Fugazi-Waiting Room

Written by John M. Ellison IV

I decided to do a D.C. music theme this week and I thought I would start off with seminal punk band Fugazi. Fugazi came from the shards of notable D.C. Hardcore bands such as Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, Rites of Spring and Embrace. Members included Guy Picciotto, Ian MacKaye, Joe Lally, Brendan Canty and Colin Sears. Ian said that for Fugazi that he wanted to create something “like the Stooges with reggae.” In this case, the band wasn’t about being a band but more about playing music with others. With this experiment, the band included elements of post-punk, funk and reggae beats with dub influenced basslines into their sound with dissonance as well.

With these elements, Fugazi brought a different sound to what would be considered punk rock and quite different than the previous hardcore sound of Minor Threat, Dag Nasty and Rites of Spring.

“Waiting Room” is a song that Ian MacKaye explains is about being in jail. Ian’s chunky guitar, the rhythm section of Joe Lally and Brendan Canty really hypnotized me. Although they’re on a hiatus, I implore you to check out the the back catalog of Fugazi.

Fugazi’s Myspace

http://exclaim.ca/images/up-fugazi_1_lg.jpg

Jimmy Fallon/Justin Timberlake History of Rap

Written by John M. Ellison IV

Imagine this, it’s 1998 and were having a conversation about music and then it steers to hip-hop. We talk about the development of hip-hop and where it can potentially go in mainstream culture. Then, in the middle of the banter, I jokingly suggest that Jimmy Fallon from Saturday Night Live and the singer for *NSync Justin Timberlake were going to do a history of rap medley with the Roots in 12 years. You probably would have looked at me like I lost my mind. Well…guess who’s crazy now?

Now, to make it fair, we have to get Kevin Hart and Chris Brown to do the History of Punk.

Lil Wayne-“I Am Not a Human Being” video

Written by John M. Ellison IV

“I Am Not a Human Being” is a track with production by DJ Infamous and Andrew “Drew” Correa that contains abrasive guitar stabs, heavy live drum sounds and intergalactic lyrics, this description caught my ear, and it’s…Lil Wayne. As I begrudgingly admit, this song is slowly growing on me. I can’t say that I’m a fan of Lil Wayne, that’s more of my sister’s department. But, instead sharing my curmudgeonly thoughts and go on a tirade about how I thought his “rock” album, “Rebirth” wasn’t up to par, I am and willing to give him his due on the title track for “I Am Not a Human Being.”

Oddly enough, “I Am Not a Human Being” is made from outtakes from Rebirth…

Hopefully, with the rest of the album, fans of his will want to venture out and want to genuinely explore more progressive and more experimental music.