Having participated once before in Amoebapalooza, our annual night of musical mayhem, rhythm and revelry, I had some idea of what to expect when I stepped through the doors of The Mezzanine on a San Francisco summer night. Without casting any dispersions on venues of the past, I was immediately impressed by the layout of the theatre, the size, the decor, and, above all, the state of the art sound system. I zipped up my green Adidas track suit and strode boldly in.

The only regret I had after Sunday night's amazing Amoebapalooza at the Mezzanine in SF was that I hadn't managed to attend any of the previous years Amoebapaloozas. Amoebapalooza is what we call the yearly concert event in which Amoebites (Amoeba staffers) get up on stage and perform their music, some with officially formed bands and others with groups that form primarily for this anticipated annual event.  

Amoebapalooza North '09, which combined Amoebites from both the SF and Berkeley stores, offered amazing musicianship from a richly diverse array of artists who not only killed it on stage but did so in tightly paced, abbreviated sets, and with the quickest set changes between bands that I have ever witnessed.

Be sure to keep an eye on the Amoeba website, including the Amoeblog, and also the Amoeba Flickr site, over the next several days for more reviews and photos of Sunday night's event. Everyone who attended this year's blast was clearly having a really good time! "This year by bringing the two stores together we stepped up our game and it really paid off," commented Amoeba marketing/promotions point person Naomi, who was instrumental in putting on Amoebapalooza, scheduling it at the wonderful downtown San Francisco nightclub. "Having it this year at an excellent venue like Mezzanine, with its top notch sound system really helped showcase the talent that we have at Amoeba," she noted.

1) Zion I The TakeOver (Gold Dust Media) 

2) Madlib Beat Konducta Vols. 5-6 (Stones Throw)

3) 40Love BANGERANG! (No Label)

4) P.O.S. Never Better (Rhymesayers Entertainment)

5) Various Artists NASA: The Spirit of Apollo (Anti)

Thanks to Luis at the San Francisco Amoeba Music for this latest Hip-Hop Top Five, compiled from weekly sales figures of new hip-hop full-length CDs at the Haight Street store. And in the number one (with a bullet) slot is the off the hook just released Zion I album, The TakeOver on Gold Dust Media. This is the sixth album from the Oakland based duo who released their first full-length back in 2000. Comprised of producer AmpLive and emcee Zumbi, who moved out to the Bay Area from Atlanta, GA thirteen years ago where they first met up as students attending Morehouse College, Zion I just get better and better as time goes by. And The TakeOver is without a doubt their finest release to date. It is also their most musically diverse, incorporating elements of hyphy, boom bap, dirty south, power pop rap, and more.

And impressively, much of the music is live, not sampled. "On this album we wanted to keep it more live and also electronic so as to just have it as a tight combination," AmpLive told me recently, noting that the drums on the New Orleans flavored track "Gumbo" are all recorded live. Meanwhile, guest artists on the album include Rhymesayers emcee Brother Ali; Oakland power vocalist Jennifer Johns, whose numerous other collaborations include recording with former Amoebite DJ Platurn; Devin The Dude, who collaborates on the infectious, hit-bound "Country Baked Yams;" female vocalist K. Flay, whose vocal style is reminiscent of Sinead O' Connor; and talented UK emcee Ty, who deserves more attention Stateside than he has gotten to date.

The San Francisco Amoeba’s first in-store performance of 2008 - and what better way to set off the new year than with a live hip hop show?! (LIVE indeed…) It was just before six p.m. as I stood stage-side awaiting San Francisco based crew, 40Love’s set in support of their debut, full-length release: Advantage. This was my second opportunity to see them in action as my first, only a week prior, was to a packed house a the popular Milk Bar where they opened up for a duo of heavy-hitting out-of-towners. 

(Impressive…)

 

Soon after a quick opening set from SF natives, Dregs One and his crew, GMC, 40Love’s DJ Whooligan, local favorite and former Amoeboid… much love, stepped up to the 1’s & 2’s rockin’ a fat gold chain, which immediately etched a wide smile across my face. One by one the 40Love crew was introduced to the stage and the steadily growing crowd applauded the home team. They set it off with a real banger, just as they should, and (emcee) G-Off hits the beat runnin’ with a polished flow that packs a punch and doesn’t let up ‘til the show’s over. In fact… They ALL do. Fellow emcee, Mikos, who also takes on  the task of production for the trio, equally held his own on the mic -- something that so many have tried and failed at in hip hop. (Don’t front!)

Tomorrow, Friday, Jan 18th @ 6PM at Amoeba Music, San Francisco -- the promising new Bay Area hip-hop trio 40Love, who recently dropped their strong & well-rounded debut album Advantage, will be performing as part of Amoeba's Homegrown in-store series.

I recently caught up with emcee G-off from the group, who also works at Amoeba Music on Haight Street in addition to putting in time across town at the A&R department of San Francisco's OM Records, to ask help introduce the uninitiated to 40Love.
 
AMOEBLOG: Can you give a brief history of your group for those who don't know?

G-OFF: 40Love is a hip hop group from San Francisco which features emcee/vocalist Haze, producer & emcee MIkos, and myself, an emcee, G-off. Our first album Advantage features Jern Eye of Lunar Heights, The Genie, plus Malik of Aquarius and HBO Def Jam Poetry. In early 2007 we were signed to a two year deal with DJ Qbert's manager and even had a track with DJ Qbert on the album. However, because we are 19 and new to the industry, they wanted us to hold back on the release of the album to a later date. This resulted in us opting out of our contract to follow the infamous Bay Area tradition of being completely independent artists.