All of us fans have heard the tour horror stories. Some of us have heard them even first heard, and a few of us have even had the opportunity to go on the road. It's all be documented, the fucked up crowds, the stupid people, the groupies, the crazy antics, the long road trips. Personally, while it might have been fun in my early twenties, and it could even be fun now for a week at the most, I don't think I could handle anything longer than that. That said though, I do love hearing the war stories on the road. My man Gen. Erik of the Portland/Eugene based Animal Farm comes through to drop his five worse moments during a show and on tour. It's probably a good thing he didn't make the Boise date a couple weeks ago, or it could've been on this list with the 10 plus people that showed up for the show (Boise sucks for hip hop...)
Gen.Erik's Top 5 Worst Show/Tour Moments:
1. Roy Jones Jr. Afterparty at Roseland Theater in Portland, OR
We flew the world class DJ Aero up for this one from LA. We were pushed to the back of the bill by about 20 gangsta rap acts, who kept performing out of place. Ended up performing in front of about 5 people. 2 of the five we're making out and groping each other in front of the stage. And the cherry on top: I got taken for quite a bit money by the promoter, who disappeared from her job, never to be seen again.
2. Mic Crenshaw w/ Gen.Erik and Rasheeda Ameera in Akron, Ohio
We flew all the way to Akron, Ohio and were rushed to the venue. When we got there around 1 AM, there was a World Music Dance going on. We cut off the dance, which was an awful idea. I pushed play on a CD player and Mic did 2 songs before some woman comes galloping across the stage with the cut it off, hand to the throat slash gesture.
3. The Game & Animal Farm in Eugene, OR
After experiencing a bunch of 15 year old wannabe suburban bloods in Portland, I knew we would have a challenge on our hands in Eugene. Turns out the Portland crowd (which got pepper sprayed by the cops in the Roseland), was much better than the Eugene zombies, who looked like they had been struck with rigermortis. Are you seriously texting in the front row? Here's a bottle of water to your head courtesy of Hanif Wondir. Then it all came to a spectacular conclusion, as Fury flipped off the entire crowd, causing us to exit to a choir of boos.
4. "Stan gets his chance to Shine" January 2009 California Tour (Animal Farm, Mic Crenshaw, and Serge Severe)
Allowing a friend to come run merch and drive the van for the Focused Noise crew led to a ridiculous trip through Cali, topped by him jumping on stage and stealing Fury's mic as soon as we started our Animal Farm freestyle session in Eureka, CA. He also spent about a total of 5 minutes at the merch booth, 30 minutes behind the wheel (until he was banned for driving crazy), and about 4 hours on the phone telling everyone he knew he was on tour. On top of that, he kept trying to talk us into stopping in Eugene, OR to pick up some girl he'd just met. However, he did make it up to us by hooking up a dope mansion for us to stay at in Northern Cali, and the fat girl he hooked up with was a serious bonus.
5. Attacking the crowd
This trend started at an old Money Shot show at the Wetlands, as KWils jumped off the stage and elbowed a heckler in the mouth, then jumped back on stage, never stopping his rap. Pretty impresive. The trend continued when Fury threw a punch at a fan who was beating up his friend in the front row of a show we did at the WOW Hall with Blue Scholars. Turns out Fury's friend was hitting on the guy's girlfriend, so it may not have been deserved, but ridiculous nonetheless. This was also the show that I went on a 2 minute rampage, cursing one person in the crowd, after he booed our request for one more song! Besides that this was actually all in all a good show, as these moments were perfect segues into "Mean Streaks" and "The Show Must Go On".
Honorable Mention: Milk in San Francisco (Watching the owner throw his hands up and give up when the sound man didn't show up, and I completely lost my voice as a result.) Although watching Nightclubber Lang and Jern Eye in a drunken battle on Haight Street afterward made it all worth it.
Another Honorable Mention: Fury was really drunk and decided that he was disrespected by Hanif Wondir on stage after Hanif cut off his drunken ramble. Fury boycotted about three songs and stood there without rapping. That was a fun night!
List Compiled by Gen.Erik (MC/ Producer for Animal Farm & Line of Fire, President of Focused Noise)
Showing posts with label Animal Farm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Animal Farm. Show all posts
4/14/2009
5x5 Day Two: On The Road - Gen Erik's Five Worse Tour Moments
3/06/2009
New Artist Spotlight: Animal Farm
Back in the early 90's, or it might have even been the late 80's, there was a hip hop/r&b type of group out of Portland, no, not Maine, but Portland Oregon. The group had a semi national hit with the jam "If U Were Mine", that made some noise. For the most part though, Portland Oregon, the Pacific Northwest's second largest city, has failed to really make much noise on the hip hop scene. Yes, they've had some exposure for Lifesavas and Cool Nutz, but for the most part, the city has been laying low. One group trying change that is Animal Farm. The four man crew has been involved in the Portland scene for five years plus, three as it's current line up. The crew dropped their debut album, The Unknown, last year and since then have been steadily gaining attention on the west coast. The album even features a track with the legendary KRS-One. I sat down with one of the members, Gen. Erik, who MC's and does the majority of the group's production and we kicked it about the group and it's history as well as it's future.
Animal Farm - Ragtime Girl (from The Unknown)
http://www.zshare.net/download/565974220297e5f9/
Animal Farm - The Show Must Go On (from The Unknown)
http://www.zshare.net/download/565977812a8c34f1/
WYDU: What's good man? So who is Animal Farm?
Gen. Erik: Animal Farm consists of Gen.Erik, Hanif Wondir, KWils, and Fury. We are all MCs and I also produce the majority of the tracks. We're a fun group of hip-hop heads who love what we do and take pride in putting on a high energy live show.
W: How did you all come together? Some of you are from Portland, some from Eugene, what's the story of joining forces?
E: I met the rest of the crew shortly after I moved down to Eugene from Portland. KWils and I were a group called Money Shot. It was actually initially with Ethic from Sandpeople as well, but it was kind of a side project for all of us at the time. We didn't take it too seriously, and we had girls in bikinis dancing and making out with each other on stage. Hanif and Fury were in a group called SoundProof. After I began DJing for SoundProof, we all started to do shows together and the rest is history. I think we really worked well together, because we all really had such a great time on stage with each other. After a little while, I moved back to Portland and Hanif eventually returned to the Bay Area, which has definitely made creating music more difficult.
W: Portland is starting to make some noise. Not a lot of people out side of the region know that the city has a pretty lengthy history itself in hip hop lore. How is the scene out there? How do you feel about the Northwest being somewhat the forgotten region? Do you see that changing in the near future?
E: Portland is dope. There are thousands of MCs and DJs, but I guess that's probably anywhere at this point considering hip-hop's global popularity. Since we haven't had any real commercial success from hip-hop acts out of Portland, we're all still hungry, which allows all of us to push each other to new heights. The city is really bubbling right now, not just in music, but in other aspects of the arts as well. That being said, it's just a matter of time before we make ourselves known. Although we've been saying it for years, the Northwest is still that next region to blow.
W: The latest album is called "The Unknown", why did you choose that name for it? Any hidden meanings behind it? Or am I just an idiot and reading into it too much? haha
E: I think from your questioning that you've got the meaning. The idea of The Unknown has really been somewhat prophetic, because we released this album without a lot of name recognition. The journey that this album has helped to manifest was also really unknown to us, but it's led us to our next step in making our dreams a reality. I think the next album should be called "Almost Famous".
W: I noticed some tones of social commentary and some political jabs on tracks like "Crying" and "War"....why is important for you guys to deliver those kind of messages? Do you think there is enough of that kind of thing in hip hop these days?
E: As much as we love to have a good time, unfortunately life is not all fun and games. We have to remember the people who are being oppressed and are starving and those who have limited access to safe water or the technology we take for granted. If we have the opportunity to have a platform through our music, and we don't speak about social injustices, then we are really selling ourselves short. In the words of the great Dr. Martin Luther King "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." In other words, if anyone in the world is being enslaved, it could happen to any of us.
W: You have KRS on the track "Peace", you know I have to ask how that collaboration came down? How was it working with a legend in hip hop?
E: Of course you have to ask. This is the million dollar question. I feel like I need to create an answer and then just copy and paste every time it's asked. Then again, I really shouldn't complain because we were blessed to be able to work with KRS, who is undoubtedly one of the greatest to ever rock a crowd. We actually connected with him through a promoter, prior to a couple shows we were scheduled to do together. We gave him the beats when he was in town and the rest is history.
W: Y'all got up to 3rd on the CMJ chart and were named in Urb's Next 1000, it seems like the group is starting to gain some shine. You've been together for three plus years now, how do you like were the group sits at this point?
E: I couldn't ask for better positioning for Animal Farm at this point. We're all veterans to the game, so we understand the attention we've received in such short time is somewhat of a rarity. We really try not to take this for granted. We've got a lot more in the works for 2009 and we're really ready to take our music and exposure to the next level.
W: The Focused Noise Mixtape features a couple other artists a long with you guys, how did you all hook up with them?
E: I'm in a group with Mic Crenshaw called Line of Fire. We put out an album under the name Cleveland Steamers, but we had to change it due to the negative connotations. It only made sense that we all started working together to help promote all of our music. Since we were already doing a lot of shows in Portland with Serge Severe, we decided to add him to the Focused Noise roster as well. Also, Nightclubber Lang from Boom Bap Project is Hanif Wondir's older brother and a good friend of ours, so having him host the mixtape was a no brainer, since he is world renowned for his trash talking ability.
W: As you mentioned, you are doing a lot of shows with Mic Crenshaw and Serge Severe. How important is it to tour with people you get along with, or is it?
E: It is extremely important to get along with people you are touring with. No high maintenance people allowed. I brought someone along to run merch on a recent trip and they were trying to control the air, the music, and have us pick up random girls along the way. It was very distracting and, although entertaining, was not our objective. We all try to handle this as a business, but we have become friends throughout the process, which I think is essential.
W: In this times of unemployment and increased inflation all over, why should a hard working American spend his beer money on one of your shows? What do you guys bring to the table for your live shows?
E: Because they would feel better in the morning than they would if they used their money for beer. They would just wake up hungover, next to some ugly girl with missing teeth and realize that their life still sucks. At least at our show, they would forget about their problems for a few hours and have a good time. Our show is a surprise, sometimes even to us. We'll bring everything from 2 DJs (Wicked and Wels) on 4 turntables to B-boys to signed pictures of Kevin Bacon to Bell Biv Devoe cover songs.
W: What does the future hold for Animal Farm? Any new projects on the horizon?
E: There is a lot on the horizon which I can't really discuss yet, but the details will be worked out soon. I can promise it will be exciting and the new albums from Animal Farm, Line of Fire, and Serge Severe, as well as a mixtape, are just around the corner.
W: Any last words for the believers, non believers and anyone in between?
E: Yeah. Lord loves a workin' man. Don't trust whitey. See a doctor and get rid of it.
W: Thanks and see y'all in Boise!
1/12/2009
Focused Noise Mixtape
We offered a limited amount of these Focused Noise mixtapes on our tour in March. If you were not able to get one then, we are offering them for FREE now. The mixtape is hosted by Nightclubber Lang from Boom Bap Project and was mixed by DJ Wels and Gen.Erik. It features Animal Farm, Mic Crenshaw, Serge Severe, and Line of Fire, along with very special guests, KRS-One and Nightclubber Lang.
Animal Farm is one of the hottest groups to burst upon the northwest hip-hop scene, creating a significant buzz in just three years after joining forces. The group has quickly developed a large regional following after performing live throughout the United States with the likes of Common, Method Man and Redman, GZA and RZA from Wu-Tang Clan, N.E.R.D., KRS-One, The Cool Kids, Brand Nubian, Aceyalone, Mike Jones, Del the Funky Homosapien, Tha Alkaholiks, and at festivals such as CMJ Music Marathon and MusicFest NW. Animal Farm’s MCs, Hanif Wondir, Gen.Erik, Fury, and KWils, have gained recognition due to their extremely energetic live show, which combines potent lyricism with a lighter side of comic relief.
Animal Farm's new album, "The Unknown", features the legendary KRS-One and Nightclubber Lang from Rhymesayers’ Boom Bap Project. "The Unknown" is currently receiving radio play throughout the country, and recently peaked at #3 on the CMJ Hip-Hop Charts, where Animal Farm remained in the Top 10 for seven straight weeks.
The group is a collaboration of MCs from Portland and Eugene, OR, and was recently praised in Urb Magazine’s Next 1000, which claimed “The animated Animal Farm achieves a classically feel-good tone.” The group also been featured on numerous prominent websites, including hiphopdx.com, urb.com, hhnlive.com, rapreviews.com, and 2dopeboyz.com, among others.
"Portland shines yet again with GenErik on soulful, retro-sounding production and a crew of MCs, including a guest spot from KRS-One. Lovely!"
-XLR8R Magazine
Mic Crenshaw is one of the most talented and revered MCs in the Northwest. After gaining a number of fans as a part of Suckapunch, Cleveland Steamers, and Hungry Mob, Crenshaw is releasing his first solo album, "Thinking out Loud", which features Stic.Man from Dead Prez, Nightclubber Lang of Boom Bap Project, and Gen.Erik from Animal Farm, among others, and is now available online and in stores.
Born and raised on the Southside of Chicago, Crenshaw moved to Portland via Minneapolis, where he quickly became one of the most respected artists in the Northwest. The Portland Mercury called Crenshaw and the Lifesavas "two of the very best hiphop artists in PDX." Crenshaw has also shared stages with the legendary Fugees, Ice Cube, Outkast, and many others, and is well-known as a Portland, Oregon poetry slam champion and national finalist. He was recently featured by URB Magazine, who included him in their Next 1000 column. He also has been featured in XLR8R Magazine, on Myx.tv, hiphopdx.com, okayplayer.com, and a number of other music websites.
"Crenshaw redefines "keeping it real" to mean staying true to your beliefs rather than being a thug, and I hope his definition of real, and his take on hip hop, become the norm. We need less rappers talking about making it rain, and more dropping lines like "everybody has a right to be free.""
-RapReviews.com
Serge Severe is a Portland mic-slayer on a mission. He is one of the most well-rounded, multi-dimensional Mcs in the Northwest, possessing a formidable stage presence, strong song-writing skills, and ferocious freestyle ability. He has shared stages with Hip Hop heavyweights, Rza of Wu Tang Clan, Method Man and Redman, Planet Asia, Living Legends, Del The Funky Homosapien, Blue Scholars and many more. He was also recently praised in URB Magazine's Next 1000 Column, which called Serge's music "...a brand of lyricism and humor that are downright Ghostface-esque... Serge is a true wordsmith that isn't afraid to be himself." Serge's first album, "Walk in my Shoes" was received with great praise from fans and reviewers alike, and was named one of the "Top Ten Underground HIP HOP Albums of 2006" by Hiphoplingustics.com. His new album, "Concrete Techniques" is available now online and in stores.
"Put "Concrete Techniques" on and imagine an alternate universe where Diddy never happened, where Eric B. was still president, and where hip hop stayed true to its roots."
-RapReviews.com
www.myspace.com/animalfarmrecords
www.myspace.com/miccrenshaw
www.myspace.com/sergesevere
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
