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| Courtesy of Jonathan McDonald |
 Role call: The Zion I / The Grouch crew from left, The Grouch, Amp Live and Zion. |
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As an original member of the grassroots Living Legends crew and a prolific producer for the last 11 years, The Grouch is accustomed to writing his own music.
For the most part, that wasn't necessary when he hooked up with Zion and Amp Live, collectively known as Zion I (Zion Eye), for the 2006 project "Heroes in the City of Dope." Named after a 1989 Too $hort song, it's filled with the lush combination of samples and live music for which Amp Live is known.
"It was cool; I got to concentrate on the writing," The Grouch said. "Amp would give Zion and I some bare-bone beats, like a little groove, and we would write to them. He'd take his time and bring back this totally extravagant piece he had gotten guys to play on. That was a lot of fun for me. I was laying down verse, and he'd bring back a treasure."
Zion I and The Grouch headline a California-based show at 9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6, at Marlintini's Lounge. Special guest Chali 2na will be there, as will Oakland up-and-comer Jennifer Johns. Phonetic, of Sitka, and DJ AstronoMAR, of Juneau, will open.
"Grouch has been a friend of ours, and when we came together and did a project we knew it would be tight," Amp Live said. "Having another emcee on the project was cool. It was really like bouncing stuff back and forth a lot of the time. He comes from a different perspective and a different point in life. He was just another cook added to the kitchen."
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CONCERT
Who: Zion I (with Zion and Amp Live), The Grouch, Chali 2na, Jennifer Johns, Phonetic and AstronoMAR.
When: 9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6.
Where: Marlintini's Lounge, 9121 Glacier Highway.
Tickets: $25 in advance at Marlintini's, Capital Records and www.groovetickets.com. $30 at the door. 21 and over.
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Chali 2na on his own terms
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Amp Live has been tinkering with technical equipment since he was an infant in San Antonio. Fitting then, that he's well-known as one of the star producers in the Sony PSP game "TraxxPad." Amp uses the tool - a combination drum machine, sequencer, linear editor - in his live shows with his MPCs (drum machines).
Zion came of age during the late 1980s and was finally inspired to write after listening to Q-Tip of Tribe Called Quest. Zion famously wrote his first rap during a high school social studies class in 1990. The next year, he met Amp at Morehouse College. The pair started Metufour with a couple other emcees. The group signed to Tommy Boy, but were deemed to be too experimental and were promptly dropped.
They formed Zion I in 1997 and released the cassette "Enter the Woods." After a well-received 1998 single, "Inner Light," they came out with their debut album "Mind Over Matter" in 2000. The Source Magazine nominated it for album of the year. "Deep Water Slang v.2.0" launched in 2003 and "True Livin'" came out in 2005.
The Grouch is the son of well-known Bay Area jazz musician Stu Blank. Grouch grew up in Oakland, often the lone white kid at hip-hop shows, and he quickly refined his craft. The Living Legends, which he co-founded, are renowned for their independent, DIY approach to the game. And he's taken the same approach to his other projects.
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| Courtesy of Joe Bieker |
| Hero's welcome: Zion I / The Grouch perform during a show to promote their album "Heroes in the City of Dope" in 2006. From left, The Grouch, Zion and Amp Live on the turn tables. |
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This is the Grouch's third trip to Alaska. He was in Anchorage before with Living Legends co-founder Luckyiam, who performs with him in CMA. Among other things, Grouch is an advocate of healthy eating. Some fans have interpreted his lyrics as saying he's a vegan. He's not.
"I can't front; I eat fish occasionally and some dairy," The Grouch said. "I'm trying to get to a plant-based diet. Honestly, I think it's the most healthy option for human beings. And for two, there's so much mistreatment of animals and so much waste.
"KRS-One has a really good song about beef ('Beef') and why you shouldn't eat it on 'Edutainment,'" he said. "I always listen to that, and it inspires me."
The Grouch won't claim to be vegan, but he does believe he's the lone hip-hop artist to be driving a truck fueled on vegetable oil. He's owned the truck for three months, and just drove with his wife and child from California to New York and back on the 13-city "Paid Dues" tour.
The Grouch had mapped out a list of restaurants at which to refuel, but his computer died the day he left. As such, he ended up stopping at a slew of Costcos and buying 10 to 25 five-gallon containers of vegetable oil. "It's paying for itself," he said. "It's a lot better than diesel."
Next up is his first solo album since 2003, "Show You the World," and another collaboration with Living Legends crewmate Eligh. After that, another Zion I/Grouch/Amp Live project, for possible release next year. The Grouch is also working with the Oakland-based up-and-coming Instant Messengers.
He recently started his own umbrella label, Simple Man, for his numerous projects, which include skateboard design. The title comes from his 2000 solo album, "Making Perfect Sense," and has come to be something of a mantra.
"Everybody jokes with me all the time that I'm not that simple, but I'll tell you what, it's something that I'm striving for," he said. "I don't think there's any human being on Earth that's really a simple being. But I strive to make things more basic in my life.
"I'm always telling my wife that I have a whole bunch of clothes and I don't even have a place to put them," he said. "Someday I want to live in Maui and have four pairs of shorts."
• Korry Keeker can be reached at 523-2268 or korry.keeker@juneauempire.com.
