When DC Talk dancers, Stacey "Coffee" Jones and Teron "Bonafide" Carter, stepped up to da mic back in 1995, in true b-boy stance, they were a breathe of fresh air upon a genre of Hip-Hop that had been struggling, save for the sweat and tears of a handful of Emcees.
The electric duo converged together as G.R.I.T.S, and, together with another notable group, Cross Movement (now, simply, Cross Movement Records), swiftly set up another level of creativity and Poetry, and matched it with much needed industry infrastructure and media exposure. G.R.I.T.S garnered 'mainstream' attention by way of 2-time nomination for Grammy Awards, prime time media coverage and radio play, and even scoring television/movie airplay for a couple of their singles (“Ooh Ahh”, featured in the theme song for MTV's 'The Buried Life', and in movies, 'Fast and Furious', 'Tokyo Drift', 'Big Momma’s House '; “Here We Go", featured in 'Something’s Gotta to Give'.) That said, y'all might be like what? Who? So, yeah, I realize these trailblazers might be new to you, but oh, they got big history moccasins for ya'll to fill! Lemme tell ya!...
Seventeen years on the grind, and this perfect pair of Emcees have truly been the embodiment of their band name, G.R.I.T.S - "Grammatical Revolution In The Spirit." As Indie Artists, they have belted out a discography that would make the average big-budget, signed Artist wince: Eleven studio albums, 800,000 records sold worldwide, and the creation of an independent record label, Revolution Art, which houses cross-genre Artists (rock/pop from Hearts of Saints, eclectic RnB/Hip-Hop from Jade Harrell), and even outsources badnessssss music production duo, Studio Caffe. Beyond the depth of pure Hip-Hopoetry and innovative beats, G.R.I.T.S has managed to produce an onslaught of albums during a time when media infrastructure, for their musical content, was either non-existent, wack, or just plain uncoordinated, and, of drip-in-an-ocean significance, when compared to the realm of what we all recognize as the 'secular' (for want of a better term) industry machine. So yeah! I give 'em mad props!
My husband put me on to G.R.I.T.S (the food and this band) years back, when I was a new Christian, and an old Hip-Hop head, not very tolerable of the insipid (c)rap that made up all too much of what was being mis-labelled "Holy Hip-Hop". Frankly, if my husband's stereo had not made a quick turn to G.R.I.T.S' Mental Releases album (and the few choice Emcees who made it passed my ear canal without being sneezed out my nose, including dope Emcee & DJ, Soup The Chemist of SFC fame), I might have given up on Hip-Hop as a genre of music that could be creatively used by Christendom (sorry, but my God said we da salt of the earth and, let's be honest, there just weren't no flavor in alot of Hip-Hop with Christian lyrical content back then).
As a result of the scarcity of dope Hip-Hop that spoke to my walk as a Christ follower, and the sheer stellar talent of G.R.I.T.S, I admit, I became fat, and full, devouring every album they ever put out. When they announced their retirement after a heavyweight career in Hip-Hop, it was a tough pill to swallow. The dynamic duo set a high bar in terms of creative output, and pure unadulterated Hip-Hop, that bridged street and steeple, and spoke, both, to the inner core of my being, and the Poet in me. I sighed, heavily, at the end of the first full rotation of their last album, Quarantine.
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! it was a deep delight and joy when I first peeped the news, last year, on Pettidee's youtube channel, that Coffee planned on releasing a solo album. I admit, at first the news was tinged with melancholy. Coffee, with no Bonafide, sounds like coffee with no brown sugar and goat milk (ok ok, that was a cheesy pun, but ya get me? A girl was going through! lol). But, now, the reality of this news is impending upon us, and I am too Fred-Flintstone-off-from-work-on-a-Friday-happy to focus on that small detail of sadness (sniff). The FACT is, Coffee Jones is dropping a much anticipated solo EP in a couple weeks and I am stark raving mad with excitement!!!
Poetically titled, "Fresh Brew", I anticipate a classic mocha-latte delight from Coffee - cinnamon freckles and all, to add to my decadent plate of G.R.I.T.S. Breakfast will undoubtedly be served!
So yeah! I am consoled, because come the first week of December there will be a new Grammatical Revolution In MY Spirit.........and I remain hopeful that Bonafide will follow suit and bust up on da mic, like WHAAAAAT!!! Whether as solo Artists, or as a G.R.I.T.S, I am down to hear these brothers spit lyrical.
Keep up with the impending, "Fresh Brew" EP, and all things Coffee, Bonafide and G.R.I.T.S:
#FOLLOW
Facebook:
- G.R.I.T.S: http://www.facebook.com/grits
- Coffee: http://www.facebook.com/coffee.jones
- Bonafide: http://www.facebook.com/teron.carter
Twitter:
- G.R.I.T.S: http://twitter.com/OfficialGrits
- Coffee @iamCoffeeJones: http://twitter.com/iamcoffeejones
- Bonafide @TeronCarter22V: http://twitter.com/TeronCarter22V
Tumblr:
Coffee - http://coffeejones7.tumblr.com/
Reverbnation:
G.R.I.T.S - http://www.reverbnation.com/officialgrits
Myspace:
G.R.I.T.S: http://www.myspace.com/officialgrits
Web:
- Revolution Art: http://revolutionart.us/
- 22Visionz (Teron 'Bonafide' Carter is President of this entertainment & media company):
http://www.22visionz.com/
album update 2 from maurice barrett on Vimeo.
