FATGUMS X BAMBU

Fatgums X Bambu :: A Peaceful Riot Going On :: Beatrock
as reviewed by Patrick Taylor
On this ten-song EP, Bay Area DJ Fatgums and L.A. rapper Bambu answer the question, how do you make hip hop that isn't commercial, doesn't pander to violence and misogyny, but isn't boring? They start things off with "Peddlin' Music," in which Bambu raps about trying to make it as a rapper in L.A., dealing with open mics, angry bosses, shitty day jobs, and, for Fatgums, med school, "trying to stay focused when he opens that textbook." "We peddle music on the side to hopefully make rent," Bambu admits, but he doesn't sound down. Part of that is due to the soulful strings and funky drums that Fatgums layers in the background. They may be broke, but they are still celebrating, and on "Good Clothes" Bambu raps about the joys of finding good clothes on sale.

On "Strapped," Bambu takes on the subject of gun ownership. This is a tricky subject for rappers who get lumped in with the backpack or conscious scene. Talib Kweli got a mess of shit for his "Gun Music" from fans who felt that the underground should be a safe haven from the violence of mainstream rap. As Bambu makes it clear, the problem isn't that simple. Over a Biggie Smalls sample and swaggering horns, Bambu raps about coming strapped both literally and lyrically:

"I do not condone the killing of our own
But I do condone defending yourself from the pigs, home
Ask Kaisha Miller who her killer was, you'll see
Riverside PD shot til she did not breathe
12 shots hit her point blank right in her chest"

The Biggie sample is no accident, since the late rapper was shot to death. Bambu continues the discussion on "Gunslinger I," describing his gun collection, but clarifying: "I am not advocating what a bullet might bring/I done lost two cousins three homies one uncle/From the little tiny pellets that fly out a gun muzzle." Bambu grew up surrounded by gang culture, and was part of that life before decided to start focusing his energy on more positive pursuits. The song both acknowledges the need to bear arms, and laments the fact that so many people are quick to pull the trigger over nothing. "Remember," he advises, "Fight for your family and change/Stop killing over nothing more than 'What'd you say?'" That song is followed by "Gunslinger II." Fatgums provides a mournful spaghetti western beat for Bambu to spit a tale of his 12-year-old nephew beaten by police. Fatgums cuts in just about every "fuck the police" line in hip hop history, ending with audio footage of Oscar Grant being shot by police on New Year's Day.

Bambu's thoughts on police and guns and violence are much more complicated and intelligent than what I'm used to hearing from the media, much less rappers. He comes from a world where pacifism isn't an option, and where violence is as likely to come from the police as it is from the drug dealers and gang bangers. Bambu has a gritty toughness rounded in intelligence and insight, so he avoids the trap of coming off as either a dumb thug or an intellectual with no real life experience. He applies the same insight to relationships on "Listen," which talks about the need for both partners in a relationship to listen to one another in order to avoid conflict and misunderstanding. The album ends with a eulogy to a dead friend, "Black Smile," which includes phone messages to the deceased. Bambu's rhymes are heartfelt and heartbreaking, and the song stands up with Ice Cube's "Dead Homiez" or UGK's "One Day." Throughout every song on the album, Bambu's never comes off as preachy, and he doesn't drop any awkward or clunky rhymes. He never sacrifices the music for the message, and he manages to make his message sound good.

Bambu gets a lot of help from Fatgums, who is the perfect partner on this album. A point of reference would be 9th Wonder's work with Murs and Little Brother; both producers know their soul, and are able to spin samples into colorful, banging beats. Fatgums created the beats here while on leave from med school, and as much as I hope that he will be able to finish school and become a doctor, I'd also like him to keep making beats. He's too good on the decks to completely abandon them, even if it is to help people.

"A Peaceful Riot" finds common ground between feel-good, old school worshipping West Coast backpack rap and sun-and-gun drenched L.A. gangsta rap. Bambu tackles big issues without resorting to oversimplification or cliche, and Fatgums keeps it cooking with his soulful beats. This EP is one of the best I've heard this year, and I hope that the duo keep peddling their music.

Music Vibes: 8.5 of 10 Lyric Vibes: 8.5 of 10 TOTAL Vibes: 8.5 of 10

Originally posted: June 2, 2009
source: www.RapReviews.com

- RapReviews.com

Sunday, May 3, 2009
Fatgums/Bambu: A Peaceful Riot

Those familiar with this site will rightfully see the review of A Peaceful Riot as a significant departure from the usual mix of electro/trunk slabs, so before I launch into the ensuing rant, let me say that there’s something a little different about this album. Those who know me, know of my passionate and deep-rooted hate for self-righteous conscious hip hopper backpack bullshit, which might’ve been tight back in 1994, but has since been co-opted by pseudo-intellectual suburbanites. All too often in the ‘underground’ is lyrical content replaced for musical quality, as if ‘real hip hop’ is somehow the only form of music that can exist in a vacuum as exempt from balancing the principles upon which it was founded. I’m tired of fools making lackluster hip hop, and then shirking criticism on the basis of the claim that you’re simply too commercial and fake to understand ‘real hip hop culture’. That’s fat girl logic, an analogy that I need not expound upon any further. Now what’s most refreshing about A Peaceful Riot is that it fights against these stereotypes. From start to finish, the production is intensely musical. The rapping is conscious and lyrical, but not granola. You can hustle and be about your money, like clothes, guns, and fighting, and be down with the cause. One doesn’t exclude the other, which is the reality for people in the hood really living it. This line from “Good Clothes” pretty much sums it up: “how you expect me to look, wristbands, and linen pants, and a hand full of books. Flip-flops on my foot, liquorish stick in my teeth, or maybe bundle me in mismatched colorful bed sheets.”

4/5 Slaps
Hardest slap: Gunslinger I
Release date: April 25, 2009
Label: Beatrock
- The Slap Report

Sean O'Connell

Wed. April 22

For every community that draws water and electricity in this smoggy sprawl, there are musicians documenting what goes on outside their windows for anyone who will listen. From patchouli-tinged minstrels to landlocked emcees, the voices that resonate beyond their street corners are forever indebted to these surroundings.

Emcee Bambu’s story is of the Filipino-American experience in the oft-romanticized Los Angeles era of pagers and Raiders, where storefronts and futures were just as likely to go up in a blaze. His gangbanging childhood bred an unapologetic streak of confidence and hard knocks that make wrestling with the music industry pale in comparison. After being jailed for armed robbery as a kid, he joined the Marines at the recommendation of a judge. Since this turning point, Bambu has been on a track to improve the world around him. “Change happens from the bottom where the problems are,” he says, calling from New York following a speaking engagement at NYU. “Not the top down.”

Bambu’s newest release, . . . A Peaceful Riot . . . , is a 10-track extension of his philosophy straight off the heels of his recent full-length, Exact Change. Fatgums’ bright production shines with dramatic stutters, both melodic and rhythmic, popping with pristine crispness between a pair of cans. The big-beat stack of Stax cushions Bambu’s calculated rhymes, lighting up both minds and dance floors, with one skeptical eye on those in charge and the other on himself.

The EP is being released exclusively by Beatrock—the safe-house/art gallery within sneezing distance of Long Beach City College. Aside from a busload of DJs and emcees, including DJ Tanner, Otayo Dubb and the CounterParts Crew, the upcoming EP release show also promises what any good party should have: charred, marinated meats. “If you’ve never had Park’s Finest (Johneric Concordia) BBQ, then you don’t know barbecue,” he tells me with a passion usually reserved for the stage. “It would be a foolish thing for you to miss that barbecue.”

Fatgums and Bambu have been working together for a little more than a year. The resulting collision has included not only Bambu’s last full-length album but the recent soundtrack/mixtape, A Song for Ourselves. Earlier this year, filmmaker Tad Nakamura released a documentary about troubadour Chris Iijima, a leading voice in the Asian-American Movement of the late ’60s and early ’70s. “Tad had been in touch with my DJ. It wasn’t even a question. ‘I need you to get in the studio and do this.’ ” So, Bambu got to work with DJ Phatrick resulting in a 19-track mixtape that features Bambu on nearly half of it. “A lot of socially conscious emcees have clever sound bites and catchy rhetoric, but Bambu has a deep knowledge of historic and current social struggles to back it all up,” says mixtape contributor Senz of Depth. “It takes some courage to talk trash to another rapper, but to critique the most powerful nation and military on earth—in such a smart, lucid, unapologetic way—takes courage on a whole other level.”

As far as the future goes, Bambu has an ambitious game plan focusing squarely on raising his child in a better world than the one that raised him. By the time election fever sweeps the nation again, Bambu expects to be out of the rap scene. “I just don’t know if I have it in me with the family. I just want to challenge folks to look for new talent. I just want to step away,” he says. Like Iijima, who went on to become a teacher and a lawyer following his strummed outrage, Bambu wants to change the world on a local scale by opening up a community space, after-school programs and even teaching some martial arts. Bambu’s effortless flow will be missed when it is gone. So, catch it while there is still time, and grab some barbecue before you leave.

‘. . . A PEACEFUL RIOT . . .’ RELEASE PARTY WITH BAMBU AND FATGUMS BEATROCK | 4158 NORSE WAY | LONG BEACH 90808 | SAT 6-11PM
- The District Weekly