Favelas

Last summer we took a record trip to California and when in LA, we had the chance to meet Dan Ubick, a multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, DJ and one of the nicests guys you'll ever meet. We met on a friday night in North Hollywood around tacos and Micheladas and discussed music, his tour experiences with De La Soul, and talked about records and more records. We had been following Dan's work since the early 2000s as he was an original member of the legendary Breakestra, brain child of Connie Price & The Keystones and founding member of reggae bands The Lions and Night Owls. After a while into our conversation it was clear that we spoke the same language musically so a collaboration between us seemed logical. He suggested recording a couple of instrumentals which morphed into the funky, Brazilian-inspired hip-hop 7" you hold in your hands. To enhance the flavor Dan brought in his good friend and ace percussion player Bobby Easton, singer Diana Purim (daughter of Brazilian luminaries Airto Moreira and Flora Purim) to help sing the hook and the one-and-only Sadat X from NYC's legendary Brand Nubian, whom he's been lucky enough to work with a few times over the years. The result is a funky, moody, psychedelic mid-tempo vehicle for Sadat X's poignant verses about the similarities between living in to the projects of New York City and the favelas of Rio de Janeiro - the good, the bad and everything in between which graces Side A. Side B features the Instrumental for listeners to hone in on Connie Price's funky drums, Julius Augustus' slinky bassline, Richard Donovan's haunting organ and synth parts, and Bobby Easton's saturnine and expressive berimbau, cuica, caxixi and reco-reco.