Mr. Lif gets political
By Robert Spuhler
Special to amNewYork
• Mr. Lif is at the Knitting Factory Tuesday, 8pm, $18.
It should be no surprise to hip-hop fans that Mr. Lif would have some thoughts about the presidential race. The Boston-born emcee’s passion and focus has always been more serious and analytical than that of most of his peers.
But the presidential race has also been a major inspiration to the independent rapper. Thanks to the free material to work with given by Obama, McCain and three 24-hour news networks, he’s preparing to release his first full-length album in almost three years, appropriately enough on Inauguration Day.
More after the jump.
Two tracks from that full-length, “I Heard It Today,” including the housing-crisis inspired title track and “Sun,” a plea for optimism, have been released online, with another promised post-election. Those tracks, along with other unreleased songs, will comprise not just Mr. Lif’s first full-length album since 2006, but also his first output of any sort.
“I need this kind of structure,” he said of getting the songs out to the public pre-election. “I hadn’t finished a song in a couple of years. This was the kick in the ass I needed to be like, ‘finish some [expletive] songs.’ For me, it’s an opportunity.”
The Internet has not been a one-way medium for “I Heard It Today,” however. Mr. Lif blogs and responds to fans at his MySpace page, and those interactions have inspired him the most.
“I took my own views and mixed them with other peoples’ views online,” he said. “This is their album as much as mine.”
But “I Heard It Today” is no party polemic. While Mr. Lif is supporting Obama, he does not believe that his election will make the world a wonderful place. So, if the polls are wrong and tonight’s results give McCain the White House, don’t expect a funeral-like atmosphere at the Knitting Factory.
“My agenda is going to be the same because it doesn’t matter who the president is anyway,” he said. “It’s like taking the right hand lane to oblivion, instead of taking the express lane.”
