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Tag: J Dilla

  • A tour of famous hip-hop locales is coming to Detroit

    A tour of famous hip-hop locales is coming to Detroit

    As the lore of Detroit hip-hop’s yesteryear continues to grow, so has the desire to see all the legendary locations associated with it. The movie 8 Mile boosted the notoriety of the Shelter (within Saint Andrew’s Hall), while The Hip Hop Shop was more recently featured on Netflix’s The Evolution of Hip-Hop. Enter Kris Hoff, a 26-year veteran of the touring industry who owns Distinctly Detroit Tours, a company that will be hosting an upcoming “Hip-Hop History Tour.”

    “I was looking for something fresh and innovative for a Detroit tour because I was tired of doing the same thing for 26 years,” Hoff told WJR 760 am in an interview that aired July 18. “I don’t feel that there’s enough people that know how great Detroit is and there is so many things here that is undiscovered by people.”

    To assist with the curation Hoff reached out to veteran emcees Ron “Phat Kat” Watts, Ronnnie “Killa Ghanz” Kelly, and Jerry Flynn Dale, whose Def Sound studio became Michigan’s first hip-hop landmark in May of this year.

    “[Hoff] came here because she thought Detroit was a great hip-hop city and she noticed there was not a hip-hop tour in Detroit,” Dale says.

    Dr. Khalid el-Hakim is the founder of the Black History 101 Museum. He was previously the vice president of Proof’s Iron Fist records and has been an avid hip-hop memorabilia collector since the early 1980s.

    “It’s not surprising, we have a long history of hip-hop in Detroit,” he says. “Some of the first Fresh Fest concerts happened in Detroit. Hump the Grinder was one of the first backers… It’s all history and it’s all important. It’s also important who tells the story.”

    Participants of the tour will make stops by The Hip Hop Shop, Def Sound Studio, J Dilla’s childhood home, the Rhythm Kitchen, Future Funk Records, and more.

    For Dale, Future Funk Records was one of his starting spots. Standing as a small store front, its owner would put out a makeshift stage in front where aspiring emcees like him and Kalimah “Nikki D” Johnson would rap and encourage each other. Along with The Hip Hop Shop, the Rhythm Kitchen held hip-hop-themed events sponsored by clothing designer Maurice Malone.

    “They were instrumental places to Detroit hip-hop,” he says. “They were incubators, I can’t imagine hip-hop in Detroit with them.”

    Detroit is not the first city to offer tours exploring its contributions through hip-hop. Tours in Atlanta will take you to the Trap Music Museum, while tours in Los Angeles offer narrated trips to the homes where movies like Friday and Boyz n the Hood were filmed. For Detroit, one of the biggest highlights for participants will be taking a drive by the previous home of J Dilla within Detroit’s historic Conant Gardens neighborhood. Artists such as Common, Erykah Badu, and Q-Tip are a few of the heavyweights that spent time in Dilla’s basement studio inside the home.

    “People loved J Dilla worldwide,” adds el-Hakim. “It’s something about him and his legacy that’s mythical. It’s a mythicism behind him that people are into.”

    He also believes there is even more history to unearth, but Detroit needs more artists to write down their history. “It’s so many artists in Detroit that have made amazing contributions but are overlooked because it’s not documented anywhere,” says el-Hakim. “If we don’t write our stories and share them with the world, they get lost in history.”

    Dale says the tour has received support from the Mayor’s office and the Detroit Historical Advisory Board. Dale, Watts, and Kelly will share the responsibility of narrating the tour. In the future they plan on expanding the tour with stops at venues like Harpos, the C-Note Lounge, and the Ebony Showcase Lounge.

    “I want them to experience Detroit hip-hop in its stages,” he says. “We have big rappers here. We have Big Sean, we have Em, ICP, we have all the younger rappers that’s here like Tee Grizzley. I want them to understand that hip-hop is not just some thuggery stuff that we’re doing. We’ve put a lot of work into this. We used Motown as the blueprint to expand this to a national stage.”

    The Hip-Hop History Tour of Detroit starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 11 at the Fisher Building. More information is available at distinctivelydetroit.com.

    Kahn Santori Davison

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  • Detroit’s Slum Village has ‘F.U.N.’ on upbeat new LP

    Detroit’s Slum Village has ‘F.U.N.’ on upbeat new LP

    There are few artists that exemplify the spirit of Detroit: Motown… Eminem… and Slum Village.

    The legendary hip-hop group gave us the gift of J Dilla, Baatin, and a cache of hit songs and anthems. Earlier this month, SV released a new disco-inspired album aptly titled F.U.N.

    It’s the first LP from the group in nearly a decade, and it fits the musical landscape with an upbeat sound that is perfect for a summer in Detroit.

    Young R.J., who is the primary producer on the album, says that he came up with an idea to go in a direction that many rappers haven’t touched on.

    “So once we kind of set the direction, then the rest was just about getting the right beats, which really wasn’t hard,” R.J. says. “Some of them we already had in the cut. And some of them, you know, we had to craft from scratch. And then the rest was just putting songs together. So it was pretty simple, to be honest.”

    Blending the nostalgic grooves of disco with jazz and modern hip-hop sensibilities, the album reflects Slum Village’s evolution over the years while paying homage to its origins with fresh new energy. The bold title underscores their unapologetic approach.

    “Sometimes, people put too many rules on music,” founding member T3 says. “Without sounding cliché, we wanted to just have fun with it. So, in three words: ‘Fuck U Ni**as.’”

    With the help from star-studded guest features, including Eric Roberson, Robert Glasper, Cordae, Karriem Riggins, and more, F.U.N. delivers a dynamic listening experience that pushes boundaries and serves as a testament to the power of experimentation and creativity in modern music. This one is for the day-one Slum fans and contemporary music enthusiasts alike.

    The group, which has undergone several iterations, is finding its own lane again as a duo. (Dilla died in 2006, and Baatin in 2009.) Having changed members numerous times, they explain that their legacy remains in the forefront of their minds. “Well, we think as legacy, the first thing is that we set our own path, and we made a way when it really wasn’t a lot of opportunities for the hip-hop groups at that time to come out of [Detroit] and become a national group,” says T3.

    “So that’s one thing we did, as far as upholding the legacy, and at every show we do, we always do kind of, you know, a small ceremony for Dilla and Baatin because without them, we definitely wouldn’t be here,” says T3. “I know I wouldn’t be here. So we always uphold that legacy as well. And, we always represent Detroit… So we just bring all that together, you know what I’m saying? We just happy to be able to still do what we do, and make a living. And people just really support us. So you know, that’s a blessing in itself.”

    Having been one of the earliest rap groups signed to a major label, the Slum Village members are energized by the current success of the city’s artists. “I don’t want to say Detroit is coming up, I want to say we’ve arrived and now it’s a different appreciation for what Detroit brings, which is the newer generation and the fact that we always try to be different as a city from the production style to the flows and now we are influencing the rest of the music business,” R.J. says. “And you know, that’s super dope.”

    The group consistently tours in Europe, noting that European fans are die-hard rap fans and their audience is also getting younger. “We are seeing 20-somethings all the way up to middle aged fans,” says T3, adding, “That’s encouraging.”

    Touring is one thing that kept the group from recording. “It’s also that sometimes you get bored with music and doing the same thing over and over again,” T3 explains. “But this time, we decided to please ourselves first.”

    F.U.N. will also please any die-hard Slum Village fan and bring some new ones into the fold.

    “We want people to enjoy it,” T3 says. “It’s an enjoyable album. And we definitely have fun, which is in the title. And that’s it, you know what I’m saying? Slum Village is here to keep the legacy going and make great memories.”

    Biba Adams

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  • Cypress Hill’s love for Detroit runs deep

    Cypress Hill’s love for Detroit runs deep

    It took three decades, but Cypress Hill’s love for Detroit has come full circle. In 1991, the Latino hip-hop stoners dropped their debut album and landed a slot on Lollapalooza the next summer. Motown was the third stop on the tour, and the group wasn’t sure how people outside of California would respond live. Or if they’d even show up.

    Detroit showed up.

    “They’ve always shown this unwavering love and support for us,” Senen “Sen Dog” Reyes says by phone. “Which is all you could ask for as a musician.”

    To help celebrate 4/20, Cypress Hill — rounded out by nasally MC B-Real, percussionist Eric Bobo, and this tour’s scratcher, DJ Lord — is playing a show Tuesday at The Fillmore. They’ll be joined by fellow West Coast legends the Pharcyde and Souls of Mischief.

    Above all else, a performer’s job is to win over the crowd. Standing on stage and saying a given room has been the best night of the tour, or that the current city has purchased the most albums, are a few ways to do it. So when Reyes gushes about his reverence for Detroit, it might come off like lines he says to reporters to help move tickets.

    It goes deeper than that. It’s genuine.

    Being here takes Reyes back to his childhood. He loves coming in the spring and summer when the Tigers play, and if their schedules line up he’ll go to a game. One regret?

    “I wish I could’ve gone to old Tigers Stadium because that’s what I used to see growing up,” he says.

    When Cypress was first here, Reyes reconnected with a childhood friend who’d relocated to the city from his block on Cypress Avenue in South Gate, East L.A. He got a tour of the city, a glimpse of its history. Before this, his only exposure to Detroit was via sports. He grew up playing little league and watching Bill Whitaker, Lance Parrish, and Alan Trammel play for the Tigers on NBC’s Game of the Week.

    He’s got nothing but respect for the Detroit Bad Boys, either. At the time, Reyes hated watching them and hoped his L.A. Lakers would rough up the Pistons but, well, that wasn’t the case. That respect took a while to form.

    “I came to appreciate what they did because basketball doesn’t play like that anymore,” he says. “It was a game for men at that point.”

    He loves Barry Sanders, and especially seeing the Lions do what they did last season. Reyes noticed the turnaround three years ago with GM Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell and saw promise. Sure enough, he was right.

    Reyes loves an underdog story and admires how diehard Lions fans are. The type who will tattoo the logo on their cheek during the Harrington years, for instance.

    “People should pay attention to [Detroit] when it comes down to supporting a team and sticking with them for life like I do with my Raiders,” he says.

    You could even draw a connection between the loyalty of Detroit’s sports fans to the loyalty of Detroit’s Cypress Hill fans. Thirty years on, Cypress has released 10 studio albums (four RIAA-certified platinum) and played no fewer than 15 shows in the metro area.

    “You gotta bring your A-game to Detroit,” Sen says. “We appreciate the love and we’ve never forgotten what an important role [Detroit] has played in our careers.”

    Prior to this, their most recent stop was 2019. One Saturday last summer, B-Real’s Dr. Greenthumb weed chain took over a Ypsilanti dispensary and the good doctor himself headlined the inaugural Spark in the Park festival that night.

    “There’s no time that I’ve gone to Detroit and been disappointed,” Reyes says. “It’s always the same: 100% energy… It’s hard to compare to other cities.”

    On 2022’s Back in Black, that energy manifested in a different way — Detroit’s Curtis “Black Milk” Cross produced the entire album, front to back. Versus prodigal founding member DJ Muggs’s layered, trippy, and textured beats on 2018’s Elephants on Acid, Back in Black is back to basics: classic boom-bap by way of Dilla’s hometown.

    Reyes wasn’t familiar with Cross prior, but was quickly impressed by how chill and easy to work with he was. Cross’s open mind and collaborative nature — even working remotely — unlocked a type of collaboration Reyes and B-Real hadn’t experienced in ages. On the album, the two MCs share the mic on all but one song.

    “He took us all the way back to our days on the block where we would just rhyme for the fun of it,” Reyes recalls. “When our original plan for the group was for B-Real and I to be on every song together. It reminded me of the late ’80s when we were just out there trying to get by and learn what we wanted to do.”

    Each time they sent a WIP track to Cross, he’d get inspired by what the two had done lyrically and change the beat up to match. Reyes said when they got something back it was always markedly better than what they’d submitted. He didn’t name names, but it’s clear that not every working relationship has been like that. When they finally met in person, Reyes was impressed by Cross’s humility despite his reputation.

    “A lot of respect goes to Black Milk and his openness for whatever we wanted to do lyrically,” Reyes says.

    Collaborating with Cross gave Reyes a new type of appreciation for Detroit. Growing up his older sister was super into Smokey Robinson, and to this day Reyes still listens to him.

    “Just knowing, just being able to work with somebody from that area gives you perspective of, ‘A lot of great music has come from the area where this guy is from,’” he says. “Very proud musicians have been able to claim the city. I’m definitely proud that part of our legacy goes back to [Detroit].”

    The last time Cypress played Detroit was supporting Elephants on Acid in 2019. Even before the lights went down, the biggest cloud of weed smoke I’ve ever seen hung heavy over the audience. Not even the sold-out crowd for stoner metal pioneer Sleep’s 4/20 show in Albuquerque a few years ago could compare.

    “That’ll show you who lives in [Detroit],” Reyes says. “They’re there, the 4/20 people. That’s one of the reasons we keep coming back.”

    At one point, B-Real came out smoking a 14-inch joint. He congratulated the congregation on legalizing recreational cannabis. Since then, Detroit voters have decriminalized entheogenic plants and mushrooms and there are seemingly two dispensaries on every block, eager to sell to anyone 21 or over.

    While our highways are haunted by billboards emblazoned with bad puns and Mark Savaya’s mug, it’s easy to forget the patchwork quilt of states across the country where marijuana is still illegal. Hell, even on this tour dubbed “We Legalized It” there are four states where you’ll break the law for sparking a bowl in your own home.

    “It makes you feel like the struggle isn’t over, the fight isn’t over,” Reyes says, adding, “There’s still minds to open” — referencing the Back in Black track “Open Ya Mind.” It’s a song about the hypocrisy of California fully legalizing marijuana and the hassles of that not being the case federally. And it’s applicable anywhere marijuana has been legalized, not just the Golden Coast.

    For Reyes, the tipping point will be when a state in the South allows cannabis for adult use. Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi all have medicinal marijuana, but half haven’t decriminalized yet. That’s not to say you can’t find weed there — people just have to be a little more secretive about it.

    “It’s not as open as California, Colorado, or Nevada,” he says.

    Still, progress is progress. Medical is usually the first step, and there’s no way southern states can ignore the taxes recreational states are pulling in for much longer. Last year Michigan marijuana tax revenue was $87 million.

    “A lot of time the biggest step it takes is to have that first door open up, and then see what that develops into,” he says.

    When Cypress started 30-some years ago, Reyes didn’t know if he’d live to see the day when California went fully legal. Rumors persisted for years, Reyes says. But it took until 2016 for Proposition 64 to pass.

    “That gives me hope for the rest of the country,” he says. “It’s not just about getting stoned.”

    It’s about the agricultural benefits of hemp and taking direct action about the overcrowded prison system in the U.S., too.

    “We try to make people understand this is a win-win for everybody involved,” Reyes says.

    Timothy J. Seppala

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