Hip-Hop duo Blue Scholars were featured today in a short article of The Seattle Times Online. Music writer Andrew Matson gives a quick commentary on his thoughts on their OOF! EP.
Matson states:
Local hiphop group Blue Scholars is about to release an EP called “OOF!” Tuesday, and it’s the best thing the group’s done by far.
Sabzi, the half of Blue Scholars in charge of what I call beats — and he calls “tunes” and “riddims” — made one composition on “OOF!” that I like more than all the others. It’s a barely-there track. Just drums and synths. Here’s the instrumental, called “Ahi.”
I interviewed the Scholars yesterday, and will post transcriptions later today and tomorrow.
When asked where he got the tribal-sounding drums for “Ahi,” Sabzi gave me an answer that didn’t mean anything. He wouldn’t tell me. But last week, talking to the group’s manager Dave Meinert, I remember hearing something about taiko drums. Strikes me as a very original sampling idea.
Stay tuned for the interviews, and also for my review of “OOF!” in advance of its Tuesday release.
You can also check out the full-length interview Matson mentioned by clicking here.
a-Tunes 