This Saturday, Northwestern students have the opportunity to experience an event that rarely occurs in this neck of the woods: a hip-hop concert. Hosted by the Old Factory as a part of the Live at the Old Factory series, the Des Moines based hip-hop group Maxilla Blue is set to perform on Saturday night.
The band, made up of producer Aeon Grey and members Asphate Woodhavet, and Dj TouchNice, has been making music together since 2006, though they had all been involved in music since the 90s. “We were 3 local heads in the scene back around 2005,” says Asphate, “Aeon suggested to me that we do a project here I write all the rhymes, and he did all the beats. Later Dj TouchNice, who Aeon had previously known and worked with, added cuts to the first album and from there the trio was born.”
When it comes to where the band receives inspiration for their music, they all tend to take a unique perspective, with Asphate saying, “it’s not so much “who’ but ‘what’…….. It’d take a book to lay it all out, but suffice it to say that we love to examine life, our own faults and virtues, society, the universe, what we ‘know’ of this world, and what we don’t ‘know,’ all with a critical eye. Even working independently of each other, there’s an underlying scream of ‘Say what we feel must be said!’” Asphate adds that “Other than that, we’re inspired by any thing, any person or any artist that has bared themselves to the public while not in a clone’s body.”
All of that inspiration can be heard in their music, which all three members are equally passionate about. According to the band, one of their favorite parts about their music is the chance to share it with an audience: “At a live Maxilla show, you might see Dj TouchNice black out on the decks scratching behind his back or with his eyes closed when he’s really flexin’, and you can almost see the zoned-out connection to a different state of mind…. and that’s a unique experience to a number of different things, one of which is creating and/or performing live original creations. To do it with the energy of an audience of people is a whole other level of internal energy available for hire. I call it ‘leveling up.’ Mario powering up off of a mushroom. That’s my favorite part.”
When asked how he would describe the sound of the band, Asphate had one word: “Ill.” Owner of the Old Factory and founder of the Live at the Old Factory series, Steve Mahr, had similar sentiments, referring to them as a dope rap group specializing in “conscientious rap.”
If you were still on the fence about whether or not you’d like to attend the show, Mahr has five reasons why Northwestern students should consider it: “1. It’s free. 2. It’s going to be fun. 3. It’s free. 4. It’s going to be fun. 5. It’s free. 6. It’s a dope rap group.”
Maxilla Blue will be playing at 8 o’clock pm on Saturday night at the Old Factory.
