Tontons by Andrew Zeiter at SXSW 2014

[SXSW Interview] The Tontons, Well on Their Way

Tontons by Andrew Zeiter at SXSW 2014

Photography by Andrew Zeiter

Back in November I was in Austin for a different festival, Fun Fun Fun Fest, where I first met Asli Omar and the guys from The Tontons. At the time, the four piece blues-y rock group from Houston was riding a wave of publicity en route to their breakthrough project, Make Out King and Other Love Stories, a harrowing 11-song project that puts forward the young band's strengths both vocally and in building complex, attention-grabbing tracks that have launched them from their native Houston and brought them back to the annual business card emporium that is South By Southwest. Back in November the squad of Omar, Tom Nguyen and Justin and Adam Martinez were hungry, eagerly anticipating the release of their project, Make Out King which dropped soon afterwards on February 18 of this year. Anticipating a big jump in notoriety, the world offered up some obstacles after their drummer, Justin, fell ill with a bad appendix that landed him in the hospital for two weeks, arriving in Austin straight from his stay there, a literal hole still in his side. Rock N' Roll. Anyway, it's obvious the music world has taken The Tontons in directions they would have never expected, and a bit of the frustration was evident in talking to them this time around. Through it all though, The Tontons have an innately upbeat spirit that makes even them jokingly talking about being jaded seem like being on the outside of an inside joke. They play great and make music that transcends radio trends or falsified public relations campaigns. The Tontons are the band you come to SXSW to see, and I was lucky enough to get a few minutes of their time before they played the Big Picture Media Showcase at The Thirsty Nickel to see how everyone was doing and where the ship is headed in 2014.


[RH Editorial] Bun B Speaks Out on Ted Cruz

Today, Complex posted a video talking to legendary Houston MC Bun B. Eventually, the conversation turned to politics and more pointedly, the current leader of the GOP in Texas: Ted Cruz. If you don't know Mr. Cruz by now, he's essentially the scum that we all think of when the word 'politician' is floated around in the laughable legislative atmosphere we live in today. In what can only be described as an attempt to demonstrate just how ridiculous our elected officials can act, Cruz conducted what amounted to a 21 hour temper tantrum, officially classified as a filibuster. For almost a full day, a man with seemingly nothing interesting or positive to say held down the podium, reciting Dr. Seuss, quoting Star Wars and ruminating over the intricacies of White Castle hamburgers. Yes, this man was elected and collects a government paycheck. You may have heard of what came next; a government shutdown that closed national parks, temporarily laid off thousands of government employees, almost made America default on our loans and generally just made "The Land of the Free" look like something out of Idiocracy. His reasoning was to stall the expansion of basic healthcare to millions of Americans who previously did not have such. Regardless of your stance on the Affordable Health Care Act (not "Obamacare" as Fox News has branded it), we can all agree Cruz's limp-dick move dropped things to a new low. Well, Bun B, long referred to as "The Unofficial Mayor of Houston" gave his take on the biggest joke to hold office in American history.

Speaking with the Complex staff, the Trill OG started things off by stating; "I think I can speak for most reasonable people when I say Ted Cruz is an asshole. Just speaking as a an individual and registered voter, it's just a gross over-use of power." As photos of Cruz embracing fellow genius Sarah Palin faded across the screen, Bun glossed over the issue, touching on the importance of filibusters while making a point that what Cruz did was petty and underhanded. "You have to just not let these situations get you disenfranchised in the voting process and politics in America," said Bun. "It doesn't always work for you-but it works. It gets us by, we could be living in a lot worse countries." While I don't see CNN stopping their coverage today to to tune into what a rapper from Houston has to say about Cruz (Bill O'Reilly might), it builds on a point that was brought up in an earlier editorial about TDE and Kendrick Lamar's beef with GQ.

An interesting side to hip-hop music, as it enters it's fourth decade, is the position of "OG" artists like Bun B in the larger lexicon of American culture. Last week, Nas had a Harvard Fellowship scholarship named after him, 9th Wonder has had residencies teaching at both Harvard and NC State and Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine donated $70 million to USC to establish a combined creative arts and media business undergraduate major. According to Dr. Christopher Holmes Smith an associate professor at USC in an story about the Nas Fellowship, “I think the main reason behind it is that you’ve got the coming-of-age of a whole generation of Black leaders in academia … that grew up under hip-hop, and they have influence, institutional clout, credibility and decision-making power."

For Bun B's part, it's not completely out of the question for the double-cup pioneer to make a foray into politics and try to lose the "Unofficial" from his moniker. In a story written by Chris Grey for the Houston Press last week, he suggested Bun B, who himself is a Rice University comparative-religion professor and Houston Symphony collaborator, as well as being a trusted friend/adviser to Houston's existing mayor, may have a real shot at holding public office. Grey quotes Dr. Brandon Rottinghaus, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston: "A traditional politician may talk about those issues, but maybe hasn't lived it, where in his case he has lived it and it gives him some credibility in a way doesn't give credibility to a traditional politician." Much like Jesse "The Body" Ventura, a former off the wall, misogynistic professional wrestler who won the Governor's seat in Minnesota from 1999-2003.

There was a Dave Chappelle stand up bit years ago where the comedian reminisces on how 9/11 went for him, describing turning on the tv to MTV where Carson Daly was doing a live call-in from Ja Rule to get his perspective. As expected, Chappelle played with the scene, because who cares what Ja Rule has to say about anything really? On a serious note though, that mentality of it being laughable for recording artists, or more specifically rappers making forays into public office and leadership roles in communities is increasingly encouraging. In 2010 Chicago rapper Rhymefest ran an unsuccessful Alderman campaign. While he didn't win, it was a nugget of an idea. The first to do it is rarely the one that breaks through, but with Jay-Z hanging out with the Obamas, Drake kicking it with the crazed Rob Ford and Bun B checking Cruz's missteps, we are beginning to enter a new phase of hip-hop, where it is not only the influence and the voice, but also behind those in leadership positions.


Vic Mensa: Rubyhornet first look

[Video] Vic Mensa, Bun B, A$AP Rocky Freestyle on MTV's Rapfix Live

If you haven't heard yet, Chicago's own Vic Mensa is killing the game lately. Having dropped his first solo project in three years, hit the road with J. Cole and Wale and spit a verse on BET, I'd say it's been a good year so far for the 19-year-old Save Money member. Never one to slow down, Mensa, hungry as ever, showed up to MTV's Rapfix eager to prove that his verse on BET's The Backroom was no fluke. What preceded was absolutely ridiculous as ever, with Mensa spitting bars for days to the point Sway literally had to stop him to go to commercial. Vic's got bars, folks and both Bun B and A$AP Rocky, two of rap's heavyweights seemed endlessly impressed. Please, do not sleep on Save Money, they just keep upping the bar. Watch the full video below.

Wanna see Vic live? Enter RubyHornet's contest to win tix to his show in Chicago 12/7! Details here!

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[RH Interview] The Tontons at Fun Fun Fun Fest

Photography by Niraj Mehdiratta

Bands, in large part, reflect the scenes from which they come. This sentiment rings true for indie band The Tontons, who helped to open this weekend's Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, Texas with a pair of sets opening for Kurt Vile on Thursday night and another on Friday, as well as dropping their new video "Veida" on the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog. The trip to Texas' capital for the 8th annual music, comedy and action sports fest wasn't a long one for the four-piece act from Houston, although it was the first time playing the three day end to festival season.

Together for nearly eight years now, The Tontons are indicative of a slow-moving yet supportive Houston music scene where dues are paid before garnering the city's full support. To hear Asli and the gang describe it, breaking through to the next level in their hometown is a little different than other places in the country. The Tontons, a hodgepodge of styles, interests and musical abilities, are hard to put a finger on, precisely, but that's how they like it. Their music could most closely be described as indie pop, but they have a co-sign from Houston hip-hop legend Bun B, who introduces them at shows and they're toying with the idea of adding some metal components to some songs after hanging around FFF's Black stage Saturday.

Things are really coming together for The Tontons as they prepare to release their next album in the spring and ready for a wild 2014. Having been around for awhile and earned their stripes in their hometown though, they are ready to make things happen on their own terms. I had a chance to catch the group backstage at Fun Fun Fun and sat down for a quick chat, read what they had to say about playing the festival for the first time, being different and drinking too much Red Bull.