Posted on 06/22/2009
I think it was Will Ferrell, or maybe Ben Stiller, who said, 'The way to a girl's heart is through the emergency room.' I probably have that confused, but it's totally true. Case and point, the rooftop rendezvous I had with Black Eyed Peas beatsmith, writer and Filipino ninja warrior, Poet Name Life. As monsoon winds blew through Chelsea one wintry spring night, it felt like everything would be swept up in its path, including those overpriced cocktail dresses worn by the waitresses. Instead, the gusts settled for one of those large umbrellas that hip venues use to create that faux tropical look in the middle of the concrete jungle to take captive in its whirlwind. Then just like Zap! Kablooey! Poet reached out, grabbed my arm and ushered me to safety away from the falling tower that was the patio decor. I tried to remain professional, but as the interview began, all I could hear was Dave Grohl growling, "There goes my hero!" as Poet tried to wax, well - poetic, about the risk involved for an American to record an album in Cuba before President Obama began making moves that may make it legal for Americans to visit our neighbors to the (deeper) South. All I knew was that umbrella looked heavy and this little guy rescued me. Done and done. Now what are we supposed to talk about?

Ah yes. Revolution. Cuba's good at those, but less so when it comes to music. Despite its rich musical legacy, the youth of Cuba find themselves stuck in a time warp between the Buena Vista Social Club of their abuelos' generation and eagerly relying on scraps of American reggaeton, which often leaves much to be desired in the 'rise up and revolt' department.

Enter U.N.K.L.E.'s Richard File, who, with an international crew of producers including Norman 'Fat Boy Slim' Cook, Guy Sigsworth (Bjork, Madonna) and Poet Name Life, compiled a dream team of Cuba's most talented musicians (The Revolution) to record Revolution, an album that aims to bridge the gap between what was and what is in an ever-changing nation. As the only American producer brave enough to take the trip to Havana, Poet Name Life's genuine excitement overwhelmed the fear of any repercussions from the government.

"I was like, 'If it's for music, dude? I'll do it.' I love fucking recording and exploring cultures in the actual countries and with the actual musicians in the country versus like, 'Oh, take a sample,' you know. I mean I'll do that. I love doing that, but if there's an opportunity like that that's like a once in a lifetime thing, you know, ish it's like yeah, let's do it."

Arriving as the island country reeled from its own Hurricane Katrina devastation, Poet was able to dive into Cuban culture from the prominent musical end, yet could not ignore the obvious disparity between how the average local lived.

"It looked like a bomb dropped right there and it was just all flooded and shit still. And I was like, 'This is crazy.' Like I felt bad...So we get to the studio and it was like a palace! I was like, 'This is dope.' It was like Chung King Studio. Right? I'm like, 'Dang! This is where all the money's going, huh? Studios and baseball!' "



In the trailer for the film for which Revolution was recorded, the scenes are typical of many non-First World lands - children playing in dusty streets, crumbling buildings, old cars playing old music - until you enter the high tech world of the glossy music studio. Whether that has more to do with production or corruption is for someone else to decide, but it does show in part how highly music ranks in the Cuban psyche.

"Them folks were serious as shit, so the knowledge that we shared was just wow...It's like, if you're in music, generations of your family is music. That's it...LIke the pianists. Their families are pianists, shit like that. The string players, their families are string players. Yeah, all the way down to their great-great-great-great-great grandfathers and they're really strict about that."

Such commitment to their craft has made Cuban musicians some of the most highly coveted artists in the world, so the potential for a cross-pollinated project like Revolution to expose the more contemporary and diverse sounds of Cuban music was not lost on the local participants. The opportunity to discuss this impact seemed limited, though, since a number of these collaborators couldn't even understand each other.

"We would communicate through sounds 'cause like I couldn't speak Cuban - Cuban Spanish, which is a little different than just like Spanish, and it was crazy, so the language barrier was another thing. But when it came to musical communication, music is our culture, that's what I believe, and so if you can communicate through notes and sound, that's all you need."

Sounds may get you through the recording process, but for the rest of us, it's essential that those sounds are pleasing to the ear. The strength of Revolution is that it's not a tacky, self-aware mash-up album. At times, if it weren't for the people speaking Spanish, you wouldn't really know it wasn't the latest album from some underground American group with some of the strongest beats around. Despite the mixed bag of cooks in the kitchen, who've worked with everyone from Alanis Morrissette to Massive Attack, the Latin vibe unifies the project into an eclectic mix of progressive pop, dance and hip-hop. That cohesion no doubt comes from the approach that Poet Name Life took to allow the Cuban acts to be themselves without forcing too much of his personal aesthetic on them.

"I was like, 'I gotta make this different.' My whole focus was just the drums, like Cuban drums, you know? So that was my preconception, just 'Damn, I'm going to make some banging ass drums, fucking conga shit.' And horns 'cause Cuban horns are like amazing."






Working with legendary Cuban hip-hop group, Orishas, gave Poet the opportunity to put those elements into effect. Even when the rhyme style of Orishas falls into the ubiquitous Latin rap rhythms, the heavy precision of the horns and familiar claps and whistles that populate American hip-hop ground the track "Me" into an infectious dance zone. On the other end of the spectrum is Poet's work with Cuba's Destiny's Child, Sexto Sentido (Sixth Sense), for the album. "Dark House Love" features the silky vocals of Sexto Sentido serenading sailors to their deaths over a house beat. It's not the frenetic, smashmouth beats Poet may be known for as the Black Eyed Peas' secret weapon, but if you imagine yourself drowning in the belly of a sweaty Cuban club, bodies swaying to a beat that knows no nationality, it makes perfect sense. Everything about Poet Name Life screams 'party starter.' Whether it's blatant jump around music in his writing and production on Elephunk and Monkey Business, his work with side project, Crybabies (with Niki Jean and Tabi Bonney) or the sweet subtlety of the strings and keys underlying "Dark House Love," Poet is all about trying to get bodies to move, violently or seductively.

Finding inspiration in everything from Nas and The Roots to Kraftwerk, Poet's varied interests and ADHD-like energy has only benefited his musical output, as he's lent his production talents to Justin Timberlake, Schwayze, Colbie Caillat, Dilated Peoples and Jurassic 5.

"My dream was to have a record on Blue Note. Like crazy electro-future instrumental stuff that's like Herbie Hancock and Coltrane."

Instead, he'll have to settle for hearing his work on Grammy-winning albums and traveling the world honing his talents with childhood friend, Will.I.Am, who Poet calls a "super-perfectionist" with a "free soul." Sticking by his crew from L.A. gave Poet the opportunity to play a major role as co-writer and co-producer of "A New Day," Will.I.Am's celebratory ode to President Obama.

"I'm still shocked by the success and the response of changing the world," Poet said in a rare moment of stillness.

Though people may be unknowingly rocking out to his tunes, Poet doesn't mind if his name isn't on the tip of many tongues. Such anonymity allows him to still dabble in projects like Revolution, then return to sold-out audiences with Black Eyed Peas.

"Fame is like, weird, and I've seen people come and go. We're in it for the music."

- Candace L.

Revolution is in stores now, you can check it out on Amazon or iTunes.

Watch this video for a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Revolution