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"Star Tribune"


Lords of Discipline: Locals the C.O.R.E. fight for hip-hop's positive side
Chris Riemenschneider
Star Tribune

Published Feb. 7, 2003 MUS07

'This is a kid to watch out for," Toki Wright says, introducing one of the half-dozen teens at the Circle of Discipline gym on a recent afternoon.

While most rappers would use that phrase to describe themselves -- and many adults would mean "watch out" in a bad way -- Toki is talking glowingly about a 15-year-old who goes by the name Freeze. The kid already has his own group, Illuminous 3. He also has torn up a few opposing MCs at the Loring Pasta Bar's Monday open-mike nights, for which Wright has been host.

Believing in young men's capabilities is central to the Circle of Discipline, at 1201 E. Lake St. in south Minneapolis.

Wright and his fellow rapper and roommate, Adonis Frazier, are two guys who have felt the nonprofit gym's positive impact. They are now sharing it through music.


The C.O.R.E.'s AD and Toki

Richard Tsong-taatarii
Star Tribune
The duo fronts the burgeoning rap group the C.O.R.E., which enters the local hip-hop ring this week with its gutsy debut CD, "Metropolis." The release party is tonight at the Quest.

While it shares the playful, wise-acre energy of other notable Twin Cities hip-hop acts such as Atmosphere, Kanser and Heiruspecs, "Metropolis" takes itself more seriously than most local rap releases.

Wright and Frazier -- who perform as Toki and AD, respectively -- still believe rappers can be positive players without being too preachy or goody-goody. On the CD, they tackle social themes and topical issues, such as the title track's boiling-pot view of urban life. But they can goof off with the best of them, too.


CD cover for The C.O.R.E.'s "Metropolis"

In one track, for instance, the duo takes hard punches at young people who cry about injustice without working for it ("Grievance"). In another, they're taking swipes at themselves for overdue porn videos ("Metropolis Video").

Musically, much of the disc has the urgency that presumably comes with working in a boxing gym. Much like the role that producer Ant plays on Atmosphere records, the C.O.R.E. features the production team of Xavier (X-Man) Smith and Flyte Tyme protégé Reggie Henderson on CD. A few tracks, including "Slow It Down" and "Venus," also show off a sexual, slower-grooving side of the group that's suitable for R&B radio.

In person, Wright and Frazier show the same balance -- funny yet serious -- as their music.

"We work hard, and we play hard," said AD, who's also a boxer. "That's really what [Circle of Discipline] is all about: The discipline and fight that it takes to do something positive in your life and other people's lives, plus having a little fun."

Boys to men

At 25, AD is a third-generation do-gooder. His grandfather, Bishop Stanley Frazier of Emmanuel Tabernacle Church of God in Christ in south Minneapolis, is a longstanding local activist. And his father, Sankara Frazier, started Circle of Discipline, which has been an outreach center for at-risk kids for 12 years.

Just as a boxing ring might not seem a wholesome place for combating violence, AD's dad believes that the C.O.R.E.'s sometimes raunchy and aggressive-sounding music is still a positive force.

"You can't reach out to gang members and these tough kids in trouble with candy-coated methods," Sankara Frazier said.

Of AD's choice to rap, he said, "When it has the right message, I don't know if there's any more positive tool right now."

Toki, 22, certainly benefited from hip-hop's bright power. As a kid, he bounced around in a split-marriage household, living in Chicago, St. Louis and many other places before settling in the Twin Cities and graduating from Washburn High School a few years after AD.

While still in high school, Toki started writing poetry and going to open-mike spoken-word nights. More soft-spoken and introverted than most rappers are offstage, he takes classes at the University of Minnesota as his circle of discipline.

"I think AD is more street, and Toki is more the preppy, arty kind of rapper," said C.O.R.E. manager Laura Guyton, who added that despite their differences, the pair are "as close as brothers."

AD and Toki formed the C.O.R.E. in 1998, based on the acronym Children of Righteous Elevation. The group's only other release is a four-song EP called "Part I," but the pair has built up a following as a live act. Their shows are the rare hip-hop sets to feature dancing. Even beyond dance steps, there's a physical energy to their performances that's hard to rival. But then, most acts don't have a gym as a rehearsal space.

Some of the C.O.R.E.'s best-received performances actually have been at Circle of Discipline. They've torn down the boxing ring and p - Chris Reimenschnieder


"STAR TRIBUNE"

Concert review: Audience rules Ja Rule concert
Chris Riemenschneider
Star Tribune

Published Feb. 20, 2003 RULE20


He's no Tupac. He's not even in the same league as DMX. But as far as sex-symbol thug rappers go, platinum-record star Ja Rule proved to a Target Center crowd Wednesday that he's also no slouch in the performance department, as has been alleged.

The 26-year-old New York rapper (real name Jeffrey Atkins) definitely is not a high-energy performer. His sweatiest move on Wednesday -- and his best-received antic -- was stripping out of his Kevin Garnett Timberwolves jersey. But his cool, relaxed style did not hinder the energy of Wednesday's show, and it may have even helped to create the concert's greatest asset: the audience's unabashed participation.

Playing to a crowd of about 4,000, Rule was able to get around the fact that most of his hits are duets with other artists, including Jennifer Lopez, Ashanti and Bobby Brown. He did this by making singalong gestures to the crowd for much of the set. Hey, desperation breeds brilliance.

J. Lo and Ashanti weren't there, but a crowd half-filled with adoring teenage girls made up for their absence in "I'm Real" and "Always on Time." Word for word, they matched the lyrics.

The audience even filled in during less catchy songs such as the rapper's main anthem "Put It on Me" and his "Between Me & You." The 40-minute performance eventually started to feel like a $40 karaoke night, but the crowd didn't seem to mind.

Getting to sing to Ja Rule was certainly more entertaining than listening to opener Benzino's many diatribes. The Boston-reared MC -- a co-founder of the Source hip-hop magazine and a wannabe nemesis of Eminem -- repeatedly tried to dispel "all the things that have been written about me," as he put it, when the truth is that the press has largely been disinterested in him. Sluggish, thug-light songs such as "Bang Ta Dis" and "Boottee" suggested why.

It might just sound like hometown favoritism, but local opener the C.O.R.E. offered everything that Benzino's set lacked. The fast-rapping duo from south Minneapolis was humble but bold, and it barely stopped rocking for 20 minutes. Songs from its new "Metropolis" CD, including the title track and "Mosh Pit," bled into one another as the pair's energy played out physically in semi-choreographed dance routines.

Another local rapper, Rhyme Sayers co-founder Musab, also fared well Wednesday by simply standing on stage cooly and half-cockily, much like Ja Rule. But the audience didn't need to know Musab's songs from the radio to appreciate their rough and tumble qualities.

-- Chris Riemenschneider is at chrisr@startribune.com.

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"St Paul Pioneer Press"







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Saint Paul Pioneer Press
February 7, 2003
Section: Express
Edition: City
Page: E5


HEAR NOW

THE C.O.R.E.
Reggie Royston, Pioneer Press

Personnel: Emcees Adonais Frazier (aka Superman AD, aka Black Diamond) and Toki Wright


Background: When Frazier isn't busy knocking out boxers as a super middleweight prizefighter (5-1-1), and Wright takes a break from coordinating youth programs and dropping poetry at open mics, the Minneapolis duo come together as the hip-hop group the C.O.R.E. (Children of Righteous Elevation).


The two share an apartment, train together and sport matching sunburst tattoos on their forearms. But Wright and Frazier knew next to nothing about each other's rhyme style or lyrics before Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis affiliates Xavier Smith and Reggie Henderson paired them up to record in 1998.

Wright's scat-heavy rhyming, matched with Frazier's gritty Wu-Tang approach, caused a stir for its lighthearted approach to rapping and progressive politics. The C.O.R.E. soon made a name for themselves at community rallies and local free-style sessions around the cities, such as the one at Fifth Element record store in Minneapolis' Uptown that Wright hosts every other Saturday.

Acclaim and networking landed them opening slots when artists such as LL Cool J and Ozomatli came to town, as well as for the Def Comedy Jam tour at the State Theatre last summer. The two also have performed in Toronto, at the annual "Caribana" West Indian carnival and at the premiere of Kevin Garnett's OBF clothing line.

When the duo prepared their first full-length recording, "Metropolis," for release this year, they sought clearance for a guitar-driven track, "Rock You," which sampled Black Sabbath. According to the group's management, Sharon Osbourne said it was among her favorites, but the song ultimately was not cleared for use.


Recordings: The C.O.R.E. released a short EP in 2001 called "Part 1." "Metropolis" is their first full-length effort, released under Henderson and Smith's 3rd Eye Entertainment.


Concept: Taking their cue from so-called "positive" rappers Mos Def and Talib Kweli, the C.O.R.E. originally stepped out with politically charged rhymes, attempting to offer an alternative to popular gangster styles.

"Metropolis" shows the C.O.R.E. getting comfortable in its own skin, however: "I'm not walking around like I can't get through the door because my head's so full of poetic knowledge," said Toki, who has a rep for being the crew's earthy emcee.


Review: "Metropolis" steers clear of genre-defining sounds like bounce, gangsta or indie-rap and instead delivers a diverse set of songs about rhyme battling, community pride and girl hugging. Caustic fight songs like "Spit Fire" dominate this album, however, featuring a harder C.O.R.E than seen on previous releases. The Dr. Dre-flavored "Slick Talk" is probably the album's smoothest number.


Gig: CD-release party for "Metropolis" tonight at the Quest, 110 N. Fifth St., Mpls.; $10 (18-plus); (612) 338-3383.


Photo


The C.O.R.E.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2003 Saint Paul Pioneer Press



- Reggie Royston


Discography

The C.O.R.E. EP Part 1

Metropolis - released February 4th
SAMPLES OF CUTS AT
www.cdbaby.com/thecore

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

WHO THEY ARE

The Children Of Righteous Elevation ( The C.O.R.E.)

“They are among a shallow pool of hip-hop artists that still have a deep passion for rap music as a craft, while looking at the culture as a whole and what can be done to right some wrongs.” – Abbie Jarman, Lost Cause, Minnesota’s Music Journal

Black Diamond (formerly known as Superman A.D.) (Adonis Frazier, 25) – A gifted free-styler whose years of training as a professional boxer have given him a commanding stage presence and a body of steel. Black Diamond rocks with the best of them. His strength lies in his ability to comfortably walk in and out of every style, genre, and area of subject matter effortlessly. An unsurpassed battle MC who fears no man and has proved it by dismantling many of your favorite rappers, he is arguably the coolest brother on the planet, AD is either the most respected or feared MC around. The C.O.R.E. relies on his willingness to speak his mind and the skills to back it up.

Toki (Toki A. Wright, 22) –As a highly acclaimed poet, spoken word artist and award winning Slam Champion, intel Toki makes up one very powerful half of the duo. Recognition for his work by Amistad author Alexs Pate, is a testament to the weight of his written material. Full of insightful concepts that force the listener to turn his back on the world surrounding them and direct the focus to the internal, he will ask that you merely assume responsibility for that which you control and at least attempt to join in on changing our surroundings.

AD and Toki were brought together to work on the lyrics for some tracks that a mutual friend was producing. Although the two worked on several tracks together, they did not begin to consider themselves a group until the summer of 1998.

That summer Reggie Henderson, one half of the production team known as 3rd Eye Entertainment, called his long time friend AD and asked him to write some lyrics for a track he was working on. Based on his recent pairing up with Toki, A.D. asked him to participate. When AD and Toki arrived at the studio, they met the other half of 3rd Eye Entertainment, Xavier Smith (an engineer for Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis at Flyte Tyme Studios). The four wrote and produced their first song together, establishing what has continued to be a very prolific artist-producer team.

The four continued to work together on several more tracks which lead AD and Toki to decide to create a name for themselves and officially become a group. AD suggested ‘The Core’ because he felt that the core was the most solid and important part of everything. Toki suggested that the letters C.O.R.E. could stand for the Children of Righteous Elevation because they were two righteous men who wanted to stand for elevating yourself and the environment around you. (Both were, and continue to dedicate themselves to community involvement.“The C.O.R.E. have introduced a plethora of community and youth projects… - Abbie Jarman, Lost Cause, Minnesota’s Music Journal). It was decided – they would be known as The C.O.R.E.

In 2001, after recording several more tracks and deciding with their producers to create an EP, the two sought to ‘elevate’ The C.O.R.E. by obtaining management. AD already had a friend in Laura Guyton, one half of BLD Enterprises, a Minneapolis based company involved in artist and event management. One brief discussion was all it took to bring her on board. The guys knew their stage performance needed improving. Fortunately for them, the other half of BLD Enterprises was Damon Dickson, of Prince and the New Power Generation, an experienced dancer and choreographer. The two began working with Damon to create what continues to be a high-energy, make-you-get-up-and-move stage show.

“They make you nod…And, best of all, they make you laugh” – 2002 Best of the Twin Cities

In the summer of 2001, The C.O.R.E. released a 4 song EP titled “Part I”. “New Thoughts”, “ Lounge Out”, “Yeah”, and “Mammoth”.

With the EP in hand and a tight stage show thanks to Damon’s choreography, The C.O.R.E. began performing what has now become a long list of shows. Most notably, they have opened for such artists as LL Cool J, Mos Def, Black Rob and Mystic. They performed at Kevin Garnett’s O.B.F. clothing line launch in Toronto. They have performed at an MTV Rock The Vote show. They have been nominated for a Minnesota Music Award (without an official CD released). They have performed for thousands at the Minnesota State Fair (2001 and 2002) and were asked to perform by the capital city of St. Paul at its New Years Eve celebration 2001-2002.

While continuing to amass fans through numerous performances, in the summer of 2002 The C.O.R.E. went back into the studio with their 3rd Eye Entertainment producers to record tracks for an album. The result: the planned February 4th 2003 release of Metropolis – their 16 track debut album. The title cut, “Metropolis”, has already seen airti