The Tampa hip-hop group performs live this weekend, channeling Johnny Cash for a tribute and fundraiser.
By GINA VIVINETTO
Published February 5, 2004
[Times photo: Michael Rondou 2003]
Red Tide’s DJ Lazy says his group doesn’t sound like anybody else. “We developed in our own little hothouse.”
Red Tide giving props to Johnny Cash? Makes sense. The Tampa hip-hop group knows about being outlaws. Its three members may not sport cowboy hats or play country music, but the brainy - and funky - men of Red Tide are about as artistically mainstream as the Man in Black, and just as uncompromising in spirit.
Red Tide's long-awaited full-length CD hits stores next month. Catch the trio - Lazy, B.C. and 2% - live this weekend at Cash for Ca$h: A Tribute to Johnny Cash, a benefit to raise money for the local bands performing at this year's South by Southwest music conference.
For now, DJ Lazy, the tall, Paul Bunyan-looking fella who's a tireless impresario for the genre he loves, gets In Your Face. When he's not onstage, or running his Peripheral Records, Lazy hosts WMNF-88.5's Hip Hop Flavors at 1 a.m. Tuesday nights (or is that Wednesday mornings?)
(1) Who's the all-time greatest rap DJ? (Run-D.M.C.'s) Jam Master Jay. Essentially he's the template - Run-D.M.C. being the template for hip-hop groups. He kept it going in the back, scratching. He was also involved in the group's production, and he discovered other artists as well.
(2) How did you discover hip-hop? Like everyone, probably, through Rapper's Delight. I was living in Oak Ridge, Tenn., home of the atom bomb (laughs). A friend had a home-recorded tape of (Sugarhill Gang's) Rapper's Delight, and it got into our sixth- or seventh-grade hands. It was rhythmic, syncopative, and yet it wasn't a band. It changed everything.
I'm not a black kid from the ghetto. I was a white kid from a white neighborhood; we'd heard nothing like this. One of my friends could kind of do a moonwalk thing and dance. Rapper's Delight just kind of brought it all together.
After that, I had to hear it all. I'm one of those encyclopedic people: I have to know all about it, I have to check out all the groups and their influences. So I found out about Kurtis Blow and the Fat Boys. I checked out the movie Krush Groove. I found out about LL Cool J, Whodini.
(3) Did you wear Adidas and fat shoelaces as a kid? Actually, I was a Converse Chuck Taylor wearer. I tried to find out about hip-hop styles, but I lived in Tennessee. Eventually my family moved to New Jersey, and I got more involved in the scene and the styles. But back then, we had no Yo! MTV Raps and no Internet, so we didn't know about fat shoelaces. We didn't know what hip-hop kids in New York were wearing.
Red Tide started in the same way, kind of. We formed in Sarasota. We weren't a part of any New York or L.A. scene. We were able to develop on our own with no expectations.
You can identify that in our music. We don't sound like anybody else. We developed in our own little hothouse.
(4) You guys, I think, are among the best hip-hop groups out there. What do you think is your greatest strength? Our live shows. It's what makes most people take notice.
Your live show is amazing, so interactive with the fans. Well, we are very conscious of that. . . . It's kind of like that Mary Poppins thing: "A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down" (laughs). We are always concerned, "How are we going to get the message across?"
B.C. is such an arresting personality. People gravitate toward him. He walks into a room, and people just flock to him. I can yack on for hours. Then we have 2% with the Polaroid. All three of us have a good time onstage.
A lot of it is spur of the moment, but at the same time, we are aware, we know what makes people pay attention and what makes them comfortable.
(5) Tell me about your favorite comedian. Richard Pryor. In the last several years, since he's had MS, he's still so funny. It makes you laugh and cry. He can convey pathos with humor. I was watching a tribute show to him, and when he was rolled onstage (in his wheelchair), he got to the mike and said, "I'm gonna get up in just a second." And it was just so funny, because, you know, he wasn't gonna get up. But, he just had such a good sense of humor about it.
In his prime, he did the coolest thing, you know, he totally connected with his audience. He could convey these socially conscious truths through humor. I think a lot of these younger Def Jam comedians nowadays see Richard Pryor and all they're hearing is the "motherf---" and the "white people are this way" and "black people are that way" stuff. But, his comedy had real depth. There was so much more going on than "White people are uptight," "Black people are loud in movies," or whatever. They miss the point.
He also was one of the first comedians to reference his own life. Before him, people told jokes. Richard Pryor got onstage and talked about being addicted to cocaine and having Jim Brown come to his house, telling him he wouldn't be his friend anymore if he didn't stop it. He opened doors for people like Margaret Cho, who now jokes about being Asian-American and alcoholic, for people who use very personal things that normally aren't funny.
And his material holds up very well. Those old vinyl comedy records are still funny. Stir Crazy with Gene Wilder is still an immensely funny movie. All those issues are still relevant, 30 years later.
PREVIEW: Red Tide performs at Cash for Ca$h, 7 p.m.-midnight Saturday, a multiband tribute to Johnny Cash and a fundraiser to send local bands to the South by Southwest music conference, Skipper's Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Road, Tampa. $12. (813) 977-6474.
