The article below from the Detroit Free Press shows that hip hop resides outside of Detroit’s borders as well. Ann Arbor is in the building.
Ann Arbor MC offers honest reflection
March 25, 2007
The Athletic Mic League has been a hip-hop training ground of sorts for Ann Arbor beatmakers and MCs, earning underground and critical praise for the collective’s lively and thoughtful output over the past several years.
Buff1 has emerged as the first AML MC to go solo, and he describes his hometown as “Small City Big Change” on one cut of his debut album. With a lolling Midwestern flow that rolls off his palate in 18 “Pure” tracks, he waxes supreme on relationships, student loans, adulthood and dedication to his music in songs like “Moving Along”: “Time won’t repeat like this song that’s why you got move on,” he spits.
Producers like the Lab Techs, Denaun Porter from D12 and Waajeed from the Platinum Pied Pipers add texture with beats that range from sparse to rich and funky, while other top local MCs make guest appearances throughout the disc.
Guilty Simpson and Invincible bring cadence to Waajeed’s low-end synths on “Supreme.” Buff1 encourages lion’s pride with “The Kingdom,” featuring Miz Korona and Elzhi of Slum Village, on a hook that directs “Walk like a king, talk like a king.” “Much Better,” where he’s joined by One Be Lo, is an up-tempo, new-jack style ode to hip-hop. “It must be the way you love to me / Hip hop teaches me what it takes to be a human being in this community.”
Buff1 has an endearing quirky nature, but he also demonstrates a range of musical material. “True Colors,” featuring local songstress Monica Blaire, is a sunny-day summer song. The honest reflection is one reason that “Pure” resonates, as Buff1 drops lines like, “My brother said I rap better when my heart’s broke.”
By Tamara Warren, Free Press special writer
The CD-release party for “Pure” is at 11 p.m. Friday at Northern Lights Lounge, 660 W. Baltimore, Detroit. 313-873-1739.
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