Twen Bumbs
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States | INDIE
Music
Press
By the time we made it out to The Rutledge Saturday night for Combined Visions’ Ice Cold Hip Hop night, we were in a pretty shitty mood—which totally changed when we walked in the door. Have you been to a hip-hop show at The Rutledge yet? It sounds phe-fucking-nomenal. We’ve seen DJ Kidsmeal a million times in a million rooms, but we have never heard the technical mastery of his crab-scratch cut through the mix so well. Generally, rap shows at rock clubs sound terrible, with muddy, overdriven bass that obscures the vocals, but this isn’t the case at The Rutledge. The low-end frequencies still tickled our intestines but we could hear everything the MCs were spitting, and it warmed our audiophile souls. It might have been better if we couldn’t hear what Evansville, Ind., rapper Cas-One had to say, because, well, we already own that Atmosphere album and we didn’t like it that much the first time around. DJ Dubla, Juskwam and JingoBa [Twen Bumbs] bent our brains with their fast, tri-vocal flows, which might have been too heavy and verbose for most of the punters to follow, but still got the club cranking. The Kidsmeal/Wick-it The Instigator turntable tag team was just what you would think it would be—awesome. The boys exhibited an obscene amount of taste and skills that elevated the event to full-on hanging-from-the-rafters party status. Pow Shadowz’s more aggressive, roughneck set seemed like a letdown, but his intense persona was still enthralling. As we drove home that night, all we could think about was the inadequacy of our car stereo, and how we couldn’t wait for the next hip-hop show on Fourth Avenue.
- The Spin
Discography
Eye to I - LP
Pound Path - Single
I Contact - LP
Photos
Bio
| Twen Bumbs Bio |
What to say about the Twen Bumbs... It's hard to describe the Bumbs. The Twen Bumbs is a collective or crew of artists and like-minded artistic individuals comprised of Dubla Music associated producers and MCs. The primary members are Juskwam (on lyrics) and Dubla (on production). DJ/producer Knos fills in often on production. On occasion, founding member Bzo makes appearances on Twen Bumbs tracks and live shows.
The Twen Bumbs create a brand of original Hip Hop stemming from the diverse [musical] backgrounds and experiences of the group members. Their hip hop is conscious, enlightening, uplifting and at times playfully fun. They do it for the love of the music, and the enjoyment of the process of making music. This passion is understood when listening to them, especially at live shows.
| Juskwam | A prolific emcee and wordsmith born in Nashville, TN, and raised in Houston, TX in an era when hip hop was in it's formative and early expansion stages. Kwam has been developing his emcee craft, recording and performing in front of audiences since 1990. He grew up listening to Run-DMC, The Fat Boys, Rakim, LL Cool J, KRS-ONE, The Beastie Boys, Grand Master Flash and the like.
Says Kwam, "I have been freestylin' most of my life until Dub asked me to see what my concentrated thought would sound like. We figured out the mix - Some ill ass lyrics tweaked with some butter beats with a dose of consciousness." Two a-alikes that run the underground, we call it... Twen Bumbs!
| Dubla | The chief producer and founder of Dubla Music. He produces, mixes and engineers most of the music heard on Twen Bumbs and other Dubla Music projects. You may also find Dubla behind the steel wheels blending and mixing grooves and on occasion, and sometimes, in cameo appearance, dropping a lyric or two on a mic device. Mostly, he can be found behind the mixing console or an MPC laying and layering syncopated rhythms.
Dubla founded Dubla Music in 1999 after years of broadening his musical and cultural horizons throughout the eastern US. He was born in Mobile, AL but spent much of his life was spent in the in Brooklyn and New York City. He also hung his hat in Philadelphia, PA and Knoxville, TN before moving production to the heart of the New Orleans art scene in the warehouse district.
Dubla has a vast musical ear stemming from his well-rounded and cultured history.
He has been studying music since the age of 4 and has no limitations on his musical influence. He graduated from New York University with a degree in music business in '99 and has worked in the music and technology industries since.
The duo have been collaborating on projects for many years, but the Twen Bumbs were officially formed in New Orleans in 2006 - the summer following Hurricane Katrina. That summer, they recorded their first CD entitled Eye To I. Their follow-up release I Contact is due in the summer of 2009.
At a Twen Bumbs love show, they often incorporate live musicians and turntablists to add more musical elements to their already dynamic set. They have collaborated and performed alongside Private Pile, D.O.N., Shawna P, Pow Shadowz, Skratchmo, Cas One, Wick-It, Kidsmeal,The Able Chris, Soapbox and Guerilla Publishing Company artists Elespee, Prospek, Cali Obzvr and Unseen.
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