UPTOWNflavor

RebelStarr members Likwuid and Back-wordz

Last week La Pregunta Café hosted its first ‘Eregular Flow” event. I wasn’t planning on showing up because I had some reading to do for class. But I figured I have always made excuses to show up when the place is only a block away. I honestly felt guilty about not coming after having given the place such an awesome review. I decided I had to practice what I preach. Lucky for me the show had just started. The night kicked off with ‘Mah B.’ a Birmingham, Alabama native now Harlem transplant . Although this was the first time I heard her work there were many fans there whose eyes lit up after just the first few lines indicating these word hardcore admirers. The words were raw, soulful, and visceral. And that was just the first one. Not only was she one of the featured poets but she also served as the night’s MC. The event was an open-mic poetry night featuring a handful of powerful and diverse poets. Among them was another featured poet Charan P, who has performed at Nubian Heritage before as well as all over the city. Charan P. admitted to the crowd that family, particularly her family, was a central theme in her poetry. In them she explored themes from being a product of mixed races to imploring with her little brother so that he keeps his grades up in school and avoid becoming another statistic. It was real and reverberated with everyone in the audience.

The featured music act was RebelStarr, a rap duo whose members, Back-words (originally from Queens) and Likwuid (originally from South Carolina) rocked the house! Both have found new homes in Harlem and are taking their act beyond all borders. The spirit of their music is in the spirit of De La Soul, the Roots in their disconcert for social conventionalism and raw delivery but the wordsmithery and choice of musical influences behind those lyrics place them in a category of their own. By their own admission, they like to create songs with simple hooks in order to “lure” the crowds into their zone and soften the blow of the hard-hitting lyrics that come before and after. That night they performed a couple of their hits “Not Going Back” and “Rule the World” both of which are solid music-wise and contain infectious hooks. They had me moving from side to side. Their performance that night was a throwback to true hip-hop stripped of the shiny rocks and excess flashiness. It was about speaking truth and having a good time. These two virtues are not mutually exclusive. Although most of the folks present were already big fans, RebelStarr gained a new one in this writer.