Brad Knutson

While you certainly can't say that Jeff Mao (aka DJ Chairman Mao) wrote the book on hip-hop, there's no doubt he is currently one of the genre's top writers. Over the years, Mao has penned for just about every top music and hip-hop publication in the business and currently he helms his own monthly indie-rap column, "Chairman's Choice," for the venerable hip-hop rag, XXL. He's also a member of the legendary "ego trip" collective, a five-man group that created the cult zine of the same name in the early nineties and later went on to publish two influential books ("ego trip's Book of Rap Lists" and "ego trip's Big Book of Racism!"), a compilation of rare eighties hip-hop for Rawkus ("The Big Payback") and even a couple of TV shows for VH1 ("TV's Illest Minority Moments" and "ego trip's Race-o-Rama").

This year, the ego trip crew returned to the airwaves for arguably their most notorious endeavor yet, a reality show called "The (White) Rapper Show," on which twelve aspiring white rappers were put to the test in the middle of South Bronx for a fierce battle of skill, endurance and, of course, credibility. While the show turned out to be a hit and has since been picked up for another season, it also caught the ego trip collective quite a bit of flack for its seeming mockery of the culture it has championed all these years.

"I think there were deeper insights as far as the premise of the show," Mao says. "It really was a social experiment and it was a commentary on hip-hop today under the guise of a sort of standard reality-show format." Besides the typical contestant drama and irreverent challenges to survive elimination, the ego trip camp instilled numerous cues and references to the origins of hip-hop not only as a wink to scholarly fans like themselves, but also to instill some of its original spirit of community, music and creative expression that has been all but lost in today's climate. "It was sort of a history lesson for people," Mao says, "not just people who are white, but people of this younger generation who didn't necessarily know where it came from." Of course, Mao admits they did enjoy provoking a bit of added satire to stir things up, but overall he is quite proud of the show's ability to probe deeper into stereotypes of race and culture while still being light-hearted and entertaining. "We had a lot of fun with it," he says. "I think that's an effective way to approach these things...[and] more entertaining than someone just sitting around complaining about what's going on."

Not surprisingly, a typical DJ set from Mao is as insightful and entertaining as his written and verbal musings. With a cache of about 15,000 records in his home collection, Mao's sets are truly "everything but the kitchen sink" affairs, spanning the gamut of genres that inspired and built the foundation of hip-hop. Expect everything from James Brown-inspired funk to rare-groove soul to disco and boogie to old-school breaks. Mao equates his deep passion for the elements of old-school hip-hop with that of mixtape legend Steve Stein, aka "Steinski," who is famously quoted in the documentary "Scratch" as saying, "This is the music I've been waiting my entire life to hear!" after seeing his first hip-hop show in New York. "As over the top a statement as that is, you definitely felt that way, you know?" Mao says about growing up with hip-hop. Like many, "Rapper's Delight" by Sugarhill Gang is what first opened his eyes to the scene, and he still vividly recalls first hearing the song one day as a kid in his school's lunchroom. It's hard to imagine today's mass-produced tracks like "This Is Why I'm Hot" and "Buy U A Drank" instilling a similar kind of passion twenty years from now, but fortunately there are still a few people out there like Mao keeping the music and spirit of the original four elements alive.

Chairman Mao joins Intel & Maker May 17 at Lava, 1270 North Milwaukee, (773)342-5282, 10pm-2am. $7.

(2007-05-15)

Also by Brad Knutson

Definitively Awake
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(2007-05-01)

Southern Exposure
Every year, nearly 1,500 bands and well over 10,000 music-industry professionals flock to the capital of the Lone Star State to participate in the annual rite of passage known as the South By Southwest Music Festival and Conference
(2007-04-03)

The Aftermath
Looking back on the Austin experience
(2007-04-03)

Old School Sessions
When most people think about the birth of hip-hop, "Rapper's Delight" by Sugarhill Gang is probably the first thing that comes to mind. However, true hip-hop fans know that while Sugarhill had the first hit single, the true pioneers of the genre were DJ Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa
(2007-01-16)

Hooked on the Groove
(2007-01-02)

Discovery
(2006-10-31)

Spin Control
(2006-10-31)

Spin Control
(2006-10-03)

Tip of the Week
(2006-09-19)

Spin Control
(2006-09-12)

New Joints
(2006-09-05)

Soundcheck
(2006-09-05)

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