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8
RAP ROOSTS
IN MIDWEST
Local musicians
maintain heritage
By Kim Spurlock
"....The first record of man was found in
Africa. I was told Adam was the first, but that
was way after the real beginning/so already
they're winning. Lies one, truth nothing/look at
them grinning.... Next we have Jesus/the story
of Christ. They'd never let you think that he was
anything but white.
— Klass K
he heartbeat of the Motherland — the
sound of the drums echoing through the
_J night in the land of Africa — could be felt
from far away in the land of the United States by the
slaves as they labored.
And the sound still can be heard by the youth of
today who yearn for that same heartbeat.
'African culture is the rhythm of life,' said Otto
Green, a senior speech pathology major at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, from
Syracuse, N.Y.
The sounds of Africa
have taken on new
styles and new
faces as time
passes, but the
meaning
remains the
same.
Thus, the
musical
heritage is
maintained.
“(Rap) is a means for a lot of people who have
no voice to be heard," said Otto Green, also known
as "M.C. O.Gof the local rap group, Peace Nation.
Green joins Michael "Mike Life' Evans and Kenneth
"DJ K Luv-On" Watson.
Since its dawning in Africa, Green said, rap has
popularized itself throughout the world. People from
all walks of life listen, dance and express themselves
both socially and politically through the art of rap.
Rap can be used as a means to teach the history
of African-American struggles. Right now, he said,
record companies don’t acknowledge,that educa
tional responsibility. Instead, Green said, they and
others exploit consumers just to make money.
1 like the fact that rap is universal," he said. "But
the educational element has to become equally
universal."
Green grew up at a time when theatrical and
. * musical expression was
characterized by the
African-Americans’
struggle to be free,
respected, and acknowl
edged as human, he said.
The same cry from blacks,
Green said, stiff can be heard.
Through critical thinking and
study, I wish to create mental
pictures of joy, pain and
solutions in my writing," he
said.
Grant Kauffman,
known as "Klass K," is
host of the rap show,
The Muvement."
Green works
with Kauffman
to put the
show
#
together.
Funky beats
with hip-hop sounds
and flowing, urbane
lyrics of various rap
artists, can be heard on
The Muvemenf Friday
nights at lOonUNL'sradio
station, KRNU.
The
COURTESY OF SUPREME SOLOISTS
-'HfiVi 3 ll---9
DAILY NEBRASKAN ,
V
LEFT: The Muvement members, from left: Mike Lee,
Grant Kauffman, Otto Green and Mike Evans. Group
member Ken Watson is not pictured.
BELOW: Otto Green, co-host of The Muvement radio
program, sorts through albums at the KRNU studio.
The Muvement tries to accommodate all rap listeners
by mixing both old- and new-school artists.
LOWER LEFT: Brad Darcus of Supreme Soloists, an
Omaha rap band.
-4 4
OK, we had to learn his story and we learned it
So, now we understand the need for brothers to work and earn it
And teach each other self... respect
We have to work, earn, and keep the things we should get....
Be firm where we stand so their future is a possibility
They are the leaders of days to come
And the return of African history will make the
world one
And making history in ways we need
Kill the noise
I hurt when my people bleed
In summation of the above facts
To be strong, gifted, and black
I like that....
— M.C. O.G.
• •
-y
Muvement was created in December 1991. and its
format consists of commentaries, on-the-air
interviews and black history lessons revisited —
plus the voices of Green and Kauffman as heard
from their demos.
This diversity, Kauffman said, makes The
Muvement different from other rap shows. Kauffman
and Green attempt to accommodate everyone with
their old-school music coupled with new-school
funk.
"Old-school music was all about fat beats,"
Kauffman said. "If the beat was on, it was hittin’. It .
really didn’t matter what you said, as long as the
beat was dope."
New-school music, Kauffman said, is more about
the lyrics and their meaning than the beat. The
new-school rhymes are more conscious of
k society’s problems, he said.
^ The changing times have a lot to do with
the music styles, Green said.
B In the past, conscious rap was trendy,
W Green said. "Now it is becoming a necessary
~ element and can't be ignored."
Both black and white people must realize the
need for conscious rap, Kauffman said.
Kauffman said many people probably wouldn’t
believe he grew up listening to great rap artists such
/
as the Sugartii Gang, Grand Master Flash and Kurtis
Blow, not only because he grew up in Lincoln, but
also because he’s white.
Tm not supposed to know anything —'’ he said
as Green added, "Because of his skin color."
But Kauffman, who said he grew up listening to
hip-hop music, doesn’t exploit the music — he raps
about what he knows and what he learns.
"I have been driven (to speak out against) the
racist white America 1 can honestly say I have
witnessed up close.... I have heard and seen the
• most racist of acts.... And it doesn’t take much of
an effort to unleash the caged fury that lies within
me," Kauffman said.
Kauffman, a senior broadcasting major, said that
when he was in a fraternity at UNL, he heard
derogatory comments about blacks all the time.
Once he missed a visit from a black friend who j
had come to the fraternity.
“At the dinner table a (fraternity brother) said,
‘Grant Kauffman, some stupid nigger named * - -
came to see you today."
Kauffman keeps a diary of all the racist incidents
he encounters. He uses that information in his songs
to open people's eyes to the reality of racism.
It's molded me to what I am," he said.
Although he can’t speak for black people,
Kauffman said, he can speak for the white people
who have revealed to him their prejudices.
1 have to expose the racism,’ he said.
Kauffman said his music would achieve that.
■White people win hate me when I come out with
my shit,’ he said. 'African people who are not fuUy
aware of the depths of jacism will hate me as wen.
But the more people hate me, the more they win ,
team — not only about this country, but about
themselves.’
Kauffman said the lyrics of rappers such as
Public Enemy, Sister Souljah and KRS-One were not
tales from their imagination.
“History has taught me that their lyrics are
justified,’ he said.
Kauffman said rap, which is considered virtually
the only voice of black people, was his way of
expressing the injustices blacks endured and would
continue to experience.
"My messages are plain and simple: Stop the
bullshit from economic oppression to the mental
slavery that exists throughout the country,’ he said.
1 have dedicated my life to opposing oppression,
racism, black-on-black crime and all other injustices
that have manifested as a result of the land of the
free and the home of the brave.’
Jerel "Flow EZ" Ford just can't understand that
amount of dedication from a white rapper, he said.
Ford is a member of an Omaha rap group,
Supreme Soloists. Other members are Brad *M.D’
Dacus of Omaha and Steve tKO" Gordon, a UNL
freshman architecture major.
Ford said he didn’t agree with white rappers who
tried to help black people in their struggle for
equality.
1 just feel like they should leave it up to us," the
freshman fine arts major said.
Historically, the white majority has stolen ideas
and inventions from the oppressed minority and
claimed them as their own, Ford said.
The same thing is happening with rap, Ford said.
It seems like they're trying to come in and (take
what we started),’ he said.
But Ford said he thought it was positive when
white rappers unveiled the truth that they discovered
about racism in U.S. history.
White the United States is tied together by its
history of racism, Ford said, each regbn's version of
rap is distinct.
East Coast rappers focus on their lyrics and the
West Coast rappers on their beat, Ford said.
Rappers in the Midwest combine the lyrics with the
beats.
■We team from both sides,’ Ford said.
Omaha has many up and coming rap groups, but
Ford said the Midwest was ignored by major record
labels.
The whole record industry is thinking East and
West Coast_They’re forgetting to come to the
middle,’ Ford said.
These companies, he said, might be missing out
on some local talent.
Antone “AR-Ayz" Douglas is a member of the
Omaha rap group, Black Label. The group includes
John TD.J. House,’ GaHion a freshman UNL business
administration major, and Andre "Player P* Perkins, a
UNL freshman majoring in industrial engineering. All
are Omahans. Douglas also is a representative for
Basement Society, a family of ’underground, hip-hop
technicians," he said.
Douglas started rapping the school announce
ments in the eighth grade with Ford, who was
Douglas' classmate.
Thumpin’ Hard Records is going to release a
debut album produced by Omahan Todd "D.J.
Suicide’ Reese. The album will consist of a compila
tion of tracks from various rap artists in Omaha. The
tracks will include a song from the Basement
Society.
Douglas said the album had a variety of artists
including females and political raptivists. And
although
all of the groups are black, Douglas said, Thumpin’
Hard Productions is “not an all-black label,’ he said.
They’re looking for diverse groups.'
Douglas said music didn’t discriminate.
If you have talent, then you have talent.’
Douglas and Ford had a chance for their efforts
to be recognized last month at UNL's talent show, ^
sponsored by the Afrikan People’s Union.
The two got together with college friends Andre
Woolridge, a freshman majoring in journalism and
UNL basketball player, and Gordon. Together, they
formed HP 10, named after the residence hall they
lived in — Harper, on the tenth floor.
The talent show was just to let (the audience)
know that we were here," Ford said.
The audience yelled, shouted, danced and
laughed to HP 10’s beats and lyrics. HP 10, which
was formed only for the talent show, Douglas said,
tied for second place.
Aside from talent shows or benefits, Ford said he
probably wouldn’t want to perform at just any bar or
nightclub.
1 need a place where you feel comfortable — a
place where (rap’s) accepted,’ Ford said.
Larry Boehmer, owner of the Zoo Bar, 136 N.
14th St., said the audience enjoyed a rap perfor
mance there three years ago. But the local bar is
known for its rhythm and blues, he said.
Boehmer said it would be very unlikely that a rap
band would perform at the Zoo Bar in the future,
because, I'm not terribly interested (in rap music).*
He said he didn’t feel like he had any expertise in
rap bands and “wouldn’t know a good one from a
bad one.*
Reg McMeen, owner of Duffy's Tavern, 1412 0
St., said a rap band had performed at the bar in the
past, but the bar’s customers weren’t necessarily
coming to hear rap.
“Rap gets played a lot on the jukebox.. .,*
McMeen said. But, he said, the rap act wasn’t well
supported. Duffy’s usually offers mostly alternative
bands, attracting diverse crowds.
Dave Rabe, who books bands for Duffy’s, said
the local bar’s management was open to a variety of*
acts. Any artists and musicians can contact the bar if
they are looking for a place to perform, he said.
■We listen to a tape and use it as a reference_
We see if it sounds good," Rabe said. “If they’re
good enough, they can play,” he said.
Rabe said there were few artists who were rejected
Please see Local musicians on page 15