Wednesday 19 Jun
 
 

Kanye West — Yeezus

Try as you might, but there’s no escaping Kanye West. Turn on the TV, radio, computer — hell, take a stroll downtown and you might see his mug projected on the side of a building. It’s an undeniable fact of life in 2013: Kanye West is bigger than Buddha, Krishna and The Beatles (today, anyway) and he’ll be the first to let you know about it.
06/18/2013 | Comments 0

John Moreland — In the Throes

With the soul of a poet and the look of a Sons of Anarchy extra, Tulsa’s John Moreland has been gifted the sort of gravely, booming voice that does Bruce Springsteen proud and a similar understanding of the universal human experience. It’s made for some fantastic records — both as a solo artist and with his dissolved Black Gold Band — and In the Throes is his best yet.
06/19/2013 | Comments 0

Jumpship Astronaut — Lights Burn Out

Oklahoma has never been the haven for electronic rock music that it is for country, folk and, as of late, psychedelic pop, but from the sound of Lights Burn Out, Oklahoma City upstart Jumpship Astronaut seems intent on changing that.
06/12/2013 | Comments 0

Various artists — Reaching Out

Like so many Oklahomans, the local music scene has responded with generosity and grace in the wake of last month’s tragedy in Moore. In the weeks since, droves of local musicians have banded together for benefit concerts and radio marathons to raise funds for the relief effort, and with extraordinary results.
06/04/2013 | Comments 0

Progress in Color — Get Well

It’s been a long, bumpy ride for Glenpool’s Progress in Color, which saw a record deal with Epic evaporate before even one record could come of it, but it’s led the outfit to where it was supposed to be.
06/04/2013 | Comments 0
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Home · Articles · Music · Music · The kids aren’t all right
Music

The kids aren’t all right


The young men behind Moore’s hip-hop act Purple Mouth Bandits have quite a mouth, for both rhymes and the ribald.

Joshua Boydston April 6th, 2011  

Purple Mouth Bandits with Jabee, Emory Grey, Josh Sallee and Myke Brown
9 p.m. Friday Opolis
113 N. Crawford, Norman
opolis.org, 820-0951
$7

One might wonder what sort of person is capable of coming up with a line like “Dookie in her panties / That ain’t Hershey’s whore / Nasty-ass slut trying to get on ‘Jersey Shore.’” Look no farther than the boys of Purple Mouth Bandits, a hip-hop collective born out of wine-sipping sessions in Moore less than a year ago. Its members aren’t serial killers, gang bangers or sexual deviants. At worst, they are skate hooligans; at best, some of the best young emcees the state has to offer, with razor-sharp tongues and even sharper wits.

The only thing scarier than their creepy beats is their youth. PMB’s three emcees — Ryan Richardson (Dbl R), Jonathan McMillan (Methotrexate) and Wiley Merrell (Wild Cat) — and beatmaker Evan Ricketts (Big Easy) have yet to hit the drinking age.

Merrell, being the youngest at 18, is the most energetic and outrageous, while McMillan spits carefully crafted, socially conscious rhymes in a clear and focused enunciation that would do A Tribe Called Quest proud. Richardson is the smooth-voiced glue holding it together as the lumbering Ricketts constructs monster beats.

MF Doom, Madlib and skateboarding shaped their roots, and PMB has found a contemporary in fellow kids-at-heart rap outfit Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, which has blown up recently, thanks to outrageous stage antics and explosive lyrics.

PMB finds itself fighting the same battles as the L.A.-based OFWGKTA, pointing to the fine line between the music, art, comedy and reality.

“You can’t take it serious,” Merrell said. “I don’t.”

Said Richardson, “It’s like a dark comedy. Stuff that is happening in it might touch on rape or topics that people are scared of. It’s a joke, an act, then you snap back into yourself. It’s not like I’m actually going out and hacking people up.”

“But you know it’s in your imagination,” Ricketts said with a smile. “Those words came from somewhere.”

You can’t take it serious. I don’t.

—Wiley Merrell

As young as they are, the Bandits still find themselves having to explain it to their parents. Merrell recently showed his mom a video for his solo single, “Frankenstein,” where he shouts, “I’m a fucking problem, Osama bin Laden / I’m a fucking bomb it!” “My mom supports me, but … she’s really religious and got offended,” he said. “I told her not to listen.”

Added McMillan, “My mom hears the cuss words or the stuff about Satan, and she’s like, ‘Oh, God!’” PMB’s well-received debut album, “Watch the Thrown,” has convinced their parents and increasing number of fans to put the outrage aside and cave into a frighteningly good time.

“Some people say it’s vulgar, but it’s just for fun,” Merrell said.

Said Ricketts, “It’s about the context; you’ve got to look at it through the bigger picture. We’re just joking … most of the time.”

 
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