SAME KIDS, NEW BLOCK

posted in: Artist Features • Urban

For most bands, paying your dues usually takes at least a year or two. So consider One Block Radius accelerated learners. In the course of one tour in 2005, the hip hop-pop act was shot at in Albuquerque, robbed in San Francisco and subjected to a blackout onstage in Phoenix. But instead of taking this unfortunate series of events as a bad omen, they saw it as giving their pedigreed hip hop some much needed grit.

The Los Angeles trio, made up of vocalist Marty James, DJ MDA and MC Z-Man, hail from venerated hip hop and rap communities that include Beastie Boys’ Grand Royal label and Del Tha Funkee Homosapien’s legendary Hieroglyphics collective. Now signed to Island Def Jam, One Block Radius has upped their serotonin-level, turning out bouncing, club-ready singles. Shoplifta is a reggae-influenced club banger that delivers lines like, Her and her girl was A & B and that they want to C me, with juvenile gusto. Screwing It Up follows suit, spinning a sad yarn about waking up pantless in the front yard against an infectious 80s pop beat. One Block Radius views the definition of dance music through a wide-angle lens, sampling unlikely dance floor heroes such as Electric Avenue singer Eddie Grant and White Stripes. Hey, it doesn’t matter who comes to the party, as long as they can move.