The opportunity to see a hip-hop act as diverse as Boku
doesn’t come around too often.
Fortunately, the Fowler Out Loud series will be offering exactly
that tonight at 6 p.m., when it presents a performance by Boku and
Yoshi Beat Groundation in the Fowler Museum. Boku is a hip-hop band
with a fluctuating membership of seven to 11 performers from
varying artistic and ethnic backgrounds.
“We have people who come from different walks of life,
different influences,” said lead vocalist Jo D. Jonz.
“A given song will start with heavy funk, which slides into
R&B, which slides into hip-hop, which slides into African
folklore.”
Jonz hails from the Bronx, the birthplace of hip-hop. As a
theater and anthropology major at the University of Massachusetts,
he formed the group Afreakla in the mid ’90s, performing with
such legends as A Tribe Called Quest and Gang Starr.
Jonz later settled down in Los Angeles to pursue an acting
career ““ a vocation Jonz calls his bread and butter, having
acted in several television movies and shows. Only recently did he
decide to continue with his musical ambitions.
“I always had the intent of having a live band,”
said Jonz. “Then I met Roundtree at a jazz function at a
cafe; he was a drummer and came on board. He told me about this guy
Billy White, a keyboard player he had class with at UCLA, and we
created Boku out of that nucleus.”
Roundtree and White are both largely influenced by jazz and have
been exposed to a myriad of different styles of music through their
ethnomusicology studies. White alone has played salsa in Los
Angeles, with the circus in San Francisco and with a hip-hop/jazz
collective in Paris, and has done field recordings of bo-bo-bo
drumming in Ghana. The rest of the group is no less eclectic: Ali
Baba was brought in to sing African folklore, while Cheikh Ndiaye
plays the djeimbe drum.
“They’re all incredibly talented,” enthused
Aki Yoshi, the group’s newly recruited bassist.
“There’s more of a jam feel, more improvisation going
on. A lot of other hip-hop bands sound like they’re trying to
mimic drum machines.”
Yoshi, also an ethnomusicology student at UCLA, met the group
through White. He previously has played in punk and reggae bands,
and will be opening tonight with his side project, the Yoshi Beat
Groundation.
The group has additional ties to the theater: Ndiaye was
recruited at a theater function, and singer Landi Maduro met Jonz
after he directed her in a play. Such experience has contributed to
Boku’s live atmosphere.
“A lot of theatrics are involved in the stage show ““
role-playing on stage and the way the music segues into each other.
Eventually, I’m sure the entire show will be scripted,”
said Jonz.
Strong political overtones are also at the heart of Boku’s
music, which promotes social awareness and self-empowerment. On
songs such as “Chosen People,” Jonz lets fly criticisms
of those he sees pulling the strings in American society.
“I don’t think hip-hop is as conscious as it could
be,” he said. “I feel like this is a battle for
children’s spirits, souls and minds. I can’t sit around
and wait for someone else to bring light to these subjects. I need
to say something before I’m out of here.”
These overtones suggest the group’s diversity is a result
of more than just aesthetic purposes. Boku boasts a trait similar
to Sly and the Family Stone, including members of more than one
race and gender.
“The message is in essence breaking down these stereotypes
and unifying people under one umbrella,” explained Jonz.
“In the music, I address being a child of the globe ““
that I interact with more than one race, more than one culture and
different ethnic backgrounds.”