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Thu Jun-29-06 06:37 PM

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"Malik B. article on CityPaper.net"


          

Original article and photos at: http://citypaper.net/articles/2006-06-29/music.shtml


Malik B makes a Psychological breakthrough.
by Zach Mortice

A four-track recorder
A coffin-sized closet vocal booth.

A CD shrink wrapper.

Crisp new business cards.

An air mattress in a studio apartment.

These are the everyday tools of a once-household name rapper making a play to get back in the game. Today, these things are a lot more important to Malik B, The Roots' often-absent "second" MC, than they were when he was touring Europe with the first real hip-hop band in the world. At his new apartment near 12th and Spring Garden, he gladly demonstrates his new DIY ethic, sealing a copy of his new EP, Psychological, in shrink-wrap. "It's fun," he says. "It's like drugs or some shit."


DO YOU WANT MORE?: After parting ways with The Roots in the mid-'90s, Malik B (right) learned the finer points of record distribution from his manager and friend Haak Blast (left).
: Michael T. Regan


Malik (aka Malik Abdul Smart) learned about the finer points of record distribution from his manager/promoter/ producer/handler/roommate/friend Hakeem Woods. A month and a half after they first plopped down an air mattress and unfurled a sofa bed, they're still moving furniture into the apartment with the aid of a van rented for a gig at the Knitting Factory in New York.

Philly's underground hip-hop players regard the 35-year-old Woods (aka Haak Blast) as a music-biz mentor who looks out for aspiring artists. Lately, he's been focusing on Malik, and as far as media attention goes, he's been alone. When Malik B stepped off the tour bus in Germany after the release of Do You Want More?!!!??! and left the Roots camp, he might as well have hopped onto a rocket to Mars.

The last time CP got a quote from Malik it was '99, and by then fans were already wondering about his status with The Roots. Malik acknowledges feeling creative differences regarding where The Roots were headed after Do You Want More?!!!??! and says he sometimes regrets leaving that first big tour in the face of culture shock and tour-bus life. Black Thought's plea to Malik to free himself from drug use on Phrenology's "Water" inspired rumors that his distance from the band was the product of a chemical dependency. Malik admits to having had problems with a handful of drugs (codeine, syrup, prescription pills) but says drug use never alienated him from The Roots. "Sometimes I would use it to create," he says. In 2000, Malik found himself in jail on forgery charges, and probation violations sent him back for a nine-month stretch last year.

Though he sat on the bench for both Phrenology and The Tipping Point, Malik graces three tracks on The Roots' new album, Game Theory, and hopes to record and tour with The Roots again, "I wanted to let people know I'm still around and that I'm hot," he says. And that he's been staying out of trouble. "As long as I'm busy, I don't have time to get in trouble. I got a fear of boredom," he says.

The way Malik B talks makes you conscious of what he's holding back. He picks through words carefully and stares straight ahead, like he's contemplating things he doesn't quite know how to say, or isn't accessing some part of his naturally dexterous MC personality. What he's not accessing, at least in terms of Psychological (which he wrote parts of in jail), is a world where he's haunted by satanic nightmares, lost in his own mind, running the streets ragged, addicted, and calling out to Allah for help.

With lo-fi architect Woods at the controls, Malik takes listeners back to the minor-key paranoia and shambling, off-kilter percussion of the RZA's mid-'90s golden age. Psychological was recorded in underground basement studios across North and South Philly and has the gritty crunch and vinyl hiss of Shaolin to prove it. "We want to produce nostalgic pieces, timeless cuts. We don't have to live up to a commercial standard," says Woods. "Look at 'Daytona 500.' duh-dut, duuuuh, dut-da duh dut. That's not perfection! That shit sounds staticky! But it's got that energy."

Woods wants Psychological to re-establish Malik's reputation, but it isn't a push for crossover success. It has little to do with the slick sheen of hip-hop radio today, whether it's the bombastic thud and zip of the records coming out of Atlanta and Houston, or the crystal clear champagne pop and Hummer door slam of whatever G-Unit spinoff is on TRL today.

With The Roots, Malik recorded one of hip-hop's most expensive albums, but it's unlikely he'll have to leave the lo-fi aesthetic for his solo work. "I want to start rapping over shit you can't even identify"—a zipper rotating in a washing machine, a pen tapping on paper, the ambient noise of daily life.

He's almost there. Psychological's "Sporadic Measures" has Malik flowing over the mechanical bleeps, hollow wails and subterranean thumps of a terrified futurescape, and it won't be long before he can commit the sonic detritus of the present to wax.



Woods hires young, hungry producers to contribute these fresh beats to Malik, and young artists have been hiring the duo to teach them the strange customs of the music business. For the past four months, they've been dispensing advice on how artists can be interdependently profitable and also survive the financial cataclysm of success and a record deal for a modest $30 an hour.

Before the gig at the Knitting Factory, Malik and Woods still have to set up the desk and computer they've moved in and get their merchandise booth ready for the trip, which will end early in the morning with a near-dawn drive back to Philly after the show. As Woods knows, "When you do indie work, it's a lot more than going out and hustlin' records."

Malik B record release party, Fri., June 30, 10 p.m., $10, Medusa Lounge, 27 S. 21st St., 215-557-1981, www.medusalounge.com.

  

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Topic Outline
Subject Author Message Date ID
Thanx for the article
Jun 29th 2006
1
( the - Sound -of a) " zipper rotating in a washing machine " ........
Jun 30th 2006
2
the music world needs 'lik.
Jun 30th 2006
3
"when M-ill get home gon' win...."
Jun 30th 2006
4
Word. He needs hot beats though, i don't know about all that wild
Jun 30th 2006
5
** the "zipper....pen....noise "
Jun 30th 2006
6
RE: ** the "zipper....pen....noise " // NEW PERSONALITY
Jun 30th 2006
7
Wait he has a disc droppin... WHEN??
Jun 30th 2006
8
Disc(s) are available at:
Jun 30th 2006
10
listening to it now.
Jun 30th 2006
9

Stranjer
Member since Aug 19th 2005
1058 posts
Thu Jun-29-06 07:08 PM

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1. "Thanx for the article"
In response to Reply # 0


  

          

I was curious as to what Malik B was up to. I have been a fan of his work and I believe that he is a important contributing factor to The Roots. Interested in hearing his solo work.

____________________________________

QVI DESIDERAT PACEM PRAEPARAT BELLVM

  

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MONIQUEE
Member since Feb 13th 2006
301 posts
Fri Jun-30-06 01:43 AM

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2. " ( the - Sound -of a) " zipper rotating in a washing machine " ........"
In response to Reply # 0


  

          

July 4,1990.Directions.
Results of that sound
Had me 90 miles away from my travel route.
He came out smiling, feeling good and looking Happy .
I asked what are you washing ?
I heard a zipper (hitting against the)washing machine .
The washing machine was never turned on.
Lost but I could not help but laugh. Got back on track.

NELLY: COME ON OVER TO (OUR ) PLACE

D'ANGELO: www.myspace.com/dangeloarcher <<< PUSH IT TO THE LEFT

  

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kinetic94761180
Member since Jul 05th 2002
17847 posts
Fri Jun-30-06 05:23 AM

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3. "the music world needs 'lik."
In response to Reply # 0


  

          

-good read.

_____________
if racism is a cancer, black thought is the answer.

Rjcc is code for "bitch-ass troll"

DROkayplayerâ„¢

  

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kelvinmercerlookalike
Member since Jan 08th 2006
6024 posts
Fri Jun-30-06 11:13 AM

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4. ""when M-ill get home gon' win....""
In response to Reply # 0


  

          

  

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micMajestic
Charter member
22938 posts
Fri Jun-30-06 12:01 PM

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5. "Word. He needs hot beats though, i don't know about all that wild"
In response to Reply # 0


          

shit he is talking about. If those elements can be used in construction fresh beats im all for it, but if it is some cheesy shit labeled as experimental i will pass. There is too much heat out there for a reasonably known mcee not to have hot beats.

  

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MONIQUEE
Member since Feb 13th 2006
301 posts
Fri Jun-30-06 01:06 PM

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6. "** the "zipper....pen....noise ""
In response to Reply # 0


  

          

As the beat, with a STRONG story can be compelling.

When I heard the far away "zipper" sound
it left me knowing
what was about to go down at any given time
one who was not a beer drinker
but one non-consumed beer every...
then the "zipper" sound
and suddenly
cleaning a bathroom like his life depended on it
and turning off the television riding across a bridge
20 minutes later like nothing happened
sawed off shotgun in his lap others had to keep quiet
walking around outside looking around looking around
and i came home "tapping pen on paper" to say good-bye
as the " noise " outside yet another reminder
of
The Zipper (sound)against a washing machine

May not be any likeness, but
the sound I heard/followed by-kept the person in trouble.
Hit by a train..left for dead..still not rock bottom.

16 years later.
Checked on him 2 weeks ago.
Once again he had "just " SHOT someone.

NELLY: COME ON OVER TO (OUR ) PLACE

D'ANGELO: www.myspace.com/dangeloarcher <<< PUSH IT TO THE LEFT

  

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MONIQUEE
Member since Feb 13th 2006
301 posts
Fri Jun-30-06 01:39 PM

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7. "RE: ** the "zipper....pen....noise " // NEW PERSONALITY"
In response to Reply # 6


  

          

>As the beat, with a STRONG story can be compelling.
>
>When I heard the far away "zipper" sound
>it left me knowing
>what was about to go down at any given time
>one who was not a beer drinker
>but one non-consumed beer every...
>then the "zipper" sound
>
>
>
>

ROUNDING IT OUT.
The "zipper" sound of which I write, all too often
is handled by the sweetest people we know until
they take on a NEW PERSONALITY
the above story had a sister picking up a gun
vowing to kill him if ever he came her way
with that strong paranoia
during the 20 minute new personality
how releived families friends acquaitences feel
when the old sweet personality rises
for hours...dayzz..weeks..months..years
but dam ! the new personality return with power
until until until until
the ROCK BOTTOM of BOTTOMS
and they find a new day new way
returning as the person we once knew
no more torn tattered clothing possible cotton in the hair
unshaven male or female unkempt
odor of odors facilities not in our house
Oh Happy Day ! Forevermore
Their Old Personality
Resurfacing from beneath
The New Personality

NELLY: COME ON OVER TO (OUR ) PLACE

D'ANGELO: www.myspace.com/dangeloarcher <<< PUSH IT TO THE LEFT

  

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phenompyrus
Charter member
9367 posts
Fri Jun-30-06 07:49 PM

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8. "Wait he has a disc droppin... WHEN??"
In response to Reply # 0


          

http://twitter.com/phenompyrus

Get Out the Room
http://getouttheroom.podomatic.com
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/get-out-the-room/id525657893

  

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handle
Charter member
18918 posts
Fri Jun-30-06 08:29 PM

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10. "Disc(s) are available at:"
In response to Reply # 8


          

http://cdbaby.com/cd/malikb2

and

http://cdbaby.com/cd/malikb

Listen before you buy (there are links to listen on those pages.)

  

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sectachrome
Member since May 19th 2005
260 posts
Fri Jun-30-06 08:28 PM

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9. "listening to it now."
In response to Reply # 0


  

          

Its nice.

  

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