Rapping With the Band

Hip-hop’s bubble has burst. All those allegedly real gangstas are about to become personally acquainted with the capitalist concept of creative destruction. The only question is what will fill the empty lot that formerly housed Gats, Bitches & Bling Inc.

Though indie and conscious rappers seem eager to step into the breach, hip-hop may be in need of something more fundamental than a change in fashion. After 10 years of crime dramas, new programming is a no-brainer. But will that be enough to bring the audience back?

The falloff has been precipitous. In an industry in decline, rap suffers the shame of making other genres’ deficiencies look more agreeable. Between 2005 and 2006, hip-hop sales slid more than 21 percent, and they’re down 33 percent already this year, according to Nielsen’s SoundScan numbers. Hip-hop’s market share hasn’t been lower since 1999; meanwhile, rock sales are the strongest they’ve been in a decade. Perhaps the solution is for rap to get back to its roots, back to when hip-hop shows were exciting.

“It [hip-hop] started live. All the emphasis was on the live show, and it definitely got away from that,” says rapper Brother Ali, who performs Saturday at Liberty Hall in Lawrence with Rakim and Ghostface and a backing band. (Tech N9ne is also on the bill.) “The live part of it, for most people, got stale. But I think people are realizing — especially now that it’s harder to sell records than it used to be — that touring is a big thing.”

Ali is part of the Minneapolis-based Rhymesayers Collective, partly headed by Atmosphere MC Slug and including acts such as P.O.S., Mac Lethal, and Eyedea and Abilities. Rhymesayers was built on the road and took lessons from Run DMC.

“The model for Run DMC was to take a hip-hop act and do business like a rock band,” Ali says. “Our whole thing is based on getting in a van and doing whatever you have to do to perform all over the country. That’s our orientation, so everybody on the label, their live show is something to see.”

Live fan footage of Ghostface performing “The Champ” with the Rhythm and Roots Allstars:

It’s no surprise, then, that Atmos­phere plays most of his shows backed (for at least half the night) by a live band. Obviously, he’s not the first. Many remember L.L. Cool J performing “Mama Said Knock You Out” backed by a band on MTV Unplugged. The Roots have been at it for years, and the Sugar Hill Gang was backed by live session players on tracks such as “Rapper’s Delight.”

But hiring musicians has resurged in popularity, and not just thanks to the recent success of pop-rock-hip-hop hybrid Gym Class Heroes. The live band was part of this past summer’s Rock the Bells concert, featuring artists such as Wu-Tang Clan and Pharoahe Monch. In an interview I conducted earlier in the summer, Monch raved about the talent of the musicians at the show: “As I learn more about that process [of live backing] and how to make it sound how I want it to sound, I eventually want to incorporate that.”

“It’s kind of the next logical step for the art form to evolve,” says Davey Chegwidden, percussionist and founder of Los Angeles act the Rhythm Roots Allstars. “I love going to a hip-hop show where the DJ’s spinning, but a lot of times, it’s fairly similar to the original. The track stays pretty staticky in volume and everything, so I think adding the live element definitely adds an element of danger and excitement, and the tenor, the feel, is a little different every night.”

Chegwidden’s 10-piece band is the backing band for Brother Ali, Rakim and Ghostface on their tour, but “doing this” is hardly unfamiliar to them. They’ve accompanied Ghostface before as well as artists such as Redman, De La Soul, Sharon Jones and Talib Kwali. Many of the band members are Los Angeles session players.

“A lot of young MCs are like, ‘I’ve never played with a band this big before. I didn’t have any idea of the energy,'” Chegwidden says. “I think it’s going to become more and more frequent because of that interaction. The crowd feeds off the band and the MCs, and the MCs feed off the band and the crowd.”

The big, horn-aided sound ought to have the fans smiling, but what will bring them through the door are the names on the marquee: Ghostface and Rakim. The latter is an icon, thanks to his legendary teaming with Eric B. — not to mention an effortless Teflon flow that disarms listeners faster than airport security. Ali was forever changed by Rakim’s music.

“He was among the first people to talk about Islam in his lyrics,” says Ali, who was inspired to become a Muslim himself. “He’s had an effect not just on the work that I do but also on the way that I live my life.”

Rakim’s deft delivery ranks him among the finest MCs in history, but Ghostface has established his own hall-of-fame credentials. Like fine Scotch, the Wu-Tang Clan member has improved with age. Last year’s Fish­scale was one of the finest albums in any genre, full of richly detailed sketches and twisting scenarios offered in his cold, lean flow.

“He’s a full man,” Ali says. “In his music, he’s a complete man. He’s not just a tough guy, not just a cool guy, not just the thug, not just the right­eous dude. He’s a family man. He’s all that. He’s just here being his own person in music. And in hip-hop, that’s really rare.”

With his second full-length, The Undisputed Truth, Ali has served notice that he’s no slouch himself. The beefy albino’s forceful, forthright raps blend candid self-reflection and a fierce sense of honor.

Though Ali isn’t in his tourmates’ class yet, he has promise, and he makes a fitting contribution to a triple bill with cross-generational appeal. With ring tones now charted like record sales, rappers will have to adapt to survive. Rap tours have never been particularly profitable or appealing, but this past summer’s Rock the Bells tour and this week’s Hip-Hop Live suggest a new package that may not only prove financially rewarding to artists but also help revitalize the genre.