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Bait and Switch A Kanye West publicity stunt goes awry by not actually happening 23
TIMOTHY SACCENTI
Sound Bets
MYKKI. BLANCO. That’s all an entire page of my notebook says. Blanco repeated her name a lot when she played Comet Ping Pong in March, like a mantra. And now her new EP “Betty Rubble: The Initiation” is out, its NSFW cover radiating her sexy, transgressive glory. Blanco’s been making a name since her 2012 debut, “Cosmic Angel: Illuminati Prince/ss.” By Shauna She turned up in a Miller fashion spread for Interview magazine and in an excellent cover story in the Village Voice. Pronouns are fluid: Michael Quattlebaum, Blanco’s given name, is a gay man; Blanco is a female persona. Both are muscled, tattooed and graceful. Backed live by just a DJ, Blanco’s style is somewhere between ’90s New York dark-rappers Gavediggaz and Kurt Cobain — which is to say she is a wild punk. On an older track, “Wavvy,” she warns haters that she’ll slap ’em “with my limp wrist, bro.” She doesn’t explain herself. If you’re riding her dark, turnt-up flow, you get it. Hip-hop has not been a gayfriendly genre, but much has shifted in even just the past five years. This is Blanco’s time, when swagger and authenticity trumps all. Rudi Greenberg is busy watching “Arrested Development.” Inside Jokes will return next week.
ERICH SCHLEGEL/FTWP
Cosmic Angel
Canadian DJ trio A Tribe Called Red is, from left: Bear Witness, Dan “DJ Shub” General and Ian “Dee Jay NDN” Campeau.
Music and a Message A Tribe Called Red mixes tribal powwow sounds with digital beats — and politics Concerts Here’s what A Tribe Called Red remembers about last Thanksgiving: A swarm of beery bros in RGIII jerseys wobbling down U Street, trying to keep Grandma’s pumpkin pie from hitting the sidewalk. On a holiday celebrating hearth and harvest, the Washington Redskins had just defeated the Dallas Cowboys.
Inside U Street Music Hall, the Canadian DJ trio was spinning dance tracks that meshed traditional powwow music — a style created by Native Americans — with bullish digital bass. On the dance floor, at least a dozen wore burgundy and gold. But nobody in the DJ booth grabbed the microphone to trash Dan Snyder. “Personally, I want to see those changes from the inside,” says Bear Witness, who helped form A Tribe Called Red in 2008. “I don’t want to have to fight against a football team to get them to change [the name]. I want them to realize that
Backstory
What’s In a Name? A Tribe Called Red took shape in 2008 as part of a monthly dance party — dubbed “Electric Pow Wow” — that drew aboriginals searching for a place in Ottawa’s nightlife scene. The group’s name is a play on the legendary hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest, as well as a nod to various powwow groups whose names start with those same three words. (T WP)
they have to change.” The music of A Tribe Called Red — Witness, Ian “Dee Jay NDN” Campeau and Dan “DJ Shub” General — sends a potent political message with a subtle touch. Over the years, the group’s brand of electrified powwow music has become associated with Idle No More, a protest movement in Canada advocating for indigenous sovereignty and environmental protection. The trio’s riveting new album, “Nation II Nation,” will keep the g r oup on t he road through the summer, includi n g a s t op i n D.C. today. True to traditional powwow music, A Tribe Called Red’s songs celebrate togetherness and survival, steering the group’s aboriginal heritage into the urban future. “Being political … it’s automatic,” Witness says. When members of A Tribe Called Red take the stage sporting Atlanta Braves caps or Cleveland Indians hoodies, they say they’re taking ownership of hurtful images by integrating them into their art. “We like to call it ‘active decolonization’ or ‘indiginizing,’ ” says Campeau, a father of two who recently launched a campaign to rename the Napean Redskins, a youth football team in Ontario. As artists, Campeau says his group is “taking these images t hat send t he w rong idea about First Nations peoples and we’re wearing it, and using it, and saying something with it.” CHRIS RICHARDS (THE WASHINGTON POST )
Tropicalia, 2001 14th St. NW; today, 8 p.m., $10; 202-629-4535, Tropicaliadc.com. (U Street)
Plenty of Heart and Hope: NBC will broadcast Blake Shelton’s “Healing in the Heartland,” a benefit concert to help victims of last week’s storms in Oklahoma. The concert will air live as a telethon at 9 p.m. today on NBC. The Oklahoma native, at left, will be joined by his wife, Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, Usher, Darius Rucker and Vince Gill. Proceeds from the benefit go to the United Way of Central Oklahoma May Tornadoes Relief Fund. (AP)