Living Colour Covers Biggie In Stand Against Gun Violence – Who Shot Ya Mixtape Coming Next Month

Living Colour have offered a sneak peek at their new video that will accompany their song Who Shot Ya to be released on September 9th as part of an Andre Betts produced mixtape that will also include contributions from Chuck D and Black Thought. The name of the mixtape is also Who Shot Ya and not “Mixtape” as reported by Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. The cover of the Notorious B.I.G. track that originally appeared in ’95 is a powerful statement and vocalist Corey Glover, guitarist Vernon Reid, bassist Doug Wimbish, and drummer Will Calhoun are just the guys to serve it up. I spoke with them about it after their show at City Winery on Wednesday evening, August 17, 2016.

I have enormous RESPECT for these guys as artists and as people and our conversation was significant to me personally. It was meaningful not only because I enthusiastically support what they are trying to accomplish in speaking out against gun violence but also because Living Colour was the first major band that I interviewed as a college radio DJ. It was live on the air at WICB in 1991. I listened to the, gasp, 25 year old interview recently and one thing that knocks me out about it is that Fishbone is mentioned. None other than the bone will be sharing the stage with Living Colour next Sunday the 28th as part of the Afropunk Festival. In fact, Will explained that they would be playing in various permutations with members of Fishbone, and – it keeps getting better – Bad Brains. The three bands will be collaborating with each other in what one must figure will be a never to be repeated event. This is not to be missed!

Something else that I got a boot out of is after the interview with all four members wrapped up on Wednesday night, I got to speak with Doug Wimbish a little bit and enjoy some brief recollections of his days as a session man in the house band of Sugarhill Records. It’s him playing arguably the most famous bass line of all time, White Lines by Melle Mel! He was also on The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five among a million others. Something Doug told me that I didn’t know was that he was guy who, years before he joined the band, took Mick Jagger (who he played with on Primitive Cool among other things) and Jeff Beck to see Living Colour at CBGB. This moment was also referenced in the ’91 interview as it was a key one in getting their career rolling…

Vernon mentioned that they had recently received a verse from Talib Kweli that was too late to be included on the mixtape coming out next month. That could very well inspire a part two to the Who Shot Ya project. In any case, Living Colour is putting the finishing touches on their next studio album, Shade, that we can expect in early 2017.

Here’s a bonus bit: Corey speaking about The Notorious B.I.G….

Bad Boy Concerts Celebrate The Notorious B.I.G. May 20th & 21st at Barclays Center

About as big a hip hop hootenanny as could possibly occur happened on Friday and Saturday nights at The Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It was the start of the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour that sees Diddy on the road with the artists that made Bad Boy Records one of the most important labels on the nineties: Lil’ Kim, The Lox, Biggie’s widow Faith Evans, Total, and Mase as well as relatively recent signees like Carl Thomas (whose debuted was released in 2000) and French Montana (who first album came just three years ago). Those artists will reconvene in late August and begin a U.S. tour that includes dates at MSG as well as in Newark’s Prudential Center in September.

Somewhere along the line someone had the happy idea to schedule the show on what would have been The Notorious B.I.G.’s 44th birthday and what was already a massive event became an epic one…and then two. Junior M.A.F.I.A., Mary J Blige, Jay Z (even though he sold his stake in the building), Usher, Busta Rhymes, DMX, and Nas all turned up as special guests. It was an embarrassment of riches for fans and a love fest for Biggie who grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. As the story goes, in 1992 a certain Sean Combs who had a gig doing A&R for Uptown Records, heard Smalls’ demo and it wasn’t long before Bad Boy was born with Ready To Die leading the charge in ’94.

Bigs knew how to handle success and he invited his talented friends like Lil’ Cease and Lil’ Kim to share in it. As Lil’ Cease said to me, shortly before crushing my head like an empty beer can in a killer lock, “He put his homeboys on and got them record deals.” Junior M.A.F.I.A. – featuring Kim and Cease as well as Biggie himself on four tracks – released their first disc Conspiracy in 95. Cease continued, “He meant a lot not just to Brooklyn and New York but the whole East Coast…” Almost two decades after his death, it’s easy to see how much he meant and still means to hip hop worldwide.