#afrok

Recorded in front of a live audience at Hip Hop 4 the Homeless, Olympia, Washington, March 10, 2012. Afrok will appear at the 2015 Hip Hop 4 the Homeless event Jan. 25, Olympia Ballroom, in downtown Olympia.

Afrok (along with Ang P, MG! The Visionary and Puget) appears on “Work is the Principle” from the NW hip hop compilation All Your Friend’s Friends [KLP255]. View the video for “Work Is the Principle” HERE. All Your Friend’s Friends [KLP255] is available now from the K Mail Order Dept.

The Pink Elephant’s Gravecast is also available from Stitcher and iTunes.

The Pink Elephant’s Gravecast is an on-going audio exploration of all things K, recorded at the Dub Narcotic Studio in Olympia, Washington. Host Calvin Johnson discusses the K song of the Day by Jeremy Jay, “I Was Waiting” (from the Abandoned Apartments [KLP247] album) and Single of the Week “Channels” / “Seacliff” by Imaginary Pants (featuring Rose Melberg and Jon Manning).

Calvin takes the Pink Elephant’s Gravecast listeners deep inside the Dub Narcotic Studio for a session of Instant Pop Songs.

Afrok‘s kitchen improvisation is followed by a review of the Hip Hop 4 the Homeless event last weekend, which featured a large All Your Friend’s Friends [KLP255] presence. We listen to “Work Is the Principle” from that NW hip hop compilation.

Afrok from “Work Is the Principle”

We end this episopde of the Pink Elephant’s Graveyard with “Carry Me Down” by Ruby Fray from Grackle [KLP251].

Smoke M2D6

The modern day B-Boy of the South Sound region is limber, lithe, resilient and unselfconscious. On the floor of the Olympia Ballroom last weekend for the Hip Hoip 4 the Homeless several B-Boy and girl displayed rippling tendons, impossible positions and no broken necks.

Needless to say the Olympia Hip Hop 4 the Homeless event January 24 was a riot. MC Luvva J did a bang-up job of making shizzz happen in the best possible way, and buckets of money were raised to help the people of Olympia. Naturally, there was a big All Your Friends Friends [KLP255] presence, as so many of the area MCs and devotees were involved in that classic NW hip hop compilation (the photogs included in this weblog post were provided by Newspin Photo & Films, who produced the All Your Friend’s Friends documentary).

Ang P and Afrok

AKA provided the first taste of All Your Friend’s Friends by playing “Where the Free People Go” in his set of songs old and new, giving us a preview of his upcoming album, playing with a pianist, two back-up singers and a violin. Hott decibels.

The official All Your Friend’s Friends segment of the evening began with a short DJ set by Selector Dub Narcotic, spinning 45s of dub, dancehall, punk and other exotic rhythms. This was immediately followed by Smoke M2D6 with a blistering live version of “Dance Floor on the War Path”. Heddy Leonne took us to another place via “Good Bad Girl”, Ang P and Afrok killed “Work Is the Principle”. The set was capped off with a celebratory and anarchic “Jumpkick the Legs” with every MC in the room joining for a verse including Heretic, Luvva J and Swamptiger.

The All Your Friend’s Friends vibe extended through a rap battle presented by Heretic of For MCs by MCs featuring Swamptiger v. SOS. Three rounds, neck and neck until an audience members stepped up to the lip of the stage and suggested to SOS he compare Swamptiger to “The Hobbit”. This backfired because Swamptiger was on the mic at the time. He immediately ran with it and turned ”The Hobbit” theme to his own advantage. The crowd loved it. SOS never went near ”The Hobbit” theme, but it was too late, the crowd was on Swamptiger‘s side.

Afrok ended the evening with a moving set utilizing an abbreviated version of his live band. An exciting evening of local hip hop doing it for a meaningful cause. All hail Luvva J and Hip Hop 4 the Homeless.

The All Your Friend’s Friends [KLP255] NW hip hop compilation is available now from the K Mail Order Dept.

“Work Is the Principle” is the third video from the All Your Friend’s Friends [KLP255] Northwest hip hop compilation. It features Thee XNTRX MCs Ang P, MG! The Visionary, Afrok and Puget. Shot around downtown Olympia by Red Williamson of Newspin Films.

View the other All Your Friend’s Friends videos: “Jumpkick the Legs” and Heddie Leonne “Good Bad Girl”. All Your Friend’s Friends [KLP255] is available now from the K Mail Order Dept.