[If you missed this caveat last time, the difference between this format and other music items we run is that you cannot solicit your way into the Beat Laboratory. I just pick things I think are great and tell you guys about them. Also - some of the people I mention here are friends of mine, or at the very least acquaintances. But I show no favouritism.]
In an age where the advent of digital technology is basically ruining everything that was pure and good about the world (you’re welcome, news!), it’s sometimes easy to overlook the fact that putting the means of digital production into the hands of basically anyone can create some innovative and remarkable projects.
This has a lot to do with how Edmonton rapper, authour and journalist Omar Mouallem (aka Assault of Knowledge, or A.O.K.) went about the unexpected task of releasing what he describes as an “art project“: more specifically, a children’s book (well, a sort-of children’s book) and new digital record on the same day. The combo went on sale last weekend at the Royal Bison Arts and Craft Fair, and Omar has, so far, done one release show, last week at Leva Cappuccino bar. The next one is tonight at 7 p.m., at Sherwood Park’s Cafe Haven. And it’s free – I know how you kids love the free.
I talked to Omar about his new project via email.
A.O.K. will hold this cat hostage until you buy his new record. Or come see him tonight (Dec. 2) at Sherwood Park's Cafe Haven
SALLY: Can you tell me a bit about what inspired Q Without U, specifically the choice to treat it as a children’s book?
OMAR: Despite being in the thick of the digital music revolution, it’s hard to sell music without a label, distributor, tour, video, commercial radio play. An artist like me — who is not just independent in the sense that I don’t have a label backing me, but that I book my shows, do my promo, fund my projects and really make music on my own time — must rely on selling music hand-to-hand, at concerts (or with Q Without U, craft fairs). You make your pitch, they say yes or no. Done deal. It’s transient, that moment to put something in their hand.
At the same time, I don’t see a reason in selling CDs. It’s too expensive when it’s just the files they want. Mos Def sold some of his last album as a digital code on a T-shirt, and I thought, I want to do something like that. It happens that I’m a writer. It happens that my close friend, Josh Holinaty, is an excellent illustrator. It happens that he’s got a book binding set-up at home. It also just happened that I was working on a love-themed children’s story and had a plethora of love-themed songs written. I now pronounce you Book and Album.
S: How was the turnout at Cafe Leva? I know this project was intended for a different type of audience than some of your previous work, something that is pretty bold for an artist with a primarily local following; are you seeing different kinds of people turning up? Are fans from previous records still coming out?
O: Definitely a different crowd. A more appreciative crowd. I tried to pander to the hip hoppers from about 2005-2009, and though I want to be able to fit in that scene, I don’t. I make sit-down music, like a jazz concert or comedy club. I am like the Billy Holiday and Carrot Top of rap. Or something. I started to realize that last spring, after performing at Edmonton Poetry Festival and Nextfest. Then I started doing more shows with rock bands, more cafe shows, and entertaining a more general audience still impressed by my lyrics even though I don’t have the agility to trample the stage like a buck wild rapper or have the assertiveness to demand they put their hands in the air. Keep your hands on your cup of tea — it’s just me.
Also, a former bar/venue owner who came to came to my Leva show (which reached “standing room only,” definitely a first for me) pointed out that 75 percent of my audience were women. A bar-owner’s dream he said, because they spend more money on more expensive drinks. For me, it just shows how different my audience is than most rappers. A typical Edmonton rap show is 35 males preying on five females, trying to provoke reproductive behaviour with grunts and yo!-s.
S: Of the two albums, do you have one you’re most proud of? Do you feel there’s been an evolution between “If you don’t buy this CD, the Terrorists Win” and “Q without U”?
O: I’m proud of them both. The Terrorists win was so much about showing people what I can do: I can rap for two minutes nonstop about the paradox of liberty, I can rap about the future, I can make a Wu-Tang Clan or Fresh Prince parody, I can do polysyllabic rhymes and cover issues of science, religion, whatever. On Q Without U, it’s more about showing what I want to do: that I can make eight songs about love like old Motown bands did, and each song would be greatly different than the next, and each one would have a different perspective, and I will marry them with a children’s book that I wrote because I can.
S: Where can folks wanting a copy of the new album get one? Same for those interested in going to the show at Cafe Haven?
O: I am going to be putting it in independent book stores and gift shops, but I haven’t secured anything yet. In the meantime, my website is the place to order a copy. Assaultofknowledge.com
S: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
O: Please go see Josh Holinaty’s mural, which he designed with Luke Ramsey. It’s amazing, inspiring, easily the best mural in Edmonton and the most thoughtful. It’s on the John Howard Society building located at 105 Street and 100 Avenue.
You can catch A.O.K. tonight at Cafe Haven in Sherwood Park (9 Sioux Rd.) at 7 p.m.; no cover.
