 "Photo: Courtesy Myspace.com")
The town of Amherst seems an unlikely place to attend a hip-hop show, but, this Friday at 11 p.m., The Monkey Bar will host just that.
Accompanying the live music will be DJ Manipulator of Worcester, who will be spinning classic hip-hop, funk, soul and R&B music. The entire event, which is the first in what organizers hope will be a series of similar performances, is 21 plus and requires a five dollar cover charge.
The Problemaddicts, a local group that has been performing in various Northampton venues for two years as well as touring all over the northeast, will be the first to perform this Friday.
According to Jason Vorheez, a member of the Problemaddicts and an organizer of the new live-music series, the event was created to cater to an audience that wishes to experience more genuine music that is homegrown and exists outside of the typical "Top 40" played at most bars. He also hopes to have two or three acts in each show if the event is a popular one.
The Problemaddicts have experienced good turnouts for their shows in the area and have a sizeable local fan-base. Vorheez says that they have seen almost 200 people at past shows, and that he hopes that the numbers for Friday's show will follow that pattern.
They released their most recent album, "The Dark Side of Oz," this past June and have been a success for the group. Numbers have reached 20,000 for record sales and 200,000 for online downloads.
"The Dark Side of Oz" is an album that remixes clips from the film version of "The Wizard of Oz" and Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon." The lyricism of the album reflects these sources, making reference to "jam bands," drugs and the "Yellow Brick Road".
Although Vorheez does not see the Problemaddicts as a political group, their recent album seems to contest that statement in some ways. Their song, "If I Only Had Brain Damage," features an imitation George W. Bush speech on the prescription drug industry and its "destructive cycle of addiction."
This song is a direct assault on the business of pharmaceutical companies and their control over the health care industry. The song is a clear political statement, and a good one at that.
Aside from their more serious tracks, the Problemaddicts also show that they have a sense of humor about the hip-hop industry as a whole. Their song, "Rappers are Repetitive" off the album "The First Step," pokes fun at the tendency of big-name rappers and hip-hop artists to write songs that deal only with the degradation of women, money and being excessively drunk or high.
Overall, the group is a collection of talented, passionate people who's main wish appears to be bringing the true soul of hip-hop to an area that does not see much of the genre outside of MTV.
Vorheez hopes to make these shows a regular occurrence and if all goes well with the first few, the event will take place every other Friday.
On Friday, Sept. 26, the Alchemystics, another local hip-hop group will perform as the second installment of this hopeful live music series. This group has a different sound than that of the Problemaddicts and traces its roots to reggae, hip-hop and soul.
Both groups and the proposed event series represent a change for downtown Amherst, an area generally lacking in live music and the genre-diversity that this event brings.
The Monkey Bar will host it's first hip-hop night on Friday, September 19th at 11 PM. Cover charge is five dollars and all attendees must be 21 years or older.
Sophia Pastore can be reached at spastore@umass.student.edu.
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