Local Rapper Blee Gets Cooking in the Studio and in the Kitchen
A peppery waft of aromatics seduces the palate as a mélange of vegetables is introduced with a hiss to a searingly hot, well-seasoned stir fry pan. The chef delights in the fragrance emanating from his cooking vessel and bops his head up and down in time with the hip-hop track bumping in the background, as if in approval of his edible creation.
This isn’t a demonstration by one of the city’s culinary bigwigs or a lesson on the fine art of stir-fry at a cooking class, but rather the creation from the kitchen of local rap artist, music impresario and organic food-lover, Blee.
As the artist prepares for the release of his sophomore effort on July 9, aptly titled Hotwater Cornbread, the rapper talks music, cookery and his passion for clean eating.
“I just wanted something really clean…plus it’s hot [outside] and when it’s hot, you don’t want to invest a lot of time in cooking,” Blee says. “I’m inspired by friends of mine who have really turned their lives around by eating clean.”
Putting the final flourishes to his Brussels sprouts, asparagus and flank steak creation, accompanied by a simple salad of spring greens and baby carrots and adorned with a smattering of perfumed raspberries, the self-anointed “stir-fry technician” reflects on his artistic vision.
“I get shit started,” Blee says. “I’ve done block parties, I’ve had my own radio show, I’ve done different things and I wear different belts, but I’m primarily an artist first and then a promoter.”
With a listening party slated for July 13, 2013 at Omina Laboratories, and a CD release party on deck July 20, 2013 at Capitol Garage, the rapper-cum-chef looks back on the year-long recording process proudly.
“Production was crazy,” Blee gushes. “I had Nicatyne from Fly High, NPire Da Great, the Gonzalez Brothers, and N8 the Gr8 from legendary group The Cuf…and I can’t forget Billy Hi-Life, this dude is incredible. He gave me [the track] “Black Skillet Commentary,” which is kind of an anthem where I’m talking about how I’m living…like eating clean and taking care of myself.”
Regarding the album’s direction, the rapper also took some calculated risks with his style.
“I wanted to stick with the same formula as Full Course Meal, but I wanted to implement a new sound because I know sonically right now it’s about EDM…and I wanted to implement that, too, without compromising my creative direction.”
Laid down at Omina Labs located on 16th Street, which has seen some of the area’s most talented MCs such as Chase Moore, C-Plus and countless others spit lyrical fire in its booths, Blee’s follow up to his debut, Full Course Meal, features whip-smart lyrics, frenetic beats and, of course, a heaping serving of food references.
“You can look forward to all of my concepts being cuisine-based,” Blee says. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to rap about food, but it inspires me.”
On a recent shopping trip to the farmers’ market, the Sacramento rapper (who credits his Dominican Republic roots and the matriarchs who instilled in him a love of food and cooking as the inspiration for his appetite for organic and whole foods), cruised through the maze of people, purveyors and verdant veggies like a pro.
“I think it really stems from my mom and her just making everything from scratch,” Blee says. “She would point fingers and make fun of the neighbors’ mothers who would make cornbread with Jiffy. That whole bravado and pride in your food, it just blended into me as a person.”
Head down to Capitol Garage on July 20 to help Blee celebrate the release of his new album Hotwater Cornbread. Party will go from 9 p.m. until close. DJ Epik, NPire, Peso Harlem and more will also be on hand. For more on Blee, go to Facebook.com/blee.gordon.
The Stir-Fry Technician’s ingredients for Beef and Vegetable Stir-fry
Blee’s commitment to preserving the integrity of the ingredients during the cooking process shines through in this quick and easy stir-fry.
“I don’t measure anything. I’m using just a splash of olive oil and fajita seasoning—that’s it, no salt, no extra seasonings. I let the vegetables speak for themselves by not cooking them for too long, just about a minute each, like the baby Brussels sprouts, you want them crunchy. Then I add the beef strips—a little Ranchers Reserve, pre-cut, no fat, real lean. Then I serve it all over a bed of jasmine rice. Add a good salad and we’re good to go. It’s guilt-free cuisine. When you eat this, your body smiles.”
Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a large wok over medium-high heat. Add baby Brussels sprouts and cook, tossing occasionally, about one minute. Add one bunch trimmed asparagus and cook, tossing occasionally, about one minute. Add sliced summer squash and cook, tossing occasionally, about one minute. Add button mushrooms and cook, tossing occasionally, about one minute. Sprinkle vegetables with half of the fajita seasoning packet and cook, tossing occasionally, about one minute. Spread remaining fajita seasoning over steak then add to vegetable mixture and cook, tossing occasionally, about three to five minutes.
Cook rice according to package directions. Top about a half-cup of rice, per person, with about one cup per person of the stir-fry mixture and enjoy.
Mixed Spring Greens Salad with Raspberries
Ingredients:
4 cups mixed baby greens
1 cup baby carrots
1 handful raspberries
Scant drizzle of Asian-inspired sesame salad dressing
Inspired by a raw-food concept restaurant in Los Angeles, Blee creates a simple salad that doesn’t come in a pre-made bag, unfettered by an army of overwrought ingredients and free from the shackles of heavy salad dressings. It only takes minutes to get from fridge to plate.
Place two large handfuls of mixed baby greens in large bowl (Blee draws a pair of surgical gloves from a box that sits within reaching distance of his cooking range, for this very process). Toss with whole baby carrots. Divide greens among two plates. Top salads with raspberries and a scant amount of the Asian-inspired sesame salad dressing.
Lostribe’s JustLuv on nurturing the rap group’s latest album Sophie
Six years ago is a different lifetime as the body approaches 30 years of age. Marinate that sentiment with hip-hop’s culture in motion and an artist could risk making music on the wrong side of retro. Grass Valley’s Lostribe could have stuck to its 2005 script, but with personal growth comes valued artistic growth and even rebirth.
Lostribe began as a crew consisting of three producers and one MC. Its debut could be considered rapper/producer Agustus ThElefant’s solo Sole Expressions in 2005, which featured production from Lostribe producers JustLuv and MLB. The group went through a series of tribulations after that record, but still managed to bounce back with a video game soundtrack deal in 2007.
Members JustLuv and Agustus were asked to score the Namco Bandai video game Afro Samurai, featuring Samuel L. Jackson and RZA. The duo scored 10 tracks on the game. Meanwhile, JustLuv remained busy by breaking into the Bay Area rap scene to produce tracks for Andre Nikatina, Mac Dre, San Quinn and Mr. FAB. The growth would prove invaluable to Agustus and JustLuv, even if it distracted them from following up on their personal efforts. MLB is on hiatus from Lostribe crew, only making an appearance on one track on Sophie, the band’s latest album, which will be released on Aug. 23. But JustLuv assured me he had good reason for the absence, “He recently had a baby.
“So he’s focused on being a father and building that life,” JustLuv said. “He’s got a lot on his plate right now. I made it a point to include him on at least one track. He has a hard time getting out to the studio, living in Grass Valley and we recorded everything in Sacramento. He’s working, trying to get that money for his family.”
With Lostribe down to two core members, JustLuv manned the boards for Sophie, a record that meshes the lyrical dexterity of underground hip-hop in the early Aughts with the modern warble of dubstep’s woofer-blasting sound. Musicians out for the dollar and the relevancy can’t afford to take a five-year hiatus, but JustLuv talked of the extended process as a necessity that earned Sophie its coveted title.
Why the long hiatus between records?
A lot of life and shit happened. Agustus got married and moved away to Santa Cruz with his wife. They were down there for about a year and a half. He ended up getting a divorce shortly and moved back up [to Grass Valley]. I was going through a breakup at the same time, in between houses, and living situations were not very stable. I was like a gypsy living out of my car for a minute.
Life happened and we had to regroup. Then, in 2007 we started working on the video game, going through negotiations with those dudes. It took up a lot of our creative focus. So around 2009 we got our focus back with Agustus moving here. But again, it took time because we were going over material that was really old and we had some new material, so there was gaps between the sound quality and progression of the sound. We kept evaluating shit to try and refine our style. This last winter was when it finally came together.
The sound is definitely caught up to speed with its dubstep influence, while maintaining an organic feel closely associated with hip-hop.
That’s become my thing. Around 2006 that fool Agustus brought me to Burning Man and introduced me to dubstep. I was kind of into electronic music, and I used to break dance when I was a teenager, so that sound to me felt like the missing element into the synthesis of hip-hop and electronic music.
With the absence of MLB, you produced nearly the entirety of Sophie. How did you approach the opportunity to have full creative control over the sound?
That’s kind of how this project started out. I was making these new beats and my homie in Oakland heard them and said I’d kind of arrived, so it was time to put some shit out with this sound. So originally the focus was a solo project.
When it came down to me making this project and N8 [the Gr8 from The Cuf] started plugging these beats and Agustus heard it and said the shit was dope. We just decided to do a Lostribe album. It was a lot of hard work, but at the same time it was the most fulfilling and creative thing I’ve done. I tried to make a couple anthems. Try to make some shit that gets stuck in your head.
Why did you name the record Sophie? Because the first thing that comes to my mind is the old Jaz record with Jay-Z called “Hawaiian Sophie.”
I’m almost 30 years old. A large percentage of my friends are getting married or having kids or tied down in committed relationships. I don’t really have none of that shit. So, Sophie is the name I’d have given a daughter. So this is my firstborn. That’s why I named it Sophie.
You hear a lot of musicians talk about their records as their babies. That’s cool that you took that concept to a literal sense.
You know, I was kind of laying in bed the other day and realized everything I’ve done from making money, places I’ve lived, friendships to an extent… Everything I’ve done to gain momentum in my life for the last 10 years has been out of this music. So I’ve put my entire grown ass adult life and heart and soul into this album. So really I couldn’t call it anything else.
You went to boarding school as a youth. And recently you had a nephew get into some trouble, which prompted you to write the song “Live Like a Rebel.” I was wondering if he’s heard the record and if it had an impact on him?
No. I’ve not played it for him yet. He is more into rock music. He gives me a teenager response to everything, which is, “That’s cool.” He’s still 16. I can only live by example and try to show him what’s what. At the same time it is hard for me, because I still do young shit like go to the bar and get drunk. It’s kind of a paradox. I had a really deep conversation with the kid three or four months ago and then the next day he told his dad he figured it out and he got it. Then, the next day went out with his friends and did hella crazy shit. I can’t be mad though. The shit I was doing when I was his age was way worse.
Lostribe’s Sophie is available now in stores and through iTunes, Amazon and other online retailers. The album features guest appearances from Gift of Gab, The Grouch, Talib Kweli and others. Lostribe will perform at Sol Collective on Friday, Sept. 9 with Los Rakas, Danked Out and more. Hosting the event will be Mic Jordan. For more info, go to Lostribeproductions.com
On the first try to get Nate Curry, aka N8 the Gr8, of Sacramento’s legendary local hip-hop group the CUF on the phone for an interview with Submerge, he was tied up with some music business.
“I’m at Western Union wiring Gift of Gab some money right now for a verse. Can you call me back in five minutes?”
Curry is a busy man. Besides being one of five members of the CUF, he’s also a producer for up-and-coming R&B singer Marryann Hunter, hip-hop group Lost Tribe and his cousin, rapper MAK. His head has been immersed in those projects, and it wasn’t until recently that his focus turned once again to making music with the CUF.
“Truthfully, in the last year, we were kind of losing our motivation a little bit. I ventured off into some other stuff,” says Curry.
There’s no behind-the-music story, no band beef or silly drama. It’s just that the group has seen so many opportunities over the years come and go that delusions of grandeur were hardly taking shape.
“We’ve had so many different labels and so many different things that we’ve dealt with and it’s always just turned into shit. So none of us really expected anything,” explains Curry.
But the journey’s been a good one.
In 1993, a hugely important year in hip-hop that saw the release of such albums as Souls of Mischief’s 93 Til Infinity, Wu Tang’s 36 Chambers, Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle, KRS-One’s Return of the Boom Bap and so many more (seriously, Google it), the young MCs known as the CUF were beginning what would become an 18-year-long musical career. Sacramento, sadly, was a lot like it is now in respects to clubs and music venues having little interest or tolerance for hip-hop or rap music. As Curry explains, there’s been no shortage of a few knuckleheads ruining it for us all with “plenty of people getting shot and killed at clubby club shows.” This was working against them, but a greater force was and has been ever-present; a strong Sacramento music community. Can’t book a hip-hop show? Well then play with a rock or a ska band.
“We got in with Filibuster, Steady-Ups, Diseptikons, Storytellers and those guys…and we’d get into venues that they’d have never let us play at,” recalls Curry.
These mix-and-match shows were part of one of the most active times in Sacramento’s local music scene. Venues like Old Ironsides, The Distillery, The Press Club and the original Capitol Garage all played host to the CUF, but now rarely if at all welcome hip-hop shows. Listeners who may have never stepped foot in a hip-hop club were now exposed to the sounds of the CUF playing alongside some of their other favorite groups. Well aware of this fact, Curry and fellow MCs Crush, Brotha RJ and Pete (Lil N8, aka Taktics, would come later) sharpened and fine-tuned their lyrics and beats to make sure their sound was clean and their voices be heard.
“We perfected our stage show because we knew that no one knew our music,” says Curry. “We made it to where we’d speak clear on the mic and the beats weren’t super cluttery and jumbled.”
Crowds were quickly won over; seeing the CUF on a bill without a single other hip-hop act was pretty commonplace. Plus, it didn’t hurt that the group had an anthem track appropriately titled “Sacramento” that listeners quickly memorized the lyrics to and would frequently request at live shows.
It wasn’t always difficult for hip-hop in the River City. There were all-ages venues throughout the years, most of which are no longer around, that were instrumental in keeping the scene alive and well. The Washington Neighborhood Center on 16th Street hosted frequent hip-hop shows, as did the now defunct and legendary venue Joe’s Style Shop. The upstairs art space and basement music venue on J Street was regularly throwing some of the most amazing shows that continued the theme of mixing and matching the artist community. Dub DJs like Wokstar opening for Filibuster with the CUF rounding out the bill was commonplace, and Sacramento was there in full effect, supporting the diversity and loving it. Later, Scratch 8 in Old Sacramento played host to such acts as Zion I, Crown City Rockers, The Grouch and many others. Again, the CUF was there laying down their signature sound and remaining an integral presence in the waxing and waning hip-hop scene of the late ‘90s and early ‘00s.
As other bands have throughout the years, the CUF also found homes for its hip-hop sound in other cities in the Bay Area and Southern California. A monthly club being thrown in Oakland called Unsigned Hype was a showcase for independent hip-hop talent making waves, as well as up-and-coming acts like the CUF. Bills would often include artists like Saafir of Hobo Junction or Souls of Mischief of Hieroglyphics. A fateful evening at the club paired the CUF and an unknown Mystik Journeymen from another large hip-hop group called the Living Legends as openers for A-Plus. The club that night was treated to impressive sets from both opening acts that left the crowd speechless–literally.
“It was weird because we put on an awesome show and everyone just stared and looked at us. I don’t think they were ready,” remembers Curry. “RJ and Sunspot [Jonz] chopped it up, we linked up and ended up going over to their loft and the rest was history.”
That history would include multiple tours with the Living Legends up and down the West Coast as well as guest appearances on each other’s albums. But even with the taste of scenes in other cities that had thriving hip-hop communities, the CUF could never leave Sacramento behind. It’s always been their identity.
“Sacramento is our home;” says Curry proudly. “That’s the reason our music sounds the way it does; it’s the reason that we are who we are.”
For residents of the 916 who aren’t familiar with the CUF, who over the past few years have kept a low profile, their chance to discover a hip-hop gem hasn’t passed. With a new album just released on April 26, 2011 titled CUF Caviar Vol. 1, the CUF is, to put it frankly, back and better than ever. A truly funky record with intelligent production from Curry, who has been responsible for 90 percent of the beats on CUF records, CUF Caviar is just plain fun to listen to. The album took two years to complete and the production value certainly shows patience. Songs like “Don’t Ask No ?’s” plays heavily with a punchy funk drum sample, a Ceelo-esque hook and auto tune vocals… It works, and frankly I wish the crap on the radio that employed similar techniques sounded half as good. CUF Caviar is a more refined, more polished version of what the group has been all along. It’s rare nowadays to find musicians who define a sound for themselves and are able to gracefully age and mature it without compromising the original ideas. The CUF has done just that.
“A lot of the stuff we did before was just us vibing out. We’d write a 16, the beat’s dope, let’s jump on it and find a hook and make it fat,” Curry explains. “[Now] it’s on a totally bigger scale.”
The title of the album, CUF Caviar, is the perfect reflection of this new “scale.” Curry says that when naming the album, the CUF wanted to stick with the fish theme that has always been their logo as well as the incorporation of the band name in the title. Past records have included CUF Daddy, CUF Baby and CUFilation as well as the earlier tapes Federal Expressions and Cuffish that are collectors’ items among diehard fans.
“We basically were thinking that caviar are fish eggs. They’re fish babies, but they’re more refined. It’s something that you’d want if you had an ear that’s more refined. It’s not no little kiddie hip-hop. It’s something for grown folks; sophisticated ears,” jokes Curry.
One of the more humorous things about the maturation of the CUF is the actual acronym itself. Commonly referred to as California Underground Funk or Californians Under Frustration, the guys have become family men now and a new meaning has come to pass: Cousins Uncles and Fathers.
The rejuvenated CUF will be taking CUF Caviar on the road, playing spot shows with Z-Man, Equipto and Mike Marshal. May 12 at Harlow’s will be the CD release show and Curry says that there may even be a Blackalicious and CUF tour on the horizon as well. If you’re not a CUF fan or if you’ve always been, make sure you cop the new album and hear what the fellas have been up to.
