Harry Marquez (organiccompound@hotmail.com)
Fri, 19 Nov 1999 09:13:36 PST
>I thought I'd ask you people anyways Have any of you heard
>of a troupe called Ugly Duckling? S'posedly they're out of the North of the
>States (I can't remember if it
>was East or West) but a good and trusted friend of mine was saying that
>they rank up there with Tribe. So I
>thought I'd ask. Apparently they're on 1500 records.
Yeah, Ugly Duckling are a great live hip hop act. I saw them play a little
club in Athens, Georgia, a couple weekends ago, and they were the best act
on the bill (which also consisted of Casual and Del Tha FunkEE HomoSapien).
I'd never heard them before the show, and all I knew about them was that
they were very big in the UK. I don't know if that's true or not, but they
came recommended when I had the chance to talk to Ollie from the Herbaliser
and Albino Priest from Lo Fidelity Allstars.
Ugly Duckling consists of two MCs (Andy C & Dizzy, I think) and their DJ,
Einstein. And they are from the west coast in Cali. Their songs are very
old school-sounding, much like the way Jurassic 5 do their thing. Their EP
I think is called "Fresh Mode," and it's a tribute to spirit of the old
school as well as a blueprint for "keeping it real" without resorting to
that whole ice-wearing, jiggy-playalistic motif.
My friends & I talked to Andy C (the tall, gangly one) after their show, and
he seemed eager for good conversation. He told us about how they & Jurassic
5 were being sought after by some labels overseas, and that they put out
albums on their own label here in the states. He also told us that Cut
Chemist and Einstein go record shopping together every once in a while. He
seemed very down to earth and very conscious about music in general and not
just hip hop. Take away the suede Pumas and baggy pants, and he coulda
passed for an American indie rock kid. We didn't get to talk to Dizzy very
much after the show; he seemed very sleepy and out of it at the time. But
they were both very nice and gracious enough to meet the fans afterwards.
And yeah, they are on 1500 Records now. Andy C didn't seem to up on his
label mate; he could only remember that they also had Dub Pistols on the
roster (as well as the mighty David Holmes!).
If they're in the area, I highly recommend checking them out. As far as
them being in the same league as A Tribe Called Quest, there may be some
truth in that. The last time I saw Tribe (on their final tour of the
States), they really were very disappointing. So, make whatever sense you
want out of that.
Peace,
Ha
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Fri Nov 19 1999 - 18:20:00 MET