 Drongomala
and 4D met in London, 2003 and worked together for a short period
but only recently (Sep/Oct 2005) did they get the time to get down to
a full colloboration. The fruit of this new partnership is the eponymously
titled 'Elemental'. Taking place on the kitchen table of 4D's apartment
in SanFrancisco the pair got to making music and
writing the candidate tracks for the record. Vibes were great and
the speed was quick - within a few weeks in Oct05 a host of rappers and
musicians came through the door to improvise and knock it back and
forth. The kitchen had become a resteraunt where all kinds of plates
were being served up. Boom and sizzle - Elemental the album was born.
Guest rappers from the Bay and nearby Oakland shine in the Elemental
sessions. Azeem, Blaccsmyth, Folklore, Hanif and Tiye Selha all rap on
the album. On one track , 'When I was Young' - everyone does a verse
and this track is almost the emblem of the album.
 feel
it play it record it next next next |
D rongomala
says of the sessions 'It
was the way I enjoyed the hip hop I used to hear - everyone gets
a beat rocking, a vibe appears and then boom - it's on. Throwing
ideas back and forth so quickly that it's a blur between writing
and recording. It's also the sound of  the
breaks and the fact that we were chopping up the beats live and
triggering things via MIDI. I think we knocked out some of the
rappers with what we could do with the mininal gear' . It's also
worth mentioning that this was done in a kitchen, with one mic
and our hard drive was an iPod. I kept thinking "this is
punk as f*@k". |
 Medinal
compound. Flotilla device. Anti-Aging Creme. Skateboard Tongue.
Pistol smoking reverse psycholigical gun. The Great Pretender.
Farm fayre. Breakfast. |
 Old
school sampling is where it's all crazy mapped across the keyboard
- speeding up and slowing down.
Squeezing sounds and filtering out the alternatives. HiFi gear
meets LoFiFunk. |
 PEOPLE
WE DIG or Namechecks disguised as search engine co-ercison
: Public Enemy, Melle Mel, Cash Money, ALL of Motown and the
newschool, Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel, Wu Tang Clan, Mos
Def, E40, the Chemical Brothers, Heavenly Social Era, Lyricist
Lounge, MC Pitman, 50 Cent, A Tribe Called Quest, Arrested
Development,Sly and the Family Stone, Funkadelic + Parliament,
The Beastie Boys, Busta Rhymes, Q-Bert, Tricky....if you are
famous and feel bad at being left out then contact us
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Azeem.
"Azeem is a Wizard". Too right. Azeem when you can get him
to the cauldron brings all kinds of potions and verbal notions. Azeem
has 3 or 4 killer tracks on Elemental album and his reputation as one
of the hot West Coast rappers is well deserved. Azeem doesn't only
'rap' - he does stand up theatre and is working on a number of writing
projects. 
Fire.
The only problem with Blaccsmyth is keeping up with him. This guy is
a tornado and sessions with him are like jumping into a stolen car.
His ability to swing from tragic to comic gives his punches heavyweight
status. 
TheCreos. A turntablist from Tokyo living in San
Francisco. TheCreos swept the cigarette wrappers and beer bottles to
one side - got his gear on the table and it was on. Old school baby. 
Joel. E-Bass - this guy is a fitness coach to the stars
in his spare time. We were feeling him bigtime and he had the bass
doing sit ups and star jumps in no time. 
Some bloke that I never got his name....answers on a postcard...he
was Blaccsmyths mate. 
Chela
Simone. Chela is a rapper, a singer, a songwriter and a mother. When
Chela is rapping you double take what you are hearing - her sweetness
in tone gets her under your radar and then she stomps about on your
notions of rappers. She drops a verse on 'When I was Young'. Watch
out for her new album on Crowded Castle productions.