Wednesday, September 9
Old School Jams Live! [if you're in LA]
The Greek Theatre presents Old School Jams Live, a concert featuring legendary hip-hop and R&B stars who pioneered a new style of music in the 1980s. Lisa Lisa, Ready for the World, Klymaxx, Soul Sonic Force, Kurtis Blow, Peanut Butter Wolf and Egyptian Lover are all scheduled to perform.
Originally of Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, the group disbanded in 1991 and Lisa Lisa pursued both solo and acting careers. "I Wonder If I Take You Home" was released in 1985 and was followed by another club hit, "Can You Feel the Beat", which also went to #40 on the R&B chart in late 1985. Their third single, the ballad "All Cried Out", also went gold in 1986.
Ready for the World is an R&B / funk / dance band from Michigan. Their self-titled debut was released in 1985 and included perhaps their best-known hit "Oh Sheila," written about Sheila E., which went to number one on the R&B, Billboard Hot 100, and the Hot Dance Club Play charts that year, becoming the first ever single to hold the number one spot on all three of these charts simultaneously. Other hits include “Tonight,” “Love you down,” “Long Time Comin” AND “Baby Let me Love You.”
Klymaxx is a female Urban/Funk band that made history by becoming the first all-female R&B and pop band in which every female member played an instrument. Their hit singles include “The Men All Pause,” "Meeting in the Ladies Room," and “I Miss You.”
The Soul Sonic Force are an American hip-hop ensemble who helped established hip-hop in the early 1980s with songs such as "Planet Rock". They were also influential in the birth of the electro movement in America and helped pave the way for modern dance music styles such as Techno and House, as well as hip-hop sub-genres such as electro-funk and electro-hop.
Kurtis Blow is one of the first commercially successful rappers and the first to sign with a major label. "The Breaks", a single from his 1980 debut album, is an early hip hop classic. Blow released a few more songs in the mid to late 1980s and made an appearance in the hip-hop film Krush Groove, where he performed “If I Ruled the World,” which was Blow’s biggest hit since his 1980 smash "The Breaks".
Melle Mel is one of the pioneers of old school hip hop as lead rapper & main songwriter for Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five. After Grandmaster Flash left the group, Melle Mel became known as "Grandmaster Melle Mel" and the leader of the Furious Five. In 1982 a song entitled "The Message" became an instant classic and one of the first glimmers of conscientious hip-hop. The group went on to produce the anti-drug song "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)" (the unofficial music video was directed by then unknown film student Spike Lee).
Egyptian Lover is an American electro musician, vocalist, producer, DJ, and was an important part of the L.A. dance music and rap scene in the early 1980s. He will perform a DJ set.
Peanut Butter Wolf is a DJ, hip-hop producer and the founder of hip-hop label Stones Throw Records. He will perform at VJ set, DJ’ing classic hip hop and R&B hits from the 80s with the matching videos playing simultaneously.
PURCHASE TICKETS!
Old School Jams Live Myspace:
www.myspace.com/
