Galactic

With the release of their sixth album, From the Corner to the Block, the five-man group GALACTIC - drummer Stanton Moore, bassist Robert Mercurio, saxophonist/harmonica player Ben Ellman, keyboardist Richard Vogel, and guitarist Jeff Raines – reaffirms their standing as one of the funkiest outfits in the known universe. Featuring a cherry-picked guest list of some of hip-hop’s most dynamic lyricists – including Juvenile, Gift of Gab (Blackalicious), Lyrics Born, Ladybug Mecca (Digable Planets), Mr. Lif, Chali 2na (Jurrasic 5), Vursatyl (Lifesavas), and Boots Riley (The Coup), From the Corner to the Block exposes GALACTIC’s organic grooves to an urban ear while still maintaining their essential funk aesthetic.

The band started out over a decade ago as an instrumental act in the tradition of the Meters, the JB’s, and Booker T. & the MG’s – bands equally comfortable recording their own material or working with vocalists. From the Corner to the Block grew out of GALACTIC’s experiences touring with artists like the Roots, Jurassic 5, Triple Threat DJ’s and Gift of Gab. Though it features cameos from a “wish list” of fan-favorite MCs, this isn’t a typical hip-hop album per se, but a contemporary funk record that just happens to feature hip-hop vocalists. “We never set out to make a rap record,” explains Ellman, who produced the record with assistance from engineer extraordinaire Count (Halou, Quannum, DJ Shadow). “We wanted to kinda modernize the New Orleans sound,” adds Mercurio.

The song sure to raise eyebrows though is the title track and first single, featuring the Soul Rebels Brass Band and platinum rapper Juvenile (who tapped GALACTIC to back him on the “Jimmy Kimmel Show”). Mercurio, for one, is happy with the outcome. “It sounds like it was all supposed to be there, this track was meant to happen” he says.

The rest of the album features a diverse array of funky arrangements, vocal deliveries, and musical expressions, from sexy downtempo jams like “Squarebiz,” featuring the ever-delectable Ladybug Mecca and singer Nino Moschella; to uptempo party-starters like “What You Need” with Lyrics Born, and “Hustle Up” with Boots Riley (which Mercurio calls “a total rock tune” dressed in funky threads); to semi-autobiographical tales of urban street life by Mr. Lif (“...And I’m Out”), Vursatyl & Ohmega Watts (“Find My Home”), Lateef the Truth Seeker (“No Way”), Gift of Gab (“The Corner”), and Chali 2na (“Think Back”).

Many contemporary all-star collaborations are purely commercial exercises, yet From the Corner to the Block stands as a labor of love, connecting GALACTIC’s hip-hop jones and their guests’ fervor for funk aesthetics. The result isn’t just the grooviest, funkiest record of 2007, but perhaps the finest post-Katrina album to come out of New Orleans.

Boots Riley

Born in Chicago and raised in East Oakland's Funktown neighborhood, Boots became a teenage community organizer, but later switched from a clipboard to the microphone, forming the Coup with rapper E-Roc. Pam the Funkstress, the first female DJ star in the famously competitive Bay Area turntablist scene, later signed on.

Their 1991 self-distributed EP landed them a deal with Wild Pitch Records. Two singles, "Dig It" and "Not Yet Free", cracked BET and national black radio. Their debut, 1993's Kill My Landlord, went on to wide acclaim. The next year, Genocide and Juice shot up the charts, but stalled when EMI absorbed Wild Pitch. E-Roc then left the group.

1998's Steal This Album, released by indie label Dogday Records, was received as a masterpiece and sealed the Coup's rep. But the band's next record, Party Music, scheduled for release shortly after 9/11, became a cultural flashpoint amidst Cheney-Ashcroft hysteria. The album’s original cover (completed three months prior to 9/11) depicted the crew setting off an explosion in the World Trade Center using a guitar tuner and drumsticks. The band's label, 75 Ark, pulled the cover immediately after the attacks.

"As far as the record industry was concerned, it was the end of my career," Boots says. Instead, Boots' defiant refusal to "ride the fence" and the album's undeniable funk made it an underdog favorite. The album hit 8 in the 2001 Pazz and Jop Poll, the most important year-end critic's list.

At the same time, Boots visited South Africa's World Conference Against Racism with the Black August hip-hop tour, where he distributed tens of thousands free cassettes of music in the Oakland community, what he calls "newspapers on tape". He also founded Shoyoass Words, Sounds, & Pictures, a record and media company specializing in music and art that he calls "relevant to social change."