FOLLOW MY LEAD - TRIBE OF LEVI LP PROMO
So dope! This begins the first in a series of Q and A's with some of my peers and associates, but more importantly, some real people who have had real influence in my life and in my art. There will be some you may have not heard of before, but they hold a special place in my timeline, and I am certain they will take up some room in your heart mind and soul soon enough from here on out.
I met MIC JORDAN years ago, through BRU LEI in Sacramento, and immediately the vibe was evident. It's been a number of years passed, but we keep in touch every now and then and I continue to be amazed at the quality of work he and his crew put out consistently.
Alright exciting! Let's get it in!
1)Can you give us a beginning, who are you, what crews do you rep.
MIC JORDAN: Peace, I am MICjordan, representing Sacramento hiphop... TPR crew, Tribe of Levi, Secret Recipe, FreexUvNature, Self Mastery Project, Super Smash Bros., and Dank Chamber. I represent probably the best collective of emcees that you haven't heard of... YET.
2)One of your most memorable experiences in Hip-Hop i.e. performance, recording a track, or life in general.
MIC JORDAN: Probably my most memorable experience, certainly the most influential, was helping to run a weekly open mic/Hiphop workshop in Southern Cali while I was in college.
Every day I got to see some of the greatest emcees and b-boys/b-girls do their thing, people like Aceyalone, the Black Eyed Peas (before they went pop, they were amazing), Bboy EZ Roc, Bgirl AsiaOne, Bboy Ivan... as well as less well known but no less influential heads like SeeFor, Kemo, and many many others... just freestyling and indulging their love of the artform and self-expression.
It was the mid to late 90's, a really exciting time for hiphop in general... probably the birth and 'golden era' of so-called 'underground hiphop'.
Being there every week really was my graduate course in hiphop, so to speak.
I would see all these amazing artists and be completely blown away, but over time the conviction that "I could do that too" really crystallized for me.
By the time I graduated, I knew that I was a 'real' emcee.
3)Shout outs, last words, words of wisdom.
MIC JORDAN: Shout out to all my people everywhere, everybody who loves hiphop and genuine self-expression, shout out to my brothers in Tribe of Levi, my mans Bru Lei and Nome Nomadd, Mahtie Bush, the whole TPR crew, Lee Bannon, Akili Beats, Twiz the Beat Pro, Just Plain Ant, Noshes Beats, Styles1001, Westt Kraven and every other producer that's blessed us... and big ups to Kendrick Lamar. Even though I've never met the dude, he's the first new rapper in the past 10 years to really give me that feeling I had in the mid-90s of being so excited about hiphop and feeling like I was hearing something that really represented me.
I hope he helps spark a whole movement back towards ACTUALLY keeping it real, creative, and original.
Really, big ups to that whole camp... Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock... all those guys are killing it just as hard, they just don't have the recognition. Hopefully they'll clear a lane for other artists who are also original, thoughtful, and technically proficient... artists like the ones in my crew!
4)One of the most influential songs in your career.
MIC JORDAN:
4. Wow, this is hard... it wasn't so much a particular song, but the most influential EMCEE in my career was Kool Moe Dee. Because I always liked rap music as a little kid, but Moe Dee was the one who really showed me that you could really use rap lyrics to explore and analyze the world in a very focused, detailed, intellectual way. It appealed to the way my brain works.
Like, "oh, you can DO something with rap."
The fact that he invented battle rap as we know it, innovated faster cadences and internal rhymes, and made pop hits too... he was kind of like the prototype of KRS-ONE as far as being 'good at everything'.
So, to this day, he's the emcee I model myself after.
Please check out my band page at http://www.reverbnation.com/tribeoflevihiphop, you can also download albums for free at http://micjordan.bandcamp.com/ and http://tribeoflevi.bandcamp.com/ ... and be sure to get the new Tribe of Levi album "Follow My Lead" from I-TUNES or AMAZON... shit, illegally download it if you have to, just bump it and tell a friend!
That's my word. And now we got...
THINGS TO DO
I'm a big fan of this one, so dope. Lyrics for that azz and production to ride over. You can't front!
*NOTE: From MIC JORDAN directly, "Things to do" actually just won the 2012 Sacramento Area Music award (SAMMIE) for 'best video' and Tribe of Levi won the 2012 SAMMIE for 'outstanding hiphop' for the third year in a row... which means we're going to be part of their Hall of Fame and ineligible for further nominations, which is pretty cool..."
That's is like almost the equivalent of the Rock Steady Crew DJ's back in the day. A hearty and well-deserved congrats to TRIBE OF LEVI for such a tremendous feat and for a very inspirational song. I check this one out at least every three months. Replay value nowadays is becoming rare, but you can see why. Quality is invaluable.
ALMOST FORGOT!
PEEP THE REST OF THE CREW!
HERE:
MIC JORDAN, POOR, and N.O.N.
MY PEOPLE by NOME NOMADD featuring TRIBE OF LEVI
Another sure shot. Nome Nomadd represents well as does the Tribe. Real subject matter and a refreshing view about what Hip-Hop really means.
I'd like to thank MIC JORDAN for blessing us with his thoughts and I do know I'll be seeing this man again. It's been quite a long while, but it's also encouraging to see how time passes and we all continue to evolve.
Much love to Sacramento Hip-Hop and Tribe of Levi.
Peace and Respect,
12:51
P.S.
From MIC,"I actually have a song on the new Tribe album where I'm rapping in French
here is a German website where you can illegally download it, LOL."
WHAT IT MEANS featuring SADAT X
HEY YOU featuring BRU LEI
