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De La Soul - I Am I Be
About a week ago, my man Zilla Rocca reached out to see if I would help promote some of the upcoming projects that were on the slate for his compatriot and 5 O'Clock Shadowboxer affiliate Curly Castro. Though I've put up a couple of posts on him in the past (here, here and here), it occurred to me that I've never properly introduced the Philly rapper to the 33Jones readership. I've found that one of the best ways to discover what an emcee is all about is to ask him what songs have inspired him as an artist. So before we proceed with the promos, I've asked Castro to take part in a reboot of our one time "Greatest Verse of All Time" series (you may remember Zilla himself making the case for Common's Hungry previously). Here's what he had to say about one of his favorite verses of all time, from De La Soul's I Am I Be:
I Am I Be Part 1
The Plug Two Brand / with the flavour in the flute watch the sniffin'
so a sack of shows in Demand
I read the diction from the Second page I got the one-two gauge, Baritone to the izm Fan.
Castro: Thus starts (one of) my favorite verse(s) of all time. 'I Am I Be' by De La Soul, off their stylized album Buhloone Mind State. This is an obscure choice for some, but the "I might Blow Up, but I won't Go Pop" ethos from the Lp, was ultimate truth for me. And I feel like Dave (Dr. Ama, Trugoy the Dove, etc.) is one of, if not the most, Overlooked eMCees of our time. His style never stalls his message and vice versa. He spits perfect blunt Honesty, with no thought of trends or Taste makers.
I Am I Be Part 1
Trees fall so i can play ground with my ink/ So let me need ya to my Ems go.
I push the infinite and carry it.
My carrier's the three over one, so my Plug-ins already know
Lick shots with Moo, catch the Boo/ from a ghost in the heckling crowd if i gave a foot.
Jack Ville caught a spill, when a still came from my mouth,
I brought a head down South.
I don't check for the noose and the neck.
So I never tell my Ems, that finesse is knocking at my door.
I choose to run from the Rays of the Burning Sun,
and dodge a needle washing up upon a Sandy Shore.
Castro: Those last two lines show the beauty of our flawed world, the dark underbelly of our modern overindulgence, and the subsequent pollution as a result. The flow he employs through this near-perfect song is as challenging as it is poetic. He goes against the norm and becomes that "Vocal instrument" that is weapon-ized by the first "I am...I be".
I Am I Be Part 3
I bring the element H with the 2wo,
so ya owe me what's coming when I'm raining on your parade.
It's just mind over matter, and what matters is,
that the mind isn't guided by the Punished Shade.
I keep walking on the right side, but i won't judge who handles walking on the wrong.
Cuz that's how he wants to be,/ No difference, see
I wanna be like the name of this Song, I AM.
Castro: He reiterates that his mental operates at a higher power. But his advanced intellect does not lead him to pass judgement on those with a Darker lifestyle. De La has, and will continue, to push lyrical envelopes stressing out "Newmans" all over the planet. And Dave is at the forefront of the advancement, with simple platitudes. He just knows he wants to be Great, like the name of the song, I AM.
Big shoutout to Curly Castro for taking the time out to participate in this. There are a lot of verses that I personally would put ahead of I Am I Be in the G.O.A.T. rankings, but I will say that I've spent the better part of the day relistening to Buhloone Mind State after reading Castro's take on this one. And as I've said before, if anyone out there has a verse of their own they'd like to make the case for just hit me up (deefresh AT gmail DOT com).
Ok, so as I said at the top, Castro has a ton of stuff on the horizon. Before we get into that, check out this freestyle over the Debruit track Nigeria What that he recorded on his trip to the West Coast with the Shadowboxers (I believe that's Jeff Weiss in the driver's seat):
Curly Castro - Makin' Left Turns Without Indicators freestyle
Debruit's beats are tough to keep a steady rhythm to, but Castro seems to be the rare emcee who can sound right at home over disjointed electronica style beats. For further proof of that, here's his recent collaboration with Margel Overton:
Curly Castro - West Indian Rum (right-click to d/l)
In the near future, Castro will be putting out the EPs Winston's Appeal and Fidel, featuring production from Blueprint, Georgia Ann Muldrow, Small Pro, Douglas Martin and Zilla and guest appearances by Elucid and, I'm told, a former member of Sunz of Man. He's also working with the homie Khal from Rock The Dub on a dubstep/drum n bass mixtape, and just appeared on the official Weak Stomach EP with the Shadowboxers.
Intent on earning the title of "hardest working man in showbiz," Castro will also be hosting a monthly show, with the 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers performing as the house band, called Double Entendre. The first performance will be this Thursday, October 21st, at the Slingluff Gallery in Philly, featuring Robin Gazzara. Here's the flyer for the show:
Once again, shout out to Castro for coming through. If you want to keep up with the man, check him out on Twitter.
Finally, here is my favorite Castro joint (up to this point):
Black Uhuru featuring Curly Castro - Five Star
10/19/2010 5:45:50 PM posted by Fresh