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I was born in Trenton New Jersey. At an early age my popπs had his eyes set on the gold in the hills in the West so my family moved to Los Angeles. My earliest memories are of my dad ≥programming≤ãplaying mix tapes his friend from New Jersey would send, as well as his records, and acting like a radio announcer. Marvin Gaye, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Miles, Anita Bakerälots of good jazz, funk, and soul. This would set the foundation and the standard for my own musical taste (and record collection) to flourish.

Growing up Hip-Hop seemed to have always been there, but my first conscious memory is probably of ≥Buffalo Girls≤ by Malcolm McLaren and I think thatπs because I have a mental picture of my older brother doing a kneespin to it. Being the younger sibling, I mimicked my brother and made my entrance into this culture thru dancing. I grew up listening to Hip-Hop thanks to the worlds greatest radio station, K.D.A.Y. In 1988 I moved to Altadena, just outside of Los Angeles and got a fade (not as fly as Kanes). Around 1992 I met this insane dancer who we called Bungee. Bungee, Woodstock myself and this cat Marc started a dance crew called the Battlekatz. We were in a couple of videos and danced for some really bad performers, but as long as they gave us some food we were cool. As fate would have it one night we went to audition to open up for House of Pain. When we got there the promoter said they needed a rap group instead of dancers, so, since we drove a long way to get there we decided we were gonna be a rap group. Bungee and I rapped, Woodstock and Marc were the dancers and thatπs how I ≥officially≤ started rapping.

During this time we used to stay up all night rewinding the Roxy scene of Beat Street, the Wreckin shop video, going out to the numerous underground L.A. spots like Unity, Brown Rice and BBQ, Graveyard Shift and just trying to hone our skills. At the same time we were rollin with the older b-boys from Dena (360, dilligaf) and hitting the after hours open mic functions at the E-bar or The Spot. Being able to watch these cats do their thing the right way was the most inspiring thing ever. The way they put words together with the energy was the most amazing thing to me.

The next couple of years I entered the work force and met up with some other cats who would change my life by introducing me to raves. Most of the cats I grew up with enjoy teasing me about this period in my life, but it opened me up to a whole other way of thinking and feeling music and life. Aside from falling in love with electronic music, this time was a huge growing experience for me. Through a couple of chance meetings and twists of fate, in 1996 I found myself living in Boston with my road dog Tim and my homegirl Jenny, (Evolve Universalä.fresh gear!!). This would be the year that changed my life forever.

Boston was the first time I was truly on my own. One night searching for Hip-Hop we rolled up to this open mic spot in Cambridge and I saw rawness like I had never seen before. Cats were freestyling, beatboxing, and battling. Every M.C. had so much hunger and fire like if they couldnπt get these words out they would explode. Back home I rapped a little but the energy in the spot that night spoke to me so I spit a rhyme and entered the Boston scene. About a week later in front of a club, a cat I met that night introduced to another Beantown native named Sound and Mind, a.k.a. Moe Pope who somewhere in the next twenty seconds proceeded to start a battle with me. Depending on whoπs telling the story depends on who won that battle.

Moe, Tim and I all ended up moving in together in Mission Hill, an area in Boston, where we spent most of our time freestyling, beatboxing, and trying to touch any and every mic in the city. Being from Cali caught up with me and the Boston winter (among other things) moved me back West. I hooked up with Woodstock and another friend from Dena, Jah-Sun who invited me to join their group the Extra Elohs. We rocked some shows but things werenπt moving as fluid as they were in Boston. Moe would call me every week to tell me about this band he hooked up with called Mission: and try to convince me to move back East and join the band. Heπd call me either beatboxing, rhyming or playing some guy named Headnodicπs beats. After about 2 months I was back in the Bean ready to do this with all my heart. My first impression of Max, Kat, and Ethan, before their musical genius, was how genuine, honest and down to earth they all were. Ethan, Kat, Moe, and I eventually made our way back West to reside in Oakland where we met up with Woodstock and soon after Max joined us on our journey.

Big Moe Pope is now back in Boston keeping it live, and the rest of us are pushing on. The best part of being in this group is the feeling of infinite possibilities. Each member pushes each other toward growth musically as well as in everyday life. Iπm exited about my future as an M.C. and a member of this ever changing group. Crown City Rockers!!!

raashan@crowncityrockers.com or myspace.com/raashanahmad

Check out Raashan’s other projects…

TAKE A LISTEN to the new project from Mission: alumni Moe Pope and Headnodic, featuring guests like: Zion, Oh No, Edan, Gift of Gab, Woodstock, Project Move, DJ Platurn (killing the cuts) and more…

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Megaphone is my favorite murder-free rap album since Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek’s Train of Thought. Titanic words those are, but despite bumping it every day for the past two months I’m still drawn to Headnodic’s infinitely woven rhythms and Project Move MC Moe Pope’s miraculously gritty parables. Tracks are rarely more convincing than the orchestral feats of “Durty,” the drum-spun boom-bap summer-afternoon-with-the-hydrant-cranked-open “Drop,” and “Happiness,” on which Moe rhymes: “I’m a spit until I catch that deal/So I can feed my child, fuck a rim on a wheel.” Megaphone marks a Boston reunion of sorts, with Moe and Headnodic both having jammed in the late-’90s organic house-party outfit Mission. But though they haven’t seen much of each other over the past eight years (Headnodic lives in the Bay Area, where he plays bass in the Crown City Rockers), it’s clear that they’ve remained creatively connected enough to collaborate on a project that could be dubbed a modern classic if it rises through the cloud of mediocre discs congesting this quarter’s rap-release schedule.

-Chris Faraone

the Boston Phoenix

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Headnodic is producer / member of Crown City Rockers, the Mighty Underdogs, and Moe Pope and Headnodic. In addition to his work with these projects, he has done numerous tracks for such artists as: Raashan Ahmad, Damian Marley, Zion I, the Grouch, Casual, MF Doom, Sadat X, Lord Jamar, Project Move, Kat O1O, Mr. Lif, Akrobatik, P.E.A.C.E., Myka 9, Benzito, DJ Shadow, Scarub, Destani Wolf, the Procussions, Omega Watts, Othello, Tash (from the Alkoholiks), Jern Eye, Lyrics Born, and many more…
As a bass player (trained at the Berklee College of Music in Boston) he has recorded on projects for the likes of Zion I, People Under the Stairs, Talib Kweli, Jamie Lydell, Brother Ali, and Devin the Dude to name a few.

Born in Englewood NJ, (living just 20 min. outside of NYC) Ethan Lull Parsonage grew up on early Hip Hop, making mixtapes on his parents stereo by recording his favorite songs off New York radio stations. “My first records were Wierd Al Yankovic, a Star Wars story book read-a-long, and the Smurfs, and I used to cut the SH#T out of those on my Fisher Price turntable… I actually think I invented the crab scratch by futzing with R2D2″. Headnodic is notorious amongst his friends for his “Tall tales”, though his enthusiasm is amusing and often contagious. He moved out to Wisconsin at age 10, and used the lack of stimuli to his advantage… “I was bored as hell out there, and I needed to stay busy and creative, so I would make music, and lo-fi movies with camcorders I would rent (and eventually brake). My music consisted of playing bass with every band I could, and my beat making started with pause-tapes, until I graduated to my first 8 second sampler (the Gemini DS-8) which I orderd from an Ad in the back of the Source Magazine. I then got a 4-Track recorder from a friend and did my first record in 93 with my homie Benzito (whom I still collab with today). Then I moved to Boston (for college) and I met everyone in Mission: (later named Crown City Rockers, and Moe Pope & Headnodic), and we’ve been at it ever since.

Headnodic (or as his friends call him, Headnod) currently lives in Oakland California producing music, playing bass, and DJing. When asked what he’d like to achieve in his lifetime, Headnod pulled on his beard for a few moments then replied “eh, more of this… but just get better at it. I’m looking forward to hitting the road soon, I’ve been in the studio too long. But, as soon as I get out there, I’ll be itching to get back in the lab.” Headnod gives off the vibe that he’s never satisfied, that he is stressed, but deep down thrives off of it, and even enjoys it.

After the “official” interview we went to his favorite bar, and he talked at length about the recording process for his main project the Crown City Rockers, and of his favorite pale ales, and movie directors. Headnod is quite the film buff, and is quick to assert his opinion as if it were cold hard fact. But his passion is very genuine. Once we got on the topic of records it was over. He got downright emotional about what he considers to be the demise of his deepest passion. “Ebay, Ipods, downloading, sample clearance law, and a vast oversaturation of beat makers have completely demolished the soul of beat digging as I remember it. There is an up-side to all of those factors, but man do I miss the good old days”. He told me of a youtube movie that he claimed “summed up” his frustration…

We then talked of the “up-side” to the current state of music, and he perked up and talked about his expierience making the Mighty Underdogs record “I HAD to replay every single sample on that record, or we couldn’t even release it (due to the new ultra-strict sample clearance laws), and in doing so, I feel like I really got to hit a little bit closer to my goal of what I want to really do”. Of course the next question was, what is the ultimate goal? “Dang, I want to follow in the steps of Rick Rubin and make every kind of record that I can. Rick Rubin has done bonafide classic albums in almost every genre… Metal, country, bluegrass, pop, rock, and PIONEERED the early sound of Hip Hop (with Def Jam records). I’m a fan of music like that, and that’s the kind of craftsmanship that I want to pursue.” I asked him about his beard resembling a baby Rick Rubin’s, and he seemed a bit self concious about it, but said “maybe so”. We had another pint and then called it a night, he went home to “make a beat, and watch Family Guy”, and I went home and threw on a few records. He was right, records DO sound better than MP3s… Ah the good old days.

-Dewayne Morchata
Ashland Daily Press

headnodic@crowncityrockers.com

Check out Headnodic’s other projects…

Directed by “Jim Beam”

We had the opportunity to be a part of the Jim Beam Campaign, “The Stuff Inside”

Here’s a short documentary about us and the campaign

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Directed by Raashan Ahmad

This is one of our “No Budget” Videos.