dRED.i

"...never leaves the dance, as is the case with so much underground hiphop, but is committed to a driven dance groove.." Charles Mudede. The Stranger; 6/7/2001. http://www.thestranger.com/2001-06-07/music.html - The Stranger

"their intensity was immediate, with MC's Asiatik and Moorpheus (AKA Merciful) kicking fire and knowledge on the mic. Combining narratives from the struggle, soulful harmonies, and knocking beats (courtesy of Roc'Phella and Vitamin D amongst others), dRED-i can't help but draw comparisons to Dead Prez,.." .
Larry Mizell, Jr. The Stranger; 11/18/04. http://www.thestranger.com/2004-11-18/hiphop.html - The Stranger

"This is the sickest music on myspace. I'm glad I found your page.... Continuous love & respect."-- Amy; from myspace.com.

Posted to http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/dredi - CD Baby.com

by Beverly Durfee | September 5, 2005, 11:07 PM

Crunk, as a musical style, claims it’s different from rap, hip hop and what have you, because of the Southern-based call-and-response it uses during the vocals. Imagine the cadences of a preacher and his flock and the way they feed emotions off each other. Instead of turn-based rapping, crunkers seem more apt to sing over or under one another, creating accents and answers to the lead’s vocal line.

But these aren’t the calls and responses you’ll hear in any church I know.

So come to think of it, maybe crunk means nothing more than the widely held theory that crunk=crazy+drunk.

Dred. i’s 3 song CD shows glimpses of real vocal talent. Even some revolutionary/evolutionary sparks, especially in “In the Ghetto … State of Mind.” But the pointless (IMHO) vulgarity is a turn off. Maybe it’s meant to keep listeners like me away, and that makes me cranky, not crunky.

But you guys keep on doing what you want to do. You’re talented, your live shows just keep coming and that’s proof enough that you’re the real deal. Your Web site reveals politically insightful and intelligently active minds. As you say, “There is no religion more relevant than reality.” Give it all you got.

Check out Dred. i at www.myspace.com/dredimovement

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Comments

By moorpheus

September 6, 2005 07:23 AM | Link to this

PEACE,

Once upon a time a womens naked body was considered vulgar, thanks to the sexual revolution this is no longer true. And to many it is now considered a work of art.

We are children of the sexual revolution, which means that that we do not share the same reservations or turn offs as our parents. Our sexual value system is different.

Sexuality is embraced, not shunned. Sexuality is a huge part of our personality in hip hop. Let’s face it,Lil Kim is just a modern day Cher.

If you are a fan of Marvin Gaye (Sexual Healing,Let’s Get it On), The Isley Brothers(Between the Sheets) , Curtis Mayfield (let’s doit again)

Our music is inspired by this type of soul just put into a modern day context. The Kama Sutra is a good book about sexuality for people who are touchy about this subject.

I woudn’t say we were vulgar (what is happening in Louisiana & Iraq is vulgar). Here we see the destruction of life. Sexuality is what brings us all here. Yo moma and yo daddy got together and you know the rest!

We make baby-making music for a younger generation in the tradition of Marvin Gaye, The Isley Brothers, Curt Mayfield, even Earth, Wind & Fire.

All of the subjects people avoid or dRED, we embrace. dRED.i represents the i moving through all of it’s dRED’s or fears to ones higher self.

And as the ancient sexual holy book (kama sutra) demonstrates some people reach there higher self through sex!

If you mix it up with the right person on the dance floor or the bedroom using kama sutra you’ll see how important good sex is. Maybe even say to yourself,”I been cheatin myself, when I should of been treatin myself.”

Thanks for the Review Beverly moorpheus The GOD of dreams

By beverly

September 6, 2005 04:49 PM | Link to this

Moorpheus,

Thank you for the articulate response. I can see how your music follows that lineage of musicians kicking down the doors to bring the realities of life to the forefront through the universal languages of music and sexuality.

I read my review back and the word vulgarity would have been better replaced by “explicit.” I hated to review dRED. i with only three songs to go from. But I tell you what, the next crunk submission I receive, I’ll be in a much better place to review it fairly.

Thanks again - and when I hit Seattle - you know where I’ll be!
- The Daily Sentinel

"I am so happy that I was able to meet you yesterday and come to see dRED.i play. It was incredibly good and I know Anna really liked you guys too.

There is something about your music which makes it grow upon you and makes it stay. Thanks again for your message yesterday.

It was so beautiful."

Kajsa; after dRED.i Movement performed at The Rainbow; 3/24/05. Seattle.

- A fan.

We just got word that a track we recorded in 1999 will
be featured at the next Sundance Film Festival.

The movie is called "Walkin' on Egg Shells" (produced by Nation Holmes) and the
song is called "Way of Life".
Watch for it.

- dRED.i Movement

"The homies of the dRED-I Movement can be found on the new Def Sentence Mixtape. The tape features appearances from dRED-I and Portland's Hungry Mob, and proceeds benefit prisoner literacy. If you see dRED-I's GLC-1 outside the show slangin' 'em, get you one.

You'll also be able to check dRED-I, Unexpected Arrival, and Damian Black—along with Atlantic Records' newjack crooner Trey Songz—on December 17 at the Eagles Hall (6205 Corson Ave S). The show is to celebrate Jump Off Magazine's launch party. That same day is the "Jump Off Invitational" at Garfield High School, featuring top high school b-ball squads facing off, starting at 1:30 p.m."

-Larry Mizzell.

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=25619

- The Stranger

ILR
"Interrogation" dRED.i (independent) /06-08-2005
"In the ghetto state of mind" dRED.i (independent) /06-08-2005

KSUB CMJ Charts for the week of 4/11-17/05
#7. Dred I- Single

EQUAKE(LIVE365.COM)
DJ EarthQuake
4/6/2005. Hot Tracks
Dred i. -"Pairadice"

KEXP Music Charts-Hip Hop
June 10 - June 16, 2005
Artist - Title (Record Company)
9. dRED i - Revolutionary Crunk Muzik (self-released)

- Various radio stations

dRED-i want to do the impossible: give left-coast depth to shallow Southern crunk. Crunk is merely party music. Even early hiphop had more to it than being the life of a party—Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks," for example. Crunk doesn't aspire to any kind of thought, it's not oriented to a future or a past, for that would take mental effort. Crunk has no substance. The life of a crunk track doesn't go beyond the moment it's playing; crunk is pure presence: a total here and now. The end of the track is the end of crunk.

There's no reason to pay close attention to what a crunk rapper is saying or what the music is doing; crunk is like booty tech; it's a void waiting to be filled by the vibrations of a body. Can a music like this be salvaged, raised from the mud (the Southern mud) and be fitted, tooled for an actual function, a political purpose that expresses the history of black American suffering, exposes the evils of capitalism, racism, the police state, and go as far as to offer solutions to these problems? Can it actually think for itself and others? Many will say impossible; Seattle's dRED-i says it is possible, and that's the crew's defining project: to revolutionize one of the least revolutionary forms of music.

From dRED-i's manifesto: "We want [revolutionary crunk] to assure that all four elements [dancing, rapping, graffiti, turntablism] of HIPHOP MUSIC are seen, heard, and represented to the fullest. We want [it] to share: information, resources, musical concepts, and positive inner-G with our fellow musicians, fans, friends and supporters... To showcase to the world the Scorpio City, Seattle. The city which has been called 'the city of the future.' So the HIPHOP scene which comes from here should be a futuristic movement. This is what is meant by 'The Solidification.' To give inspiration to the uninspired. We want [it] to bring the fifth element of HIPHOP (knowledge) back to the block where hiphop was born." That seems like a tall order for a genre that, since its birth (10 or so years ago), has had little more on its mind than shaking its thing, getting drunk, getting crunk.

Moorpheus Magnetik, the founder of dRED-i and the composer of the manifesto, knows what crunk is about, knows it's focused on the low-end; but he also believes that if the low-end is married to a social message, then that message will reach a wider audience. In the EP Revolutionary Crunk Muzik, dRED-i's theory is realized with this result: a sound (bouncy bass, bright synthesizers) that feels empty, and raps that often have a sense of urgency and also a sense of geography—the Central District, which dRED-i represents. However, the raps are not all about overcoming the realities of living between the "overseer and the undertaker," the police occupation of the inner city, and other social ills caused by poverty. MCs Magnetik and Han Solo also have time for pleasures with which traditional crunk is long familiar—getting rubs from seriously stacked sisters ("Slow up lady/I like your ambition/Ass like that/got my attention"), and cutting the rug in the club ("That's it, throw your hands way up high/I like that music/that's the dRED-i").

dRED-i aren't wholly committed to revolutionary politics; like life in the hood (or anywhere else, for that matter), the duo offer a mix of positive and negative experiences. Also, they never raise their voices and yell at dancers like drill sergeants, a practice that nearly all crunkers can't do often enough. The music might be that "bass from south," but the rapping is firmly West Coast. But even if the substance of dRED-i's project (to salvage crunk) were to meet with some success, wouldn't the form ultimately take control of the content and drown out the message? That is the essential problem, which, as exciting as the idea of Revolutionary Crunk Muzik might be, has yet to be resolved.

To match the intensity of its revolutionary content, Public Enemy revolutionized the form of the music itself. If dRED-i want to protect their message from the market forces with which crunk has long colluded, they might have to do the same. dRED-i is a work in progress.

charles@thestranger.com
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=29418 - The Stranger (Feb 2 - Feb 8, 2006 )

Monday, February 6, do not miss out on the power lineup of DJ Roc'phella's "The Solidification"—bringing you "O.G.s, Emcees, Revolutionaries: REAL 'Hoodgrown Hiphop from the NW" live at the Contour, hosted by the Ghetto Prez, featuring the considerable talents of Framework, Silent Lambs Project, and dRED.i. If you're somehow not up to speed on these cats, take a second to slap yourself—now get your ass on down there.

Larry Mizell

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=29404

- The Stranger (Feb 2 - Feb 8, 2006)