The Red and Black

Issue date: 6/5/09 Section: Variety

Media Credit: Courtesy DEAF JUDGES Local band Deaf Judges credits 1990s rap, "the golden age in hip-hop," for providing much of its creative influence. [Click to enlarge]

It's been just two and a half years and local band Deaf Judges has already crafted quite the résumé. The band has played with Ghostface Killah, RJD2, and 36 Mafia, won and been nominated for numerous Flagpole awards, and released a full-length record, "All Rise." And according to the band, this is only the beginning.

"We're just really getting started," said Produce Man, one of the group's emcees. "We have a long way to go, in terms of what we're doing."

The locally-based hip-hop band - which features DJ/producer Cubenza and emcees Produce Man, Louie Larceny, and Rorshak - was formed after each member had tried his respective hand playing other genres of music.

"We used to f**k around with all kinds of stuff - punk, disco, rock," Louie Larceny said. But it always came back to hip-hop, he said.

The band notes influences from across the musical spectrum but cites the heavy-toned, jazz-infused rap of the '90s as a primary influence.

"That era was the real golden age in hip-hop, for us, especially," Produce Man said. "We're trying to tap into that era for sure, but make it modern, make it our own, make it new."

And for Deaf Judges, the innovation comes in the experimentation. The group relies heavily on Cubenza, who works with a variety of sounds when composing the band's unconventional beats.

"He pulls live instruments, he'll have his buddy playing some obscure Chinese instrument, and he'll make that into a loop," Produce Man said. "He's not pulling from the same sources as the people who are going 'Alright, we're making rap music now.'"

Working with these beats, the band then collaborates on lyrics, utilizing the flexible and unrestrained nature of the genre to incorporate a variety of themes into the songs.

"All of us have a love for words," Louie Larceny said. "Hip-hop's got an ability to translate some s**t every once in a while. It's definitely as poetic as Shakespeare."

Continued...

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