Bill Macbeth's fabulous little club, The Ivy Room in Albany, has seen it's share of musical diversity; blues, rock, folk, and even experimental. San Pablo Ave. is no stranger to a rich musical heritage either, having seen acts like the legendary Johnny Cash to the irrepressible James Brown. Thursday nights, Macbeth has flung his doors open to the ever popular Hip-Hop scene, hosted by "LCJ" and his spin master "True Justice", and featuring some of the best and brightest stars the bay area has to offer.One of these luminaries continues to captivate me with it's glare; the trio known as Triple Ave. Led by a veritable titan of the turntable, "Hyp", Triple Ave. rounds out it's sounds with the sultry "Gypsy Luv", the silky smooth "Louie Da Saint", and bassist Mike Shea. This is not some high class kareoke band, playing to only CDs, Triple Ave. is a live, spontaneous, performing group, whose infectous grooves and lyrics, (most notably on their hilarious KRS-One send up song, "Suckaz"), will leave you dancing groovin' and singing "Wicky-Wicky- Whack!"
I loved the Subterraneanz while they existed, however, Triple Ave. may yet prove to be one of the most prolific survivors of that heralded group. Hyp, as half of the production team for the Subterraneanz/Exile Society, and as sole producer for Triple Ave, has done production for Bostons Tek-MP of Cekret Society, The Bay Areas: Kofy Brown, Infamous MC and Golda Supanova. He has worked with other Bay Area artist such as Mystic, Latrice Barnett and the Hieroglyphics. His production has appeared on the Best of the Bean Mixtape Vol. 2.
GypsyLuv, singer and MC of Triple Ave and for part of the Subterraneanz career, has collaborated with BavGate, Black the Ripper, Ricky Watters (NFL) album, Steady Mobbin, Marion Meadows, Killa Tay, and Sisters of the Underground. Louie Da Saint, (who receives my most improved "playa" award), has appeared on songs with Kansas City Artist The Veteran Click, Tech n9ne (QD3 record label), Bay Area Artist: Code blue, Conscious Daughters, Dj College,The Rich Phezzantz/Noize and L.A's 44 Dawgs.
The group Triple Ave are the prodigal decendants of the legendary Subterraneanz/Exile Society originally out of Boston. During the inception of The Golden Era of Hip Hop (92-95) 4 Lyricists known as The Exile Society blazed through Boston with their underground classics: Through The Looking Glass, I'd Rather Be Alone and The Buzz, which recieved regular rotation on Emerson Colleges WERS and WILD. In 1995 with the help of 4 musicians they met at The Berkelee School of music, "Exile" made history with a performance on WERS Live Music Week: They developed a sound which consisted of drums, bass, guitar, fender rhodes, sax and the 4 mc's....that could only be compared with that of The Roots (before the world had ever heard of them.)
They recorded the underground sleeper: "The Shady Ones", and went on to be heralded as part of a famed underground scene with a diverse, almost cult-like following lasting through three European tours, and shows throughout the United States. The group opened for such acts as Tribe Called Quest, the Pharcyde, Sugarhill Gang, Arrested Development, Sade, India Arie, and Bobby Byrd. Their European tours hit Amsterdam, Austria, Belgium, Brussels, Germany, Paris, and Switzerland. Reluctantly the Exile Society left Boston, but forever being trail blazers, they moved to the Bay Area to form The Subterraneanz. Employing the talent of a soulful Filipino singer by the name of Locana and a suave rapper out of St. Louis named Louie Da Saint, they went on to record The My Crew EP and the LP Subterranean Means. Subterranean Means reached critical acclaim in many ways.
In St. Louis the album was released the same week as Bjork’s Vespertine, and sound scanned higher than her highly publicized album. Singles appeared on several international compilations such as Nova Tunes 2004, Boom Bap Teil 3 vom Ei, and MC’s Im Wandel Der Zeit. The Subterraneanz/Exile Society appeared on the WB Networks Saturday night hip-hop show: Distortion2Statick in 2004. Although the Subterraneanz as a whole was dismantled, the quest did not stop.
Keeping in the tradition of their predecessors Triple Ave carries the torch. The group has played alongside: E40, the Frontline, Dwayne Wiggins and MC Lyte. "Wanna" from the Ambitions EP receives regular rotation ("one of the most requested songs")on KNOZ 96.5 Sacramento, as well as "Untouchable" on Connecticuts WVOF 88.9. Songs are also featured on several online playlists on independent internet radio stations from Smallworldpodcast to San Franciscos www.radioindierock.com to Australias www.isonliveradio.com.
Through this long and prodigious journey Triple Ave acquired the aphorism: "Bridging The Gap Between Hip-Hop and Rap". With a plethora of talent, Triple Ave. can only blossom. A planned trip to China in April, and continuing U.S. tours will only increase their popularity and spead the word their musical prowess. If this is the new face of Hip-Hop, please... Bring it on. Peace.
Visit Triple Ave. at http://www.tripleave.com
