The Washington Post
"'Taking Rap to a New Level'
Sitting in the afternoon sun outside Polly's Caf on U Street, NW, members of 3LG are ruminating on violence. 'There's no money in peace,' says Fudge Pudge bluntly. 'The powers that be have no interest in eliminating violence from the streets. That's what we're fighting against.' Fudge Pudge is the stage name of Kevin Bright, keyboard player in on of Washington's best musical outfits, 3LG, a local hip-hop group whose music aggressively confronts serious issues. 'We all live with the effects of street violence,' says Hedy, one of the four MCs whose words deliver a message. 'But it's a lot more than that. It's not having the money to take care of your family, to live your dream, to find the time to make your art. But in our music, you'll hear a lot of optimism, because we're always looking forward to better times, because we believe they're coming. We know they're coming for us.' Listening to the band's new CD, '3LG Live,' the second release from local label Union Records, it's clear that big things are coming to 3LG. It's a powerful chunk of music, recorded live at State of the Union in the same location of Friday night's CD release party (1357 U Street NW, 202/588-8926). The first words of the first cut, 'Third Level,' are a call to unity, exhorting the four quadrants of Washington to come together in a common cause. The socially conscious raps come easy to the MCs, especially PunOne, whose real name is Mao-Tse Tung Clemmons. 'You can tell from the name that my parents were very politically active,' says the 22-year-old. 'My first raps were in front of the White House when I was 16 at a rally against the bomb. It's how I've always been. I can't just talk trash on the street. I have to keep it conscious and say what I feel, and the stage is the best place, because people are going to listen to you.' Fudge Pudge encourages the MCs to express harder truths in their lyrics: 'We want to show that rap is about more than brews, broads and blunts.' 'Brews, broads and blunts! That's good! I can use that!' shouts Face, another of the MCs. 'I'll work that into something good!' Face says that one of the reasons the group has expanded its gigs to include clubs like the 9:30, Black Cat and State of the Union is to take the message to a wider audience. 'A lot of whites are scared of what blacks have to offer, but in some ways, they're the people we're trying to reach with what we're saying. And I'm not just talking in DC. I'm talking worldwide. Japan. Europe. Africa. Why limit ourselves?' 'One thing that irks me,' says Hedy, 'is that we're on the home team. We're a DC band, and been around for six years, but we don't get much respect. It seems people don't want to check you out until you break big.' Face agrees: 'As far as the DC underground goes, we're really paving the way for a lot of people, but maybe not getting much credit.' 'See those cracks in the street?' Hedy asks pointing to the middle of U Street. 'We put 'em there. We're beating the streets to take it to the next level.' One way 3LG is different from most rap groups is that the MCs perform not over the music of DJs and tapes, but in front of a live band. Along with Fudge Pudge, there's Dan Cooper on bass, Kiggo on drums (moonlighting from Chuck Brown's Soul Searchers) and Kevin Levi on sax, making jazz-inflected funk for the MCs (Hedy, Face, PunOne and Platted Mind) to play off of. 'We're trying to get away from the idea of 3LG being MCs plus a band,' says bassist Cooper. 'In reality, the MCs are part of the band. Their voices are instruments, and in a live situation we're all responding to each other, melodically and rhythmically.' And the name? 'Three Levels of Genius,' explains PunOne. 'It's what we're bringing to the music. From the two levels of music and lyrics we create the third level, art. The music is your own heart beating. They lyrics are your words. The art is your soul. The third level is always about creation.'" --Eric Brace, The Washington Post, July 4, 1997