Music: Art Garfunkel at the Pabst.
A Tribe Called Quest re-imagined
For Milwaukee rapper Klassik, the “Uncovered” concerts offered a chance at self-discovery.
A part of Alverno College’s Alverno Presents performing arts series, “Uncovered,” created in 2013, invited local musicians to reinterpret the work of legendary American songwriters. It was at an “Uncovered” concert devoted to Marvin Gaye in 2014 that Klassik sang in public for the first time. He sang again, at “Jones Uncovered” (dedicated to Quincy Jones) and at “Prince Uncovered.”
Now he’ll sing and rap at “Tribe Uncovered,” honoring A Tribe Called Quest, at Turner Hall Ballroom Friday. As the show’s curator, Klassik is also calling the shots.
It almost didn’t happen. In 2016, Alverno College shut down its 56year-old Alverno Presents series, bringing “Uncovered” to an apparent end.
Last month, PTG Live Events, which manages Turner, the Pabst Theater and the Riverside Theater, announced a partnership with Alverno College to present two “Uncovered” shows a year through 2019.
“A Tribe Called Quest deserves to be in the great American songbook,” Klassik, born Kellen Abston, argued. “If you play ‘Can I Kick It?’ no one there is frowning. ... They brought a new personality to hip-hop, a candidness and vulnerability. They made it cool (for a rapper) to be a normal person, not with big gold ropes, but in jerseys and baseball caps.”
Growing up, Klassik was drawn to Tribe’s affinity for jazz. “I started off playing jazz saxophone from 11 all the way through high school. Hip-hop came later,” Klassik said. “I was playing ‘Red Clay,’ a jazz standard, when I was 13, and it was sampled in one of my favorite Tribe songs.”
“Tribe Uncovered,” Klassik said, will showcase “the art of the sample.” The concert will feature 10 to 12 Tribe songs, mostly early material, Klassik said. Each song will begin with the concert’s house band Foreign Goods, joined by guest musicians like Chris Rosenau, performing source material used in a signature Tribe sample.
DJs Old Man Malcolm and Jordan “Madhatter” Lee will transition each song into remixes — made by local producers Deb.On.Air, Mike Regal and Strehlow — who structured their interpretations around new recordings of Foreign Goods. “To the audience, it will look like this record is literally being sampled live in front of them,” Klassik said.