Nov 25 2008
Check For This: Al Be Back
So my journey of discovery with Al Be Back is a story in and of itself. A long while back, I started subscribing to a mailing list from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in NY. (For our New York readers, it’s located north of Houston on 3rd between Ave B and C, and I highly recommend visiting sometime.) The venue has helped put me on to lots of dope underground acts, including Homeboy Sandman, Hasan Salaam, and our focus today Al Be Back. Except when I first heard of Al, I thought he was just a slam poet. I was diggin his poems, and thought they had a real Hip Hop sound to them, but I didn’t know he was taking it to the raps as well.
Fast forward. It’s Sept. 11th, 2007. Graduation vs. Curtis. If you’ve read my column at all, you know which side I rolled with. So I’m listening to my copy of Kanye’s newest record, which I happened to have actually paid for, on Itunes. A special bonus track was included on the Itunes version called “Good Night” that was left off of the store copy for some reason. In case you haven’t heard it, I posted it above for your listening pleasure. It features Mos Def and, tada, Al Be Back. It tripped me out that I was hearing this dude rap. But given Kanye’s history in the slam poetry circles, associations with poets like Black Ice, Malik Yusef, and Mos Def being on the track, it made sense.
Fast forward again. It’s yesterday, and I’m flipping through a couple new tracks, and I see a song by Al Be Back. And on top of that, he’s allegedly dissing Wale. So I’m like. Ok. I need to find out who this Al Be Back guy is.
Rewind.
Too far. Fast forward a little.
Oh, shit. He’s the guy from ATL skating behind TI. He’s Brooklyn, the east coast kid who moved down south.
In reality, Albert Daniels is from the Bronx. And his ambition has always been MC’in rather than stealing scenes. He worked on his poetry and rhymes as a youth, and began to make a name for himself around NY. He opened up for legends like Lauryn Hill, Rakim, and De La Soul. But his biggest industry connection, both literally and figuratively, was his cousin, the late Big Pun. Al Be started working as a P.A. for video director Chris Robinson. When Chris read the script for ATL, he immediately thought of Albert for the part of Brooklyn, and that was how most of the world found out about his talents.
Now I saw the movie, but I didn’t make the connection until I heard his newest song and did the research. His music is really dope, and doesn’t sound like how you would expect given his character from the movie. His myspace page is linked below, so check it out for yourself.
