Thursday 14 August 2008

Max B earns an A for arrogance

Max B was rapper Jim Jones� cool aide.


Max B, an MC from Harlem, N.Y., wrote the lyrics for Jones� �We Fly High,� a track better known to fans as �Ballin�.� What�s more, Max B takes credit entry for originating the bluster Dipset ringleader Jones claims as his own, a clear foretoken that their working relationship is history.


�I�m not sulfurous, I�m just trying to make things right,� B said from his Yonkers, N.Y., studio. �I saved rap and people don�t acknowledge it. I made the music wavelike. I brought my have lingo to the game.�




In addition to the word of honor wavy, which B uses to discover just about everything, he�s also �hood famous for the catch phrase �oooowwww.�


Ridiculous?


Not to thousands of inner city kids shouting it on playgrounds and street corners across the country.


�It�s my own Spanish, you know what I�m saying?,� said B, who plays the Middle East in Cambridge Thursday.


If there�s one thing B is more famous for than his slogans, it�s his trend to feel trouble. In 2006, he was arrested for allegedly masterminding a murder and attempted robbery in New Jersey. After serving seven-spot months in prison, he was temporarily freed by Jones, wHO posted the $2 million bail.


B is still awaiting trial and declines to discuss legal issues or any other specifics regarding his case. But he is uncoerced to spank his legal and industry nemeses.


�People hate on me because I (expletive) all the women and I still calculate good,� B said. �I drive a big car and live in a heavy condo, so they�re all on my (backside). It is what it is. I�m still Wavy Crockett.�


Since his very public falling out with Jones and other Dipset members, B has stayed relevant by maintaining a torrential mixtape output. The latest in his Public Domain series, �Domain Pain,� dropped utmost week on East Boston label Amalgam Digital, and B promises at least five more unofficial discs before year�s end.


�People ar starting to realize that I score mixtapes the way that other the great unwashed make albums,� B said. �I have original beats and choruses on my songs. I don�t need to make a proper album. I make the superlative music on the planet.�


No false modestness for this MC, wHO is teaming with Amalgam to phonograph recording �Vigilante Season.� The magnetic disc, largely produced by DMX beatmaker Dame Grease, will be his first official, bar-coded tone ending in a career dashed with legal problems and beefs with rival rappers.


�You can hear the pain in the neck and the frustration on �Vigilante Season,� but you can too hear the maturity and pureness,� B said. �I�m pickings out the Milli Vanilli rappers with this one. I put my life and my soul into this medicine. I defy whoever thinks they fanny challenge me to step up to the home. I�ll terminal their career.�


Max B, with Stucat, Nancia, Wally Sparks, Lecks and DJ On&On, at the Middle East, Cambridge, Thursday. Tickets: $15 in advance, $17 day of show; 617-864-EAST.





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