While I'm on the subject of rock posters featuring automotive art, let's consider this puppy by the artist Scrojo, who's based in San Diego and does nearly all the posters for the Belly Up club which has venues in both San Diego and Aspen, Colorado. You can see more of his work at www.scrojo.com, and he's represented by the D.King Gallery in Berkeley, CA.-
Of course, this poster involves a Honda Element. But why?
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Here's the key, in online conversation among several prominent rock poster artists:
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Andy Vastagh: "It's an Element, but isn't Rahzel called the 5th element of hip-hop, or something?"
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VonDada: "It's funny because you see cars wrapped with rapper ads all over L.A. now."
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Scrojo: "Yep, t'was an easy pun on the whole '5th element" thing."
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El Negro Magnifico: "I dig this. Beatboxing is often recognized as the 5th element of hip-hop. If you ask KRS-One, there's like 47 elements, or something like that. And Rahzel definitely embodies that element, if you're not familiar with his work. Astounding skills. His Rhyme Battles are done with speed and experience."
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Stainboy Reinel: "Cool poster. Wussy ride."
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This distilled from www.starpulse.com: Rahzel is an MC who specializes in the "5th element" of hip-hop culture, called beatboxing (which comes after graffiti spraying, DJ'ing, MC'ing, and breakdancing). He is probably best known in the semi-mainstream workd as a member of the Roots. He actively discourages classification of his sound, attempting to remain on the eclectic edge of commercial music. Rahzel's influences include Biz Markie, Doug E Fresh, Buffy of the Fat Boys, Bobby McFerrin, and Al Jarreau. His goal is to gain respect for beatboxing as a true art form on its own merits.
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Growing up, Rahzel looked up to his cousin Rahim of the Furious Five and went to Grandmaster Flash's shows regularly. Rahzel has became a master of beatboxing, able to recreate full songs with accompaniment by himself without instrumentation, able to sing a chorus and provide a backing beat simultaneously--as well as able to invoke impressions of singers and rappers on a whim. Any fan of hip-hop should definitely invest in his "Make the Music 2000" album.
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Specifically, commenting on that album, Randy Silver wrote on www.amazon.com, "As the human beatbox for the Roots, Rahzel gives them an unmatched level of flexibility, and on his solo debut that's exactly what he demonstrates. Alternating between studio tracks and live cuts, Rahzel shows his vocal dexterity as a frontman, a backer, and all by his lonesome. Check out the jaw-dropping cover of "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing Ta F With" and the one-man Mortal Kombat duel. He really has earned the title Godfather of Noyze.
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For those truly interested in the Rahzel phenomenon, there's a documentary produced in 2002 entitled "Breath Control: The History of the Human Beatbox." It includes interviews with Doug E Fresh, Biz Markie, Marie Daulne of Zap Mama, and others.
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A second album by Rahzel ("a cocktail of freestyles, tributes, and covers") also is worth checking out: "Rahzel's Greatest Knockouts." One listener wrote Amazon, "He has apparently four different sounds going on at any given time, and can just flip the script and change the beat at the drop of a hat. The best parts of this album are the interludes (he usually does live interludes and/or radio show recordings as interludes, and his live performances are even better than his written songs). Thus, of note . . . the standout tracks may be (1) the DJ Funkmaster Flex interlude (four minutes of Rahzel doing his thing on Flex' show on Hot 97 in New York City) and (2) the tribute to Jam Master Jay, the late DJ of RUN-DMC, where Rahzel impresses a crowd live.
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