THE B.O.O.M

I knew the day would come when I'd have to sit down and type this thing out. I've been putting it off for so long I may not even finish tonight. Guilty By Association...what the hell does that mean? Where does this fit into the scheme of Hip Hop past, present or future? Is this real? I moved to Iowa City from Chicago, Il some seven plus years ago. Chicago was supposed to be a pit stop after a really screwed up stop in Dekalb, Il. My brother (Roller) and I have been playing music forever and back then we had a band named Captain Marvelous which then switched to Cupboard Marvelous. Your basic young punk/rock/garage/basement/rap variety band except we did more than that. Two black kids writing and playing what we did was not common in our area or surrounding areas for that matter...fast forward a couple years and the whole thing falls apart ala achebe. A drummer who stops taking his meds, a fist fight, some broken 40 oz bottles and an eviction later, Chicago I'm coming home...again. Skip a few chapters until you've got a young emcee/musician with one friend in Iowa City and no outlet. Through a young female I was with at the time I get introduced to a Tim Tack aka Tack Fu and end up on his compilation "Chained Reaction". At last some recognition for a skill I'd been honing since the days of Maryland and Rockford, Il with a crew known as 8th Dae. The door opens and eventually a group by the name of Psychosomatic enters the picture. Looking for a "musician" I hit a few practices with my flute and sort of dig what these guys are doing. Orion, emcee; J8, emcee guitarist; Animosity,emcee; Scott Oltrogge, bass; Dan Tripp, drums; Tommy Tuesday, keyboards and trombone and Dj Johnny Sixx, turntables. Now in comes this young lightskinned cat from out east with midwest writing skills and instead of being the floutest I end up joining full time as songwriter/emcee along with the rest of the band. We are a hit from jump, I mean those guys were doing it but a fresh frame of mind with a new member.... the songs just start pumping and the energy is great and the shows and money is pouring in and the first tour and the first self titled CD is released and local awards are being won and every body wants us to open and headline and then...We lose one then two then three guys and turmoil with individuals and there personal issues and then...let me back track. After losing our drummer and keyboard player we figure we can still go at it. Welcome to the band Louie, or as we now call him, Louie Vegas. He's a quick study so we figure we can still play out and the emcees will pick up keyboard duty. Then Scott leaves the band for Chicago but thankfully my brother has moved into town and his guitar/bass skills are still sharp since he'd been in the ORIGINAL lineup for The Bad Fathers, then known as the Committee. Welcome Roller. Folks, shit happens. Nothings new under the sun and eventually we still end up breaking apart. We regroup trying out a female lead without Orion, who'd moved to Cali, or Animosity. That didn't work, not enough stage presence under her belt and the band still trying to find its own footing, we take another short break and it's decided that if we try this again I'll take over lead vocals. So we make another go at it...Guilty By Association: We ALL are in some way or another. Like the good, the bad and the ugly, we're all connected and this entire beautiful mess is ours to claim. Taking personal experience further than ever before the band expands its range and delves deeper into its musical core. Outfitted with a talented group of songwriters/musicians/lyricists/emcees and a bad ass Dj we now make our moves ready to pull every one in with us and make a name for the midwest: Iowa City, Hip Hop Live... We've all been connected to music for a long time playing with Big Time names such as; Ginuwine, Case, Digital Underground, The White Stripes, DoodleBug ( of Digable Planets fame), Ben Folds, The Coup, Atmosphere and the list goes on. Our local brethren; The Bad Fathers, Renaissance, Rebels Advocate, Coolzey, Angle, Aeon Grey, Dj Skwint, DNA and newcommers to the scene michand recordings with Colorless, Imperfekt, BlockBored and some of there faculty, have all been trying to make a concentrated effort to move ahead and to show and prove this isn't all corn and cows out here. Midwest Quality.