Nas with Wild Belle

Sound in Focus Concerts
PAST EVENT: Sat, Jul 23, 2016

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Ever since a 17-year-old Nasir Bin Olu Dara Jones appeared on Main Source’s 1991 classic “Live at the Barbeque,” hip-hop would be irrevocably changed. Nas. Gifted poet. Confessor. Agitator. Metaphor master. Street’s disciple. Political firebrand. Tongue-twisting genius. With music in his blood courtesy of famed blues musician father Olu Dara, the self-taught trumpeter attracted crowds with his playing at age 4, wrote his first verse at age 7 and, with 1994’s Illmatic, created one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time before he could legally drink. Two decades on, Nas remains an incendiary, outspoken and brutally candid rapper on the recently released Life is Good, his tenth album and sixth to debut at the top of the Billboard 200.

In recent years, though, Nas has transcended mere rapper status and engaged in greater levels of philanthropy. The rapper is an avid UNICEF supporter, helping to raise funds for East African region Horn of Africa and teaming up with the family of George Harrison for the organization’s Month of Giving. The rapper also donated all proceeds of Distant Relatives, his 2010 collaboration with longtime friend Damian Marley, to help end poverty in Africa.

Rapper J-Live once said satirically, “To be a great MC, you have to be a great liar.” It’s safer to not tell the truth; safer to sanitize your existence; safer to align yourself with the producer du jour; safer to rhyme about tropes over truths. Nas’ catalog speaks for itself. Over 10 albums, the rapper has never been one to play it safe. Whether it’s rhyming about politics, hip hop, race, religion, other artists or personal relationships, Nas has consistently brought unparalleled and unprecedented levels of honesty to hip hop, a trait often overlooked in the genre. On Life is Good’s “Reach Out,” Nas rhymes, “So call me a genius/If you didn’t/Now that I said it/I force you to think it.” For most artists, this would be arrogance bordering on hubris. For Nas, who’s remained vital and relevant for nearly 20 years, it’s just fact.

Brother-and-sister duo Wild Belle make folk-, dance-, reggae-, and psychedelic rock-tinged indie pop.  Chicago-area natives Elliot and Natalie Bergman grew up playing music, with Elliot eventually studying jazz saxophone at the University of Michigan.  The siblings first started playing together in 2006, when Elliot invited Natalie to tour as a backup singer/percussionist with his Afro-pop band NOMO.

In 2011, they began working on Natalie’s songs and Wild Belle was born. A year later, the duo released the single “Keep You” and drew label interest after a high-profile show at Austin’s South by Southwest Festival. In 2013, Wild Belle released their debut album, Isles, on Columbia. Two years later, the duo returned to studios in their native Chicago, as well as in Natalie’s new home, Los Angeles, to record their sophomore release.  Inspired in part by personal turmoil, the album saw the pair deliver a deeper, fuller-sounding album.  The resulting Dreamland was released in April 2016.


The Annenberg Foundation and KCRW‘s Sound in Focus summer concert series is back for 2016! RSVP for three free, all-ages concerts at Century Park in Century City. Our exhibits REFUGEE and New Americans will also be open with extended hours during each concert, so make plans to visit the Annenberg Space for Photography and Skylight Studios before the performers take the stage.


Exhibit

REFUGEE explores the lives of refugees from a host of diverse populations dispersed and displaced throughout the world.

Learn More

Location

Century Park
2000 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles, CA 90067

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