Jeff Baraka's Planet Boom!

For years, I was active as a “true-school” hip-hop mc/poet and beatmaker (most notably, under the alias, O Type Star). That experience continues to inform and authenticate my current work, which in turn has been refreshing my passion for making music. I’m not returning to full-active duty, but I’m having fun again, accepting invitations to collaborate (Say Whatever, Across Hemispheres) and contemplating new releases. Until I dust off my old ASR-10 and SP1200 though, please enjoy my earlier work in this area.

DRIVING SONGS VOLUME ONE (#DSV1) is the years-long overdue, true-school classic; tuned-up and finally released Spring 2011. 18 tracks, including collaborations with Common & Malik Yusef, Slug (Atmosphere) & Juice, Binary Star (OneBeLo & Senim Silla), No ID, Hi-Tek and others. The cover design is also available as a t-shirt. Directly below is the intro video from my last EPK (1998-2002).

POETRY – When I was actively performing, I frequently moved between art & culture spaces (spoken-word, theatre, academic, religious) that weren’t necessarily standard for or (at the time) open to underground hip-hop. That was intentional. The “mc/poet” tag came about, in large part from the simple delivery modifications developed in those various settings. Lately, I’ve written more material specifically as poetry. Since 2008, I’ve participated in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration at St. Paul AME Church. I usually deliver a new poem written for the theme of the given year’s presentation (as conveyed to me by event coordinator, Susan Richmond). This activity has coincided with Barack Obama’s historical presidency and I usually invoke him in some way for his brilliant and obvious representation of Dr. King’s vision. Here are my pieces written for 2013, 2012, 2009 and 2008 (I missed 2011 and delivered a pre-existing, un-themed piece in 2010).

URBAN MYTH REVISITED  (#UMR) is the prelude to DSV1; a retrospective compilation of rare & raw material spanning almost 15 years (early 90s to mid-2000s). 24 tracks including the No ID produced banger, Invisible Ink (here’s a funny video about that), the classic posse cut, Cryogenic (Cyphernauts feat. Common) and the crowd favorite, Big Ups In The Meantime. The cover design is also available as a t-shirt. Directly below are links to archive portfolio pages.

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