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Shuffled! is a weekly column appearing every Thursday here on BPRLive. Each week, we welcome a person from the APA community to share some thoughts about the music they listen to. Check out the Shuffled! archive for past articles.

Today’s Shuffler: Bambu

Bambu has released his third full-length solo album, “…exact change….” The album features some of today’s best up-and-coming producers, including Illmind (G-Unit, Little Brother), Amp Live (Zion-I, Linkin Park, Goapele), Sabzi (Blue Scholars, Common Market) and Johnny 5. He rounds out the sound of his album with emerging producers Fatgums, Nick James, 6Fingers, CZA, and I.D. Lyrically, Bambu has bridged the stylistic, playful attitude of his debut album and the militancy of his sophomore release to showcase the breadth of his artistic abilities to bring forth a more introspective person – a man who has survived a turbulent youth and coming-of-age to become a seasoned community organizer and father.

Bambu first made his mark in 2002 with the release of “Self-Untitled…”, introducing his signature style of couching social critique within satirical wordplay. In his sophomore solo effort, “I Scream Bars for the Children,” Bambu continued to manipulate his lyrical dexterity towards a call for aggressive social change. Bambu has also been lauded by his fans and contemporaries for his storytelling. Whether fictional or autobiographical, his vividly-detailed narratives are characterized by an honesty that is equal parts brutal, thought-provoking and liberating.

Bambu is perhaps best known as one-half of defunct hip hop group the Native Guns, who gained a formidable following by staying active on the national college touring circuit, and sharing the stage with such acts as Common, X-Clan, Medusa, Dilated Peoples, Psycho Realm, Planet Asia, Zion-I, the Blue Scholars, Immortal Technique, and the Visionaries.

Editors note: “…exact change…” is available at beatrock.com and other fine retailers. A review is forthcoming. We try to support all forward-thinking and -moving API artists, but know this: you really should have this album.

Off the soapbox…

…and on to the shuffle.

“atwa”
system of a down
i instantly dug this band! right off the bat! this is before i found out about their community organizing, their politics and their cultural work. this song is off their second album, “toxicity,” one of my favorite albums of all time. what makes their music really intriguing to me is that they seem to fit 3-4 different change-ups in a 3-minute song. i got a chance to build with serj (the lead singer) at a rally for the recognition of the armenian genocide, and he was really down to earth. very well-read and really schooled me up on the issues within the armenian-american community present day. i suggest copping this joint now.

“can we teach each other”
cody chesnutt
cody chesnutt is the greatest singer you may never hear of. he recorded his only album to date, “headphone masterpiece” on an analog 8-track recorder. the sound of the album would be considered shit – especially with this guy — but, to me, that’s what makes the album so good. it’s very gritty, which allows you to focus on the great song writing. “a lot of lovers know how to fight, but not a lot of lovers know how to truly love…” corny, but true.

“backseat action”
t-pain
don’t ask.

“fix you”
coldplay
damnit! look, it’s a great song. i’m a fan of good song-writing, okay?! leave me alone! shut up!!! i hope something hip hop comes on next! *crossing fingers*

“instrumental for bambu/sabzi mini-album project”
sabzi
unfortunately, we can’t play this one. sabzi (blue scholars/common market) and i are working on a mini-album and this is one of the instrumentals that i’m currently writing to. i have a folder that i put all my instrumentals in and write to when i find some down time. i’m excited about this one – it’ll be something you’ve never heard from either of us. think gnarls barkley – minus cee-lo and dangermouse. wait, that doesn’t make sense… anyway, this one’s not fair. let’s just see what pops up next.

“slave”
black moon
when i’m laying on my deathbed, hopefully at the age of 80+, this will be one of the albums (enta da stage) that’ll bring a smile to my face. this record is buckshot just going on over a really simple sample and classic beatminer drums. i remember the first record i heard from black moon, and where i was! it was, “who got the props,” and i was buying french fries with thousand island dressing during my high school lunch break. my boy wayne Vaughn (r.i.p.) was nodding away to his headphones. curiously, i asked, “what’s that? that new c.m.w. (compton’s most wanted) shit?” “nah, son,” he said (remember, this is l.a. in the 90’s – we didn’t say “son”), “this is that black moon shit!” he let me listen to it, and i just didn’t get it. it wasn’t until i heard, “how many emcee’s” off the same album, which came out much later than “who got the props,” that i gained an appreciation for the boot camp click. now, i can say that i’m a die-hard bcc fan. “whenever you’re ready, i’ma take you into the stage, deep in the mind of a slave…”

Last 5 posts by shuffled

• Shuffled! Wendy Hsu - January 1st, 2009
• Shuffled! Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai - December 18th, 2008
• Shuffled! Theo Gonzalves - December 11th, 2008
• Shuffled! Scott Kurashige - December 4th, 2008
• Shuffled! EyeASage - November 27th, 2008

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