blowfly

thursday night, brahm and i went to check out blowfly at call the office. a pioneer of rap/hip hop, the man claims to have recorded the first rap album ever, in 1959. he was hip hop before it was even dreamed up, so i was curious about this gig.

going into it, i knew very little, but i knew i was in for some serious raunch, and likely some funky music. i could certainly deal with that.

we get there and we're among 20 or 30 people or so in the bar. ouch. sat through the opener, a rapper from new york city who's name i couldnt make out anytime he said it. he didnt have a DJ, so he was alone on stage rappin' over an audiotrack to about a dozen people or so.. he seemed a little perturbed by the sparse turnout, but quite honestly, who had ever heard of the guy? he wasnt advertised, and in the end he was mostly boring.

has anyone ever noticed how standard and cliche hip hop mannerisms are? they all do the same thing. they all walk the same, use their hands and arms the same - it's like a code, and you cant break it. where's the creativity in style? compare that with rock n roll, and you got windmills, strutter steps, laid back slinky guitar playing, rock ninja kicks, swagger, all kinds of creative body language. i dunno, just an observation.

so, enter blowfly: a 60 yr. old crackhead in a superhero outfit and a mask with a generic white boy funk back up band, rappin' about dirtier things than have ever entered my head. brahm likened him to a extra raunchy hiphop weird al yankovic. not a bad take. for example, instead of queen's another bites the dust, we got treated to blowfly's version, a song about young girls called "another one learns to fuck". so you get the idea. add to that a few drunken dudes at the front "masturbating" their beers until they "splashed" all over each others faces, and you've got yourself one weird fucking scene at call the office.

im not even sure what else i can say about it. it was just a night of filthy listening in a vastly empty bar. the novelty wore off after a few tunes, but i guess it was entertaining for a night out. 3 girls in the crowd and they were picked on quite a bit, but were good sports about it - even eggin' him on here and there.

i guess at the very least i can say i've seen blowfly - whatever that means.