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Monday, September 14, 2009
News / Mike McCray Wale + UCB's introduction to the mainstream
Posted By Mike McCray on Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 2:15 PM
Somewhere between Russell Brand's babbling, Lady Gaga's bleeding and Kanye West embarrassing the shit out of Taylor Swift, you may have noticed DC-area rapper Wale and popular Go-Go group, UCB, serving as the MTV VMA house band.
2009 has seen Wale's celebrity rise tremendously. With his single, "Chillin" (featuring Lady Gaga), getting major network airplay and what's sure to be Asher Roth-like hype for his upcoming album, Attention Deficit, you may have overlooked his Twitter fame and mixtape, Back To The Feature, which was produced by North Carolina hip-hop icon, 9th Wonder and released this summer.
But for UCB (short for UnCalled 4 Band), backing up Kid Cudi, Jay-Z, 3Oh3 and others during the VMA's, it was viewed as a huge step for national exposure for a genre of music I outright detested when I heard for the first time.
My first exposure was actually my first day of college. Having two suite mates from Maryland, I learned early that what I grew up on listening to WPEG was a whole 'nother world from what WPGC plays up there. I called remember calling it "boopity boop, bullshit" (yes, I said boopity boop) and literally throwing a temper tantrum like a 6-year old when my suite mate would "crank it" every morning before class.
Long story short, by the time I graduated I was bumping go-go tracks in my iPod. The music really grows on you once you see the music in action, whether that's the club or a party, you kind of understand what they're getting at.
We've heard the Go-Go sound before. If you're a little older, you may be familiar with Chuck Brown's music or remember Junkyard Band's "Overnight Scenario," EU's "Doin The Butt" in School Daze. More recently Amerie's "One Thing" but in terms of groups like UCB, BYB (Backyard Band) and others getting exposure outside of the DC Metro Area and places where large populations of DMV (DC-Maryland-Virginia) kids land for college, it was huge.
I don't know if everyone enjoyed the glimpses of them performing coming in and out of commercial breaks but if they did, I think the mainstream music world will get a huge dose of good, live, party music and actual bands and underrated instrumentation.
Speaking of News, Mike McCray
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