam Master J, Davy DMX, KRS-1 & Scot LA Rock, Joe Cooley, Aladen, Bob Cat and the rest of all the other CATS, Cash Money, Jazy Jeff, Terminater X, Fish Bone, Truelio, Mayaztech, Trav I, Hawaiian Lyon, Cre8tivity, Dub-Syndicate, African Head Charge, & Da Universe for jults of unknown influential force keeping thangs moving forward, and side to side. LINK Up or Link Down!
Sounds Like: ____________________________________________________________
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WORDS FROM THE WISE:
Ancient Secret Knowledge and Truths ~ Concerning Human Evolution and Spiritual Destiny~ The Winter Solstice of December 21st 2012 IS NOT the End of the World,.. It is the point at which a number of Universal and Galactic Cycles come to a conclusion,.. The 2 Largest of these Cycles are,... (1) A Cycle called the Precession of the Equinox also known as the "Breath of God" which takes approximately 25,920 years to complete and ends on the Winter Solstice of December 21st 2012 as we move into the age of Aquarius,(this is a proven astrological fact,.check it out.).. (2)The largest of the Cycles,.The Grand Cycle,..which takes over 20 Billion years to complete,..and is what all the Ancient Calenders Revolve around,...
ALL The Old Civilizations knew of this,.and recorded it,..for their Future Brothers and Sisters,.as a Source of Knowledge and Guidance to help us though these very times that we find ourselves in Now,.. For they knew that We The Human Race would be deceived and have NO Recollection of the Glorious Beings We Once Were.. BUT NOW IT IS THE TIME TO AWAKEN AND REMEMBER.. On the Winter Solstice of December 21st 2012,.Our SUN Lines Up With The Center Of Our Galaxy and Opens a GATEWAY,.. An Event Which Takes Place Only Once Every 26,000 Years... And is the Event that All The Ancients Point To,...
Mayan Calender,.Ends,December,.21st 2012...
Chinese " I Ching ",.Ends,December,.21st 2012...
Tibetan "
Kalachakra ",.Ends,December,.21st 2012... Indian "
Vedas ",Ends,..December,.21st 2012...
December 21st 2012 is Also the point in Our Time Line when ALL Other Time Lines Converge As Planet Earth Reaches the Core of the Spiral of Creation, The very Apex Itself,.The Point of Singularity,.Where Everything Changes..
This is the Point of Completion of the GRAND CYCLE,.A 20 BILLION Year Event,.(the BIG ONE).. It is NOT the End of the World,..
BUT it is the End of the World as we know it... Its NOT about trying to Frighten People,..This is GODS CREATION in its Most Beautiful Form,.
Anyway you or I think of it the USA government are doing a great job of the "FEAR FACTOR" thing all by themselves..wouldn't you agree!?!
Record Label: NOW Records~08
Type of Label: Indie