The first music video from the album "A Life Less Ordinary," by Kenneth Masters and Bo Faat, Headroom features dancers from Post:ballet. Choreography by Robin Dekkers. Cinematography by Benjamin Tarquin. Edited by Eleanor Ajala.
Could there be anything more anti-human than social distancing? We’ve evolved as a species to be social for our very survival. So it’s a strange change of events that, in this case, our survival depends on mantaining anti-social isolation.
This is the eerie reality that inspired Kenneth Masters’ Coronavirus EP, People are Poison & Outside is Lava. Featuring Digable Planets’ Doodlebug and Mello Music Group recording artist L’Orange, the EP is made up of five songs written and recorded during the shelter-in-place mandate that isolated Masters on a boat in the San Francisco Bay during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Listen to People are Poison & Outside is Lava for FREE on the Black Boy Awesome page here. The digital download is availabe for purchase here. (Or on your favorite music platform.)
Here's a sneak peek:
People are Poison & Outside is Lava also features rhymes by Gums and PapiwiTheWork, production by 12Bit, mix and master by Bo Faat, photography by Noah Levey, video production by Eleanor Ajala, and design by Chris Gutendorf.
"We put a lot of love into this record," says Kenneth Masters.
The record is "You Magnificent Bastard," the third release and first vinyl LP by the hip hop trio Ugly Tarantino, which features rappers Kenneth Masters, Gums, and DJ LadyX.
The album title refers to the popular film and television character trope: a magnificent bastard is a charismatic, fiercely independent character whose moral ambiguity is overshadowed by his likability. Emcees Masters and Gums are the underdog, everyman version of classic magnificent bastards, leading listeners on a track-by-track journey through an album that sounds as cinematic as its themes.
The ethos of "You Magnificent Bastard" is most explicit on the track "Trials of Glass," which begins with a sample from the 1961 film "The Hustler." The dialogue comes from the film's main character, Fast Eddie, a small-time pool hustler played by Paul Newman.
"I just had to show'em," Eddie says. "I just had to show those creeps and those punks what the game is like when it's great. When it's really great! Like anything can be great. Anything can be great if a guy knows…. if he knows what he's doing and why and if he can make it come off. Where I'm going, where I'm really going, I feel like…"
With that, the beat drops and Kenneth Masters launches into a bar of poetic, pop culture-infused rhymes that could only have been penned by a rapper who knows what he's doing and has something to prove.
"You Magnificent Bastard" reincarnates the old-school, boom-bap sound of 90s underground hip hop. For Masters, whose career began in Philadelphia's underground hip hop scene over 20 years ago, the album is in some ways a return to his roots. Spin Magazine once called Masters "the best MC in Philly you've never heard of" and Philadelphia Weekly named him "the ultimate torchbearer for Philly's old-school hip hop guard."
There are also contemporary influences from the Pacific Northwest (the album was written and recorded in Portland, OR), references to the social media memes du jour, and the rapper Gums, whose unorthodox lyrics are long, meandering lines of verse featuring multiple internal rhymes that are nothing if not unique. Gums is probably best described by his own words in the song "Save Stuart!":
"Functioning insomniac in action on the back route/ swervin' off the bourbon curvin'/ demons screamin' out the window/ a human crescendo...,"
...and there's more where that came from.
"I think of Ugly Tarantino as a gang of misfits," says Gums. "Three ornery-ass artists doing what we want and think is fly with zero consideration of where we fit in. Love it or hate it. Regard it as repugnant or glorious. This is uninhibited realness. This is ugly."
DJ Lady X, the Portland native whose scratches and cuts punctuate the album's traditional hip hop beats, odd-ball samples, and catchy choruses, honed her craft with the local SkratchpadPDX crew. She brings a funky style to Ugly Tarantino that's influenced by the likes of DJ Killa Jewel and DJ QBert.
"I'm so proud that our record is getting played on radio stations next to legends," says Lady X. "I saw a playlist and it had something like Nas, Ugly Tarantino, Wu, and I flipped."
Ugly Tarantino's "You Magnificent Bastard" can be purchased on vinyl at blackboyawesome.com, undergroundhiphop.com, and at select record stores. Digital downloads are available to purchase or stream on all major digital music platforms including Spotify, Apple, and Google Music.
Around the corner from Gums’ place is PM’s, a dive bar that you’ve probably never been to if you don’t live on the block. It’s got a neon sign that flashes behind barred windows, a pool table and cheap beer. Gums and Kenneth Masters of Ugly Tarantino have thrown lots of Sunday evening shows there that are more like rehearsals where they mess around in front of the neighbors than actual concerts. But one Sunday evening not so long ago, neighborhood hip hop at PM’s elevated to a whole new level. Gums invited some MCs from Los Angeles to join the crew and the joint crescendoed, for one afternoon, into the best hip hop party in Portland.
One of our favorite acts was Mad Macks and Kiddo from the Los Angeles-based artist collective East of the River. Kiddo’s rhymes are fierce, and Mad Macks is all heart and street-corner grandeur with a dreamy mop of hair on top. Together, the duo is real hip hop. Here’s a taste:
DJ LadyX is one third of the hip hop trio Ugly Tarantino, a champion of local hip hop in Portland and regularly gigs up and down the West coast. She recently competed in the Skratcher Classic Head-to-Head Scratch Battle in Los Angeles. I asked her about scratch competing, the craft of DJing and carving her own path through a male-dominated scene.
Q. Is a DJ a musician?
Absolutely. Our job, our main focus on that stage, is to reach people entirely through our music. By definition, a musician is one who composes, conducts or performs music. Now whether you’re a good musician is the question...
Q. DJing and scratching are folk arts in that they're crafts that are typically self-taught or passed informally from mentor to novice. There aren't many formal institutions that teach DJing. Did you have any mentors who showed you the ropes?
The whole SkratchpadPDX, SundaePDX and Wicked Wednesday crew. DJ Wicked and DJ Ozroc really provided a place for me to learn and grow. They put me to work and I felt I had to prove myself to them.
DJ Kut Throat and I have been doing a lot of work together this past year – really focusing on my technique and skill and taking the time to build my brand. Sometimes I feel without him, I'd be lost. We still have a lot of work ahead of us but I definitely feel blessed and I look forward to the hard work.
Q. What are the different styles or schools of scratch? How would you describe your style?
I have a funky scratch. I like to feel that beat and just get funky with it. There are a lot of different styles, as with any art form. Over the years the styles have evolved immensely – from the Grand Wizzard Theodore days to the current DJ Qbert. The sky is the limit if you have the proper knowledge, dedication and focus.
Q. Who do admire as a DJ?
Hands down DJ Killa Jewel is an icon for female DJs. She has such a profound scratch style and continues to grow as a DJ. That gives me inspiration to stay focused, keep putting myself out there and to keep setting goals for myself.
Q. Hip hop in general is male dominated. DJing is even more of a man's world. Has the community welcomed you? Have you ever wondered if you belong?
I know I belong. I feel 100 percent complete when I am behind the tables. As far as feeling welcomed... I've had my moments. From technical difficulties when no one was willing to help, to carrying out my gear with no DJ willing to help. But I feel like that was my way of earning my stripes. So I dealt with it. Now, I have a lot of support, especially in the skratch community, whether that be via social media or in my own city. But you better believe, LadyX has haters!
Q. You recently competed at the Skratcher Los Angeles Classic Head-to-Head Scratch Battle. How'd you do?
I did pretty good. We'll, actually, great. My main goal was to not choke and, to my surprise, I was super comfortable behind the tables and I did really well. At least by the sounds of the crowd and the props I got after my routine.
Q. Who had the best scratch skills?
There were so many amazing DJs in the building. It's hard to name just one. Of course FlipFlop was in my top three along wit DonPaco and Lee Woody of Europe, who I had the pleasure of cutting with in the freestyle session after the battle. I gotta say, that was fun!
Q. Are you competitive?
Yea. I just wanna prove that I can do it. Whether it's to myself, my fellow skratchers, haters... I just feel like I have something to prove. I always do my best in whatever it is I do. So I went into this battle ready for a battle.
Q. What's it like to work with Gums and Kenneth Masters?
Oh man, I feel very blessed: they are two very humble, very funny, very kind and caring people that are just as dedicated to music as I am. I've learned so much from them. They evolve my craft and they don't even know it. From the conversations we have to the music we vibe out to... it's dope and I appreciate them. They are my brothers, my family. They make me want to keep progressing my skill because they support me and I don't want to let them down.
Q. Are there any rappers you really want to work with?
As far as Portland, right now I'm pretty satisfied wit my current artist. I've been in the mix a lot wit Kable Roc lately, traveling all over Oregon doing shows and making people dance. I've also been working with That Kid Cry, holding down shows from Portland to Salem. Keep an eye out for our upcoming mixtape. And then of course my one and only lady Ms. Eminent. I always love hitting the stage wit her. If it wasn't for her putting me on my first show... who knows how this all would of turned out.
Much love -LadyX
MC Gums and Kenneth Masters, two thirds of the hip hop trio Ugly Tarantino, were live on KBOO in Portland last night. If you missed it, we got you! The Internet never forgets: https://shar.es/1xUlXP
Kenneth Masters and I have been in San Francisco all Summer, so we were happy that a little Portland came our way in the form of pigWar, the Portland-based funk band led by our friend Teddy Presberg. pigWar's mini West coast tour stopped at the Boom Boom Room in San Francisco, where Kenneth Masters joined them on stage to drop a rhyme.
"Kenneth Masters and Gums have undeniable chemistry and clearly bring out the best in one another," says Willamette Weekly hip-hop critic TJ Love. "This type of quality only comes from individuals who have put in their 10,000 hours. It's not an accident."
MC Gums, aka one half of the hip hop duo Ugly Tarantino, released a special Valentine's Day album today. The Downside Of Loving is a concept album produced by The Infamous Tito Sanchez from Los Angeles. Gums and Tito walk you through a story seasoned with lust, love, and heartbreak, closed with an internal metamorphosis. The album is a throwback, soul-inspired EP that plays like a series of chapters in a private book of memoirs. So pour a heavy handed glass of scotch and enjoy this collection as an appetizing prelude to much more to come from the duo.
Listen to The Downside of Loving here.
Ugly Tarantino decided to drop a surprise winter mixtape EP because we had nothing better to do. The whole thing materialized way back in December after we had an in depth conversation about how sick we were of hearing about Star Wars and our varying opinions on Batman v Superman and Captain America: Civil War. The first track we recorded was a freestyle over Czarface's "Air Em Out" beat and the rest of the tracks fell in line after that. Some of the songs are b-sides or tracks we coudn't fit on our upcoming LP. The title, Obsidian Kings In A Reign of Ashes, is our attempt at poetically saying, you're responsible for your own mess, which came to be the lyrical theme of the songs.
Check out Obsidian Kings In A Reign of Ashes here.
Original portrait of Black Boy Awesome Co-founder Kenneth Masters by Lauren Leslie.
Down and out. High and flying. Fatalistic with a grin. Ugly Tarantino takes you on a cinematic journey through the laid back flow of Gums’ working class prose, to the energetic and abstract poetics of Kenneth Masters. The curtain opens and Ugly Tarantino spits strikingly sincere lyrical scenes through a shattered lens.
The Willamette Weekly says, "Ugly Tarantino approaches the unseemly realities of life with a wry smirk, made all the more compelling by a high level of craftsmanship."
Ugly Tarantino plays Panic Room, tonight at 9pm with Angi3, Corina Corina, DJ Halo, Vasquez and DJ Ceez.
We already knew that Portland is kind of like that town in Footloose when it comes to hip hop. The old heads don't like it. They're afraid catchy rhymes and sick beats come with guns, sex, gangs, and black people. The secret is out, and national media is starting to get wind of it too.
Artist Lauren Leslie created this Black Boy Awesome version of the French Revolution painting, Liberty Leading the People. It's called Independent as Fuck.
What ever it is, Mikey Fountaine has it. He’s got style, charisma. He is the rambunctiousness of youth incarnate, in all its sexy arrogance. If I were 15 years younger, I’d be trying to fuck him. If you are young, shameless and local, please, fuck him in my honor.
Find him performing tonight at Hungry Hungry Hip Hop along with Gums & Antitune, Kenneth Masters and Keegan.
Julia Dream is three moody Koreans rocking some seriously bone-buzzing, mind-bending psych-rock riffs. Lead singer 박준형 (no idea of the English translation) is this unassuming, sweet-faced kid who you'd never guess capable of the soaring, Jim Morrison-esque vocals of a man's man.
The London Victory Club is orchestral, electronic, boom-bap-hip-hop, freshly executed by lead emcee Kenneth Masters. Originally formed in Philadelphia, LVC made its national debut at SXSW and toured the U.S. and Europe before dismantling in 2008. After a five year hiatus, Kenneth Masters has rebuilt LVC with keyboardist/producer Adam Cass and drummer Chris Gutendorf. The trio plays tonight, 9pm at Ash Street.
I grew up in Philly and started loving hip hop at a time when music executives still thought it was a fad. Rap wasn’t widely accepted as an art form yet, and what young black men had to say was considered so dangerous that radio stations would only play it at night, after the kids went to bed.
Fast forward to the summer of 2011. I was trapped in the belly of Los Angeles, and humbled by life as an independent musician spinning my wheels in the entertainment industry. I was brainstorming titles for albums, came up with Black Boy Awesome, and told my friends that's what my next project would be called. My friends dug it and started to introduce me as "Black Boy Awesome" when we'd go out to shows. A good friend of mine said it was a waste to put a name that good on an album no one would hear. My friends always keep it 100.
My old music manager from Philly lived in Portland, Oregon and suggested I move up here to escape LA for a while. When I arrived, I found a beautiful city of bridges and a niche within a community of artists and musicians that I loved. But I also discovered life as a black man in the whitest city in America. Everyone kept telling me how progressive Portland is, meanwhile I was being pulled over by cops on the regular and feeling the kind of racial tension you’d expect in the deep South.
The not so veiled racism extended to hip hop too. Hip hop is created by and for everyone of all colors, but it is deeply rooted in the black experience, and like all blackness in Portland, it has been criminalized and silenced. There was a period when it was practically illegal to throw a hip hop show in the city. The stigma of rap I experienced as a kid was back, 20 years later, in a city folks call liberal. Police would raid shows and promoters didn't want to book a hip hop bill.
It was during this time that me and Eleanor Ajala decided to turn Black Boy Awesome into a record label. BBA was established to amplify the musical voices unheard. It is an imprint releasing a diversity of urban music, fostering collaboration amongst local artists, and a map of fresh music. We’ll mostly put records out on vinyl because there's not enough of that in the world. We hope that you'll join us in giving some of our selected artist a listen and, if you dig it, spread the word to your friends.
Black Boy Awesome (BBA) started as a response to the suppression of hip hop in Portland, Oregon where hip hop shows are regularly shut down by the police.
Today, BBA is more than a reaction, it is a record label. Now based in Oakland, California, BBA releases the music of Kenneth Masters, collaborating musicians and artists, and releases great works of hip hop on limited edition vinyl.
