AV Club
Detroit, Michigan, United States | SELF
Music
Press
By: Wenwen Shi / For The South End
Posted: 2/27/08
The WSU chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha hosted a Black History Month showcase Feb. 21 at General Lectures. This event intended to highlight culture and art.
Poets, dancers and singers performed during the two-hour show.
"We have prepared two weeks for the event in order to celebrate Black History Month," said DeAndre Smith, an Alpha Phi Alpha member.
"We are here to support them and we voluntary perform for the Black History Month Showcase tonight," said Adrian Allen, a WSU senior who founded the AV Club with his friends Dorryl Motley and Hionel Dantzler. "When people talk about race, they usually use negative words. There are still things need to be done."
The discussion section involved audience participation. The topics included the possibility of the United States having its first black president, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, and whether black people still need to celebrate Black History Month.
Though there was not a large turnout, the discussion was heated and the passion seemed to be welcomed by the audience.
Some expressed their support for Obama, but most of the audience agreed that Americans should still celebrate Black History Month.
"We need new forms to approach it as we move forward," Smith said. "It is not only celebrating the accomplishment of black people, we need get something new and take new steps." © Copyright 2008 The South End - The South End -Wayne State University - Detroit, MI
http://clicuniversity.com/?p=899&utm_campaign=UA-98447093-2&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter - clicuniversity.com
http://www.iamoneten.com/2009/07/av-club-sky-high.html - iamoneten.com
Discography
Hosts of local podcast STFU Radio -- http://stfuradio.mypodcast.com/index.html --
of which all members are hosts.
Frequent plays on CJAM Windsor's 99.1FM
8BitPornoBeats!!! EP -- Released 7/09 -- Available here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LPXHACP1
Swaggersaurs Rex! -- Releasing 5/10
Tanooki Suited and Booted! EP -- Releasing Soon
Photos
Bio
The AV Club is a movement. The AV Club is a feeling. You can see us and can hear us. Why? Cause we are the truth!
We are the kinda geeky hip hop kids that grew up in some of the worst neighborhoods in Detroit, that spent their time conquering video games, watching Saturday morning cartoons, playing basketball and messing around with action figures; who then grew into the popular kids in school that had all the friends, and went to all the parties. The guys that use their clothes, shoes, backpacks and overall style to reflect where they came from... As well as where they are going.
Detroit has always been a very musically charged place, from the Motown era down to the Dilla Tree. We feel we bring a different, but familiar type of sound to Detroit hip-hop by blurring the lines between whats hood and what's hip-hop. If you've ever been here, you know there's a whole lot of hood, but, there are other sides to growing up here, and it's also what influences our music.
In a place like the D, there is no room for fronting. And in a time where hip-hop and rap is now all about how much swag you have and being so cool you end up actually looking like a dork, we just try to talk about our real life experiences and let our music speak for itself.
We are heavily influenced by Detroit music greats like J Dilla, MC Breed, and Eminem and outside legends like Jay-Z and Tribe Called Quest, but we also have enough skill and life experience to form our own lane. And we must be doing something right. We've already been featured on a few blogs such as I AM ONE TEN and the brand new Campus Life Is Crazy and been played on radio stations such as CJAM 99.1 in Windsor.
We finished our first EP in August, it's called "8BitPornoBeats." We think its a good description of who we are as a group and individually. It's a very random project with a lot of dope beats and very addictive; but ultimately, there is a something for everyone.
Some of our heroes and inspirations are Super Mario, Motown, the guy that created Nike Dunks, and Soundwave (cuz he could fly for no reason!), Lego Blocks, Halo, Duran Duran, The Smiths, John Lee Hooker, David Bowie, Commodore 64, Atari, Megaman, Big L, MC5.....Street Fighter, and always hot girls! AV!!
"A. V. Club/ You can see it you can hear it / the realest, one of a kind, one in a million...." -- Lyrics from "A.V. Anthem"
Links
