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Event
GREG GREASE + SPECIAL GUESTS
$10 IN ADVANCE / $10 AT THE DOOR
10:30PM DOORS / 11PM SHOWTIME
21+
GREG GREASE
We lurk late, reads a line from Gwendolyn Brooks iconic poem We Real Cool, describing a group of young Black men shooting pool on the south side of Chicago. The last line reads we die soon. Death, preceded by the carefreeness of youth is a juxtaposition all too familiar to Black Americans. To lurk is to be your own boss. To defy Americas social order. To lurk is to survive, and as a Black American, survival is work in itself. Good thing Greg Grease is a working man.
On his new album Born To Lurk, Forced To Work, Grease trades the south side of Chicago in 1959 for present day south Minneapolis. Pool sticks are exchanged for spray paint, a drum machine and a mic. The constant of racism remains -- most topically in Minneapolis infamous Lurking Ordinance -- as does the effortless cool in the face of it. He lurks late, but knows he still has to show up for his job in the morning.
A Blue-Collar Afro-centricity is present throughout all of Greases music, but takes front and center on BTLFTW. The literal grind of working seven to four and feeling mis-er-able, and like his latest release -- 2013s Black King Cole EP -- the constant existential grind of a Black man finding his place in America, even with knowledge of self. Building on the theme of his 2012 debut album Cornbread, Pearl & G, Grease paints a picture of the inner city with a tactful brush. Jobs arent worth much as corporatism rules everything around him. Children are raised defenseless and forced to shed their innocence, making moves by night at a pace they cant keep up. Trigger happy cops are watching just around the corner, locking them up pair by pair just as they did their fathers.
Stints in Atlanta and North Carolina during his formative years gives Greases music a certain southern funk and rattle that many of his Northern peers lack. But a permanent home in south Minneapolis, with the The Usual Suspects -- a collective comprised of members of Somali, Nigerian, Japanese, Latino and Indigenous heritage -- provides an amalgam of influences that are both familiar yet hard to pin down. Theres soul music from his mother, a golden-age sensibility from his father and the creative freedom of his own countercultural leanings.
A former funk and punk rock drummer, Grease raps with an internal rhythm that compliment the density of his verses and invites similarly minded emcees like P.O.S, Fresh Daily, Akrite and Tall Paul to lend a hand. There is a craftsmans attention to each syllable within his myriad of flows, and a desire to explore the range of his voice-as-instrument, singing several of the albums hooks. The albums production, partly provided by Grease and aided by Medium Zach, Proper T, Ackryte and Starro of Soulection, sheds predictability. Uplifting piano riffs give way to somber violins, chirping bird choruses, moody synths, elegant flutes and spanish guitars. Its a relentlessly textured sound that reflects the spirit of a crate-digger and the ambition of an orchestra, er, Lurkestra leader. A nod to Jay Dee and a wink to Sun-Ra.
Born To Lurk, Forced To Work, works by honing in on what Grease has always aimed for: music thats multi-dimensional. Music that makes feel you good when shit goes bad, and hits you in the gut when you think shit is sweet. Its a smile and a tear. Greg Grease is mourning and celebrating. That is, if the rent is paid.
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LocationIcehouse (View)
2528 Nicollet Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55404
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 21 |
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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