boston progress radio

Ask the block if they know Bam/
Every phrase’ll start with “ooh man…” and end with “goddamn”
       - “Quit” by Bambu

About a month ago, some of us folks here at Boston Progress made each other hip hop mix CDs of our favorite joints growing up. All of them were amazing, but my personal favorite was the one put together by Theresa, which had me grabbing my head in excitement, transporting me back to high school with gems like “The Most Beautifullest Thing in the World” by Keith Murray and “Shook Ones Pt. 2″ “Drop A Gem On ‘Em” by Mobb Deep.

So why am I telling you this? Because Bambu’s newest release - “Exact Change” - did the impossible by replacing Theresa’s mix in my CD player. Yeah. It is that good. If you love hip hop - or if you once did - then you have to get it.

Some API* hip hop heads I know are kinda down on what they call Yellow Power rap, like they think Asian American hip hop artists dwell too much in politics and conscious themes. But even those knuckleheads (Vinnie, Sung - I see yall) must agree that Bam killed it on some “ill emcee” shit this time.

Bambu’s great strength is that he can ride any beat. A casual listener may not notice how he switches his style from track to track, but if you take a second to check for it, there’s no way you can listen without being impressed. The sheer variety in flow, delivery, and rhyme structure throughout is somewhat reminiscent of Jay-Z’s “Black Album” - from track to track, he reveals another facet of himself.

No doubt wanting to show off this gift, the first four full tracks after the intro feature real different sounds on production. “Spare Change” could have been done by The Ummah, “Swing” is unmistakably Bay Area, and “No Fuss” fits in the vein of that stuff the European homies cook up. It’s not until “Crooks and Rooks” that we hear Bam on some LA shit, probably waiting that long on purpose.

But not just to dwell on some hip hop nerd shit - of course we all knew he would come with the political game correctly. It would be easy for me to say he addresses gang violence, police brutality, the healthcare system, misogyny, fatherhood, and about a dozen other relevant issues in today’s world, but that would be a little too easy. Bam actually does some “meta” shit throughout - a listener will catch the overall messages early on, but it just gets deeper with each rotation.

For example: I was on driving the highway and “Out the Gate” - a song about how negativity in hip hop influences us - came on and I started nodding my head and singing along to the hook: “gook, chink, nigger, spic / raghead, beaner, faggot, bitch…” and then I felt kind of sick - like Bam had me bouncing to all the words I hate and then came a realization that I have always made excuses in my head for these words when listening to other songs. Then pretty quickly I realized DAMN - I must have listened to the album at least 10 times before that hit me.

Bambu didn’t just put the album together by throwing all his tracks on a disc. He did what artists do - everything is where it is and sounds how it sounds on purpose.

Some personal favorites:

“Swing” features Amp Live on production and Zion I spits a verse, but Bam is the star – as he should be, it is his record – as he uses his voice almost like an instrument, blending elements of the vocals from the hook and verses into the beat seamlessly.

“Crooks and Rooks” is my wife’s favorite because he shouts out “Cambodian, Samoan, and Chamorro gangsters / our people are the same, it’s the map that divides us…” And that shit is mad true, where our people identify themselves more with the colonizer that killed and raped their ancestors, than with the country and community right next door. Nothing wrong with running with your own folks, just understand who your real enemy is. Beat by Nick James is ridiculous too. (Oh and get excited for the upcoming video.)

Ooh man. “Quit” is just some emcee shit – almost every other line had me hitting rewind. Plus the main sample Illmind threw on the beat is filthy. Goddamn.

On “Party Boy,” Bam might be spitting a flow that could not possibly work on any other beat – lucky for the listener because it’s something crazy new and thrilling. I don’t know if it’s quite like any song I’ve ever heard before with Louis Armstrong over some Disney Cinderella shit? ID on the beat, and Bam’s flow is just correct.

“Misused” is an open letter to his young son, as Bambu tries to condense as much wisdom as he can into three verses. If Bambu quit rapping today, I’d probably take this as the final opus because of the self-reflection, warmth, and emotion, as well as the between-verse first person addresses to his son.

“Iron Bam” feels like a bonus track and is a perfect song to close the album on. The Black Sabbath sample, the Twista-like verbal dexterity, the alliteration in verse 2, the Ice Cube reference in the beginning – it’s all fun. At the same time, he drops knowledge in gems like “fuck the money they spend to send a boy to die in the sand.” Bonus fact: ?uestlove shouted it out on Okayplayer a while back!

If you’re looking for unmuddled revolutionary political messages, then this album is definitely for you. If you’re a fan of just some straight spit, then this album is still definitely for you. If you been waiting years to hear some creative production that doesn’t sound like space aliens and fax machines, then yeah, this album is definitely for you. If you just want to “hear a Filipino on some wildout shit,” then, you know…

You gotta get this CD today. Find it at Beatrock and for more information on the man, peep his website bambu.la or for his blog with some inside information on some of the tracks on the record, visit Bambu’s Rants.

Click here to check out Bambu’s contribution to the BPRLive column Shuffled!

Last 5 posts by giles

• "Coffee and Snow" - Blue Scholars - January 5th, 2009
• Guava Jelly - November 3rd, 2008
• Real Independent (Until We're Not) - November 3rd, 2008
• Fresh Off the Vote - October 28th, 2008
• Appreciation: George Lin - October 18th, 2008

Tags: CD, Reviews.