White House Band Takes on SXSW: Who Are They???

All month this month and last month, there has been all kinds of artists getting their ish together for SXSW. One band who has tons going for them next week - including a new EP, tons of firepower and spunk - is the White House Band. Who are they and what in God's name is a "New Vogue" sound? David E. Beats explains below.

How did you come together and form the White House Band?

I was doing my thing solo, and decided that if I wanted to take things to the next level a band would be needed. I found the guys, and the rest is history! 

Why name yourself after the home of the Oval Office anyway? How often do you guys get the label “political group” because of your name?

Never. I'm from DC, and I always wanted a band called The White House Band. I try to keep the content non political! 

Can you further explain “New Vogue,” aside from it being a fusion of hard rock, hiphop and blues?

It’s just a new style of music period, where things don’t fit in the standard urban/pop categories. 

The whole rap and rock fusion with any band almost immediately gets people to hesitate to listen because of how many bands are clichéd with it. What separates WHB from the typical rap/rock group?

We are different because I don't want to cliché it. I just literally want real hard rock songs with me rapping over them. 

Overall who are your musical influences?

We literally love everyone. From Kanye to Led Zepp to Thin Lizzy etc. It would take too long to name.

Tell me about your creative process because I see on your site that all of you except Elder write lyrics. Take me through a studio session with you guys from getting a concept to writing out the song to executing it. Do you guys sit and come up with content think-tank style or is it just a matter of the song being based on how you guys feel that day?

Songs come about usually when I come thru with a riff or idea. Then we just build off that. Literally. It’s that simple. 

What’s the deal with your new project The Stimulus Package, content-wise? What should I be looking out for when I bump this? Should I be ready to party? Chill? Spaz? Think politically? Call my mom or my kids to tell them I love them? What kind of record is The Stimulus Package?

Just be ready to enjoy a good record. We're all about entertaining, and we just want people to feel entertained!

What will be the next project from WHB? What material should we be expecting from you now that Stimulus is out?

Expect more groundbreaking shit. Basically

How do you plan on further developing as musicians?

Easy, doing more live shows, seeing what the crowd likes and dislikes and keep hitting them with what they like!

What do you look forward to the most at SXSW?

Playing some of the most bangingest showcases out there!

Ok, besides performing, what’s another thing you look forward to the most at SXSW?

That about it. Maybe the warm weather! 

Is this your first time at SXSW? What should folks expect from your show at SXSW?

This is not the first time but it is the first time we will be making an impact down there. Just expect to be entertained. And to have fun!

What’s your ultimate purpose as musicians and as a band?

To entertain. Music first above all else. I just want to have fun and I'm sure you all do too!

Where can people find you and keep up with you guys ?

http://thewhitehouseband.net

Twitter.com/WhiteHouseBand

Facebook.com/WhiteHouseBand

The Drunken Unicorn Chronicles: OK, Not Really (Video)

The reason why there was no post last week is that I was waiting on getting some photos and video from a show I attended this past weekend in Atlanta. After being invited to an Attention System concert when I covered them for AOL City's Best, I decided since I was doing nothing else (but watching the slickest box set of the universe, The Wire) I should take my behind to the Drunken Unicorn.

With the walls full of band stickers and other illustrations eluding to music and fantasy figures (i.e. unicorns and robots... If they count anymore), this music venue instantly reminded me of The Union back at OU in Athens. Even the sound system's booth was identical to my favorite bar on Union Street! But back to the music...

I'll just get to the point. Attention System was everything I imagined them to be live, and then some! They had a light show, lasers, fog, and all kinds of bells and whistles associated with a rock concert, even though the size of The Drunken Unicorn is a quarter of the size of a typical arena. Their music was on point, and if my battery hadn't died, I would have video footage, so just go by this visualization: you're playing laser tag during the early 00s at a small nightclub during Armageddon while a band that looks nearly 40 performs like they're 20. If that sounds like fun, you would enjoy this show.

Although I do not have video of Attention System, I do have video footage from their opener Siberia My Sweet. This band had the most distinctive, untouched, and non-faux sound I have heard coming out of the A. Siberia My Sweet is a combination of new wave, electronic, emo-darkened, acoustic indie rock, and whatever else they could create on a keyboard. These women (and the drummer guy) had everything going well for them, except enough time. The video I have is actually the weakest part of their set, although the song is great!

After seeing this group go postal on stage, I got a chance to chat with the Grand Prize Winners From Last Year. In this audio, we talk about their sound (and Astro Pop), why they dismantle stages, hair pieces, tours and their plan to be Winners - again.

A3C Grand Prize Winners From Last Year Impromptu Interview

Now I'm off to enjoy this hiphop and journalism panel, watch some performances, and hope the breaking tournament will start soon (because it was supposed to start 3 hours ago!)

BAD NEWS!!! Erick Sermon will NOT be performing tonight. My heart is BROKEN!!!!!!

A Rant on Rock and Race: Can I Be A Black Rocker?

Earlier today I was watching Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, a documentary on the concert in Fox Theater celebrating Chuck Berry's 60th birthday. In that documentary there was a segment featuring Little Richard and Chuck Berry (of course) talking about how their beginning journey in music was misunderstood. According to the radio stations and DJs back then, their music (and any other Black musician that wasn't carrying a sax or trumpet) was NOT Rock music, but R&B. In this documentary, however, Little Richard and Chuck Berry made it quite clear that they had nothing to do with calling their music R&B and wanted everything to do with being associated with Rock 'n' Roll.

Now I'm not a big fan of sub-genres (and really genres, period), so to hear such legendary musicians make that anti-distinction of their music made me proud of my viewpoint on music. Music is music. Everybody has a right to be rockers, just as everybody has a right to rap - no matter the color, gender, sexual preference. Unfortunately, we live in a world that doesn't see things the same way. Although R&B (rhythm and blues) fits for a typical Black musician, that doesn't mean all Black people want to be known as R&B singers. Just because a white person can play the guitar it doesn't mean they should be immediately ostracized from R&B.

With that said, I look at Afro-Punk a little bit different from other sub-genres and subcultures. I see the movement in "making Rock Black again" and I see it holding a significance to the Rock community as a whole - more than I see it being significant to the Black community. Not to downplay its presence in that community (and to make this piece specifically about Black music), but I think Afro-Punk is exactly what Rock needs, not because of its heavy political content, but because it shows that Rock is not, or ever was, only for white people to master. I'm not saying only white people listen to Rock music in general, but there has always been a problem in the music industry when a Black musician does something other than rap or sing. They are immediately isolated from both the Black community and the Rock community, the general Punk culture included. It's like you can't be Black and a rocker!

Here's a joint by Brittany Bosco called "Ragdoll". Now would you call this song, and this artist, Rock, R&B, or is this even necessary because she's Black?



There are plenty of Rock musicians that get little to no mainstream radio time mainly because they fail to fit in the Black music box. Take Ben Harper for example, who has been in the Rock game for nearly twenty years. It is next to impossible to hear him on ANY station, and their reason (at least one station I talked to about him) was that "he doesn't fit the type of Rock music we play." When I listen to him I hear the exact same Rock music they play. Maybe I'm wrong, and if so, help a sister out:



All I'm saying is that it's hard to be Black, a Rock musician, AND a Black Rock musician. It is next to impossible to merge the two in the kind of musical society we live in today, and that really applies to all music genres - hiphop, country, etc. The bottom line is as a [insert race here] person you have to choose between doing [insert race here] music and consider "being down" with the group, or you decide to step outside if your "chosen" musical genre and leave [insert race here].

Last Week on Tumblr...

For those that may not know, this blog has a sidekick!

When I'm not posting reviews, commentaries, and such, I am posting small music tidbits on Tumblr, titled Bubble Gum Pop Rap Lite. Almost anything has been posted on this site, from neat music articles to singles from great artists. Every week I'll give you a taste of what I've come across on the radio, in the news, and online. Enjoy!

Posted July 17th: A link to a new site on how to be a good party-goer called Stuff DJs Hate, and ALL EIGHT album covers for Arcade Fire's Suburbs.


Posted July 16th: the new scoop on 80s group Devo, and for all the Lil' Wayne heads, a list of what he's been up to in prison.

Posted July 15th: Sleigh Bells joint "Straight A's" (BEWARE, IT'S LOUD! REALLY REALLY LOUD!) Like M.I.A-loud, but it actually works.

Posted July 14th: the list of all the artists dropping an album on September 14th. Why? It includes labelmates Kanye West, Consequence, Kid Cudi, plus the '10 comeback kids The Walkmen, among many more!

Posted July 13th: an Invincible and Waajeed collabo "Detroit Summer", exclusively premiered on Hot 97 a couple days after my blog on her! Also a picture of the greatest prank of the year!

Posted July 12th: the original sample to Q-Tip's "Let's Ride" and one of the greatest songs from my personal favorite guitarists "Giant Steps" by Joe Pass. Also posted is the link to Pitchfork's new search for writers!

Last Week on Tumblr...

For those that may not know, this blog has a sidekick!

When I'm not posting reviews, commentaries, and such, I am posting small music tidbits on Tumblr, titled Bubble Gum Pop Rap Lite. Almost anything has been posted on this site, from neat music articles to singles from great artists. Every week I'll give you a taste of what I've come across on the radio, in the news, and online. Enjoy!

Starting with July 10th: I found one of the coolest posters floating around the Internet! Also on that day, I finally changed my ringtone to Drake's "Thank Me Now" (who did NOT show up at the Car and Bike Show I went to in Atlanta, I was so hurt!)

Posted July 9th: This was the day officer Johannes Mehserle caught a involuntary manslaughter verdict for MURDERING an arrested young Black man by shooting him in the back of the head! So in anger, I found this song by Rebel Diaz and BRWN BFLO called "Who You Shootin At?" Also posted was a funny JPEG on Chart-Topping Musicians (dissed the hell out of Nickelback in the process!)

Posted July 8th: The visuals to Nikki Lynette's "Civil War", as well as Roxanne Shante on why she left the rap game.

Posted July 7th: A tune from Jean Grae's last mixtape before retirement where she gives XXL a piece of her mind. Plus, for all you "Nasty Boys," the video from Janet Jackson's steamy performance at the Essence Music Festival!

Posted July 6th: Prince's opinion on the current state (and the future) of the Internet, and an oh-too-familiar yet revolutionary album cover of Bilal's latest works.

Posted July 5th: A link that'll get you ALL SIX of Charles Hamilton's new mixtapes!!! That is all.

Posted July 3rd: A booming system unlike any other, news on a possible ?uestlove, Raphael Saadiq, and Amy Winehouse band, and classic video footage on how to do the Bird from the ever-so lovely Purple Rain!

Album Review: The Roots - How I Got Over

The Roots is a band that should get far more credit than it does in the hiphop community, let alone the stardom and acclaim it has received in the music business. The Roots is one of the best bands of this generation, and it is apparent in their new album!

Branching off of their previous album that took jabs at the Bush administration in 2008, The Roots return with their 11th album How I Got Over. According to the lead emcee Black Thought, this is the album that addresses feeling post-Bush administration and promotes a positive p.o.v during Obama's presidency. How cute!

*INSERTS SARCASM HERE*

Production-wise, How I Got Over flowed best among the rest of The Roots albums, another indication that this is one of their best works! This is one of the few albums released in this day and age that could be enjoyed on tape as much as an iPod. Starting with songs of depression and ending with songs of empowerment, the album goes from intro to outro, non-stop.

There's hardly any other equipment used except for the band's instruments, a few samples here and there, and their vocalists. The reinterpretations of "Peaches en Regalia" by Frank Zappa, "Again" by John Legend and "Serve This Royalty" by former band member Cody ChestnuTT were almost on-point, considering the hiphop twist the band speaks from. The band purposely decides to not use samples, but give their own type of cover of classic tracks, and (as it does with any great band) it works out in their favor! Actually, it's about time they have released a band-only, sample-less album. They are a group that needs nothing more than their instruments and their emcees.

Not to diss the featured artists, because they definitely complement the album, especially its sound. Hearing Blu (and also Phonte) with The Roots is a blessing to all, if nothing else, let alone a beautifully-carved production like How I Got Over! One thing people should appreciate, especially the Philly fans, is that The Roots has always had Philly-bred emcees. One thing ALL people should appreciate is how these emcees, Dice Raw and Truck North in particular, have developed through their association with The Roots. They have improved dramatically from earlier albums like Things Fall Apart to Rising Down to this album. Another Philly-fav to hear on another album of The Roots is Peedi Peedi (formerly Peedi Crack from Roc-A-Fella), who always rip The Roots's livest tracks on their albums. He too has received major props and improvement from working with The Roots.

The content of this album still carries over from a while ago, but it's supposedly a continuation of their last studio album Rising Down. Even with this double-album story, it IS disappointing to hear near-identical lyrics from their previous album in 2008. It's 2010, Black Thought! Shouldn't you be looking past the "computers taking over" and "high gas prices" and start talk about what needs to be done?? The theme is easy to SEE in this album, but it's so blue and gloomy it's difficult to understand. Nothing is blatant about this album, instead the lyrics are so vague it can be easily forgotten. How I Got Over speaks to what gets people under, but barely says how to get over. Influences from the Blues are easily seen as Black Thought only delivers nothing but sadness. Rarely are there uplifting tracks on this album. If you take away "Now or Never," "The Day" and "Hustla," then you have the saddest hiphop album of 2010! Ok, maybe that's a bit extreme, but this album definitely fails to be as uplifting as the title presents itself to be.

Overall, How I Got Over is a production gem for The Roots. But even through its beautifully laced artwork by the band comes depressing content, and it's content that, although relevant, is carried over from 2008. The string of guests in this album definitely accentuate the sound, and gives them more credibility than they already had. Through all of this, How I Got Over manages to fit in small doses of uplifting content, so it evens out to be an album that could send listeners on a fluctuating ride of emotion.

Star's Grade: A-