A combination of old and new school, with a sound that combines pop, R&B and hip-hop, One Block Radius is comprised of three music veterans ready to make their mark on their major label debut for Mercury/Island Def Jam.
The trio, made up of Chico, CA native Marty James, Indiana-born DJ MDA and San Francisco’s MC Z-Man, counts among their influences hard-core prog-rap pioneers like The Pharcyde, De La Soul and Cypress Hill, ska-rockers Sublime and classic ‘80s soul crooners Stevie Winwood, Hall and Oates and David Bowie, sythesized into a melting pot that effortlessly crosses genres. This is a group equally at home sampling the White Stripes (which they did for the song “Mama’s Heart”) as they are A Tribe Called Quest.
“Every single style of music is represented in what we’re doing,” explains James, who founded the group five years ago with MDA, a DJ who worked as a graphic artist and designer at the Beastie Boys’ Grand Royal label, and Z-Man, an underground staple MC from the Bay Area, part of Del tha Funkee Homosapien’s legendary Hieroglyphics collective. “We didn’t set out to do that intentionally. It’s just something that happened naturally. Different drum beats send me in different directions. I’ll hear an old song and think what it was about it I liked, then try to make something with that same core energy.”
It’s been a long time coming for Marty, MDA and Z-Man, who have more than paid their dues, to get to this point.
Marty came down from Chico in 2001, and was introduced by mutual friends to MDA, who was working at Grand Royal at the time. The two put together Scapegoat Wax, a hip-hop group signed to the Beastie Boys’ label until it went under, before releasing an album on Hollywood Records. The group is probably best known for the single, “Aisle 10 (Hello Allison),” which was part of the Xbox video game Jet Set Radio Future. Another single, “Space to Share,” was included on several motion picture soundtracks, including Clockstoppers, American Sweetheart and 40 Days 40 Nights, as well as an episode of TV’s Malcolm in the Middle.
When that outfit disbanded, the pair, looking for a lead rapper, hooked up with Bay Area hip-hop legend Z-Man, a charismatic MC, whose four-track cassette mixtapes attracted their attention for their “animated 3D cartoon quality.” He also released a solo album, Dope or Dog Food, on the Bay Area Hieroglyphics Imperial label.
The trio released Long Story Short on their own label in the summer of 2005, then followed it up with the underground Internet mixtape Cut Some Static a year later.
They played more than 200 dates, opening for a who’s-who of hip-hop acts, including De La Soul, The Pharcyde, Living Legends, Matisyahu, KRS-One, Aceyalone, Peanut Butter Wolf, Pigeon John and Trick Daddy, selling their CDs, T-shirts and giant foam fingers along the way. They were shot at in Albuquerque, had their van broken into in San Francisco and experienced a power outage during a set in Phoenix, but they kept at it. Several tracks from Long Story Short appeared in film and TV projects, including American Gun and 50 Pills (with Marty as music supervisor).
The group got their big break when Marty was tapped by Rick Rock to sing lead on The Federation’s hit single, “I Wear My Stunna Glasses at Night.”
That led directly to a flurry of production/songwriting work for Marty, including a co-write on the Baby Bash hit, “What Is It,” featuring Sean Kingston, as well as projects with JR Rotem, Diane Warren, DJ Felli Fel, E-40, Lil Jon, The Grouch, Paula DeAnda, Luckyjam, Mozella and Turf Talk, among others.
A label deal with Mercury/Island Def Jam followed, with David Massey and IDJ’s Antonio “L.A.” Reid personally recruiting One Block Radius and giving them free reign in the studio.
“We’re working on our own terms now,” says Marty. “I didn’t want to go to the majors looking for a handout. I wanted some leverage, so that they trusted us. They can see we’ve been doing this for awhile. We’re focused on keeping the music true to what we do. I don’t want this group to be pigeonholed, for people to see us as just this one thing. I want them to think of One Black Radius as making some cool, creative, different types of music. You never know what to expect except quality. It’s always going to change, but it all has a common thread. I’m not trying to make us something we’re not.”
“We all have goals in this business,” says MDA, who designs the group’s logos, the fliers and the 12” covers. “I want to combine my graphic skills, painting, drawing cartoons and maybe at some point do a singer-songwriter album. And I’m going to continue to rap my ass off.”
“We don’t write songs about being rich, because we’re not,” adds Marty, who has set up his own Property Music Group with partner Michael Newman to discover and develop other new talent. “We like to drink a little bit, smoke a little bit. We basically party with the audience. We want to make everyone part of what we do.”
With their debut album, One Block Radius is ready to take on the world, one small step at a time.
“This is a blessing,” concludes Marty. “I’m thankful every day I’m getting an opportunity to do what I love. I would be doing this even if I wasn’t making any money...and I have.”
