Seattle Weekly article... "Categorize This"

Seattle Weekly (February 21, 2007)

Categorize This
Where does a left-wing feminist fit in a world of guns, drugs, and thugs?
By Jonah Flicker

Seattle MC Gabriel Teodros' serene voice lights up when asked about the state of Northwest hip-hop. "There's no other scene like it," he effuses, and this South Seattle native certainly has the musical résumé to back this statement up. After moving to Las Vegas during his high-school years, he returned to Seattle in 1999, forming Abyssinian Creole with partner Khalil Crisis. The group still exists, but these days Teodros has been very busy working on his new solo effort, Lovework.

The biracial rapper struggled to find his cultural and political identity while growing up. His father, a "Marxist communist who doesn't believe God exists," is white. His mother, a born-again Christian, is Ethiopian. "I was the lightest-skinned person [on the Ethiopian side of] my family," he recalls. "I had to make up my own mind at an early age of who I was gonna be." But as a teenager, he found the answer to his struggle for identification in hip-hop. "For a long time, if you asked me what race I was...I would say hip-hop before anything else, just to be difficult. But also because I felt like that was the only community that fully embraced who I was. It's through hip-hop that I got back to embracing...who I am culturally. It came full circle in my life."

On Lovework, Teodros ponders issues of racism, sexism, and colonialism, as well as lighter topics like romance and the art of rhyme, over the silky, jazzy beats of producer Amos Miller. The record is a unified effort, tied together by Miller's production and Teodros' swift wordplay. "I feel like it captured a moment, which is all I was intending to do," he says, describing the recording process. "That's all I really try to do with music, take a little photograph."

Teodros' musical snapshots cover a wide array of both the political and personal. "Raccoon Rock," a collaboration with MC/vocalist Toni Hill, is an introspective look at the issues of sexism and domestic abuse, but it never feels heavy-handed, as the pair's obvious pleasure in working together comes through even while dealing with such serious topics. "Everything is political," says Teodros, "but I try to give you a window into my own world instead of just putting out a message that doesn't have an identity to it. So-called political rappers talk about issues without ever letting you know who they are. I wanna know who's talking to me."

And we do indeed get to know him over the course of Lovework. "No Label," a collaboration with longtime friend Moka Only, is another smooth banger on which Teodros clearly states that he won't and can't be pegged into any category, even if people tend to lump him into the "conscious rap" genre. But pigeonholing doesn't sit very well with him. "I miss the days of hip-hop when those categories didn't exist," he reminisces. "I come from the same neighborhood, the same background as all the so-called hood rappers or gangsta rappers. I feel like they're conscious rappers, too, the ones that are actually speaking about their lives and not imitating what they think people want to hear. They're doing what Chuck D said: street reportage, which is what I do. I never had guns, though, so I can't talk about that. I have to talk about what I went through."

"Hip-hop macho bravado ego/Battles, guns, drugs, thugs and not really much more/My people, what's going on?/Tell me where we went wrong," rhymes Teodros on the standout track, "Chili Sauce" (one of his favorites). "I don't feel too positive about any mainstream hip-hop that's being put out there right now," he explains. "Everyone's imitating each other.... That is true for underground hip-hop as well."

But this MC sees the local scene as an answer to the fakers, capable of creating its own supportive community. "It is happening...with the label I'm working on, Massline. We sold out the Showbox for our label launch. That's the first time that's happened since Sir-Mix-a-Lot, back in the day. It's big for Seattle." And Teodros' Lovework is a positive, innovative link in his hometown's musical chain. "Every day people are supporting homegrown hip-hop. Seattle has had the talent for years to stand out from the rest as its own scene with its own unique sound."

Soul Food: HIDMO in The Stranger!!!

The Stranger - February 20, 2007

Soul Food
Hidmo Is an Unlikely Hiphop Mecca
by Charles Mudede

Near the end of the Central District and the start of the International District, in an area dominated by industrial bakeries, is the corner of 20th Avenue and Jackson Street. Here you will find Hidmo Eritrean Restaurant, housed in a plain white building that stands in sharp contrast to the decaying Wonder Bread complex nearby. Three months ago, sisters Asmeret and Rahwa Habte bought Hidmo from its founder, Amanuel Yohannes, and turned it into the center of underground hiphop in Seattle.

Hidmo serves Eritrean food, is decorated with traditional Eritrean baskets, has live African music on Sunday nights, and is patronized by local East Africans. It's also the place to be for leading local headz. Jace of Silent Lambs Project first introduced me to Hidmo two months ago by chance. I was walking home and he was there holding a meeting for the Dope Emporium show. He saw me through the window, impatiently knocked on the glass, and asked that I come in right away. Inside I found a group of local rappers and producers sitting at a table, drinking beer, and eating a variety of Eritrean dishes. On one side of the table sat Specs One, Silas Blak, Silver Shadow D; on the other side were WD4D, Khingz, and Jace, who urged that I join the feast and take in the music and conversation that filled the room. After accepting my decline—I was late for an appointment—Jace strongly recommended that I come back to Hidmo and check it out.

I didn't follow Jace's recommendation and instead passed Hidmo again and again, thinking it was just one of the many East African restaurants in the neighborhood. That thought changed two weeks ago when I met with Gabriel Teodros to talk about his new CD, Lovework. We were sitting at a high table in a new cafe on Beacon Hill when he offhandedly mentioned that Sabzi, the producer behind Common Market and Blue Scholars, was spinning at Hidmo. Registering my surprise, he then explained that the restaurant was happening. "Everyone hangs out there," he said. "Go there any night and you will see all the cats... Rahwa owns it, she bought it a three months ago, and when it gets busy she makes me wash the dishes."

The following Thursday night I was in Hidmo, drinking and eating with Rahwa. "You know, when Gabriel is here I do sometimes make him wash the dishes," she said. "That's what it's like around here. I know everyone so well."

Rahwa was born in Eritrea, came to America when she was 4 years old, has seven siblings, and attended Evergreen High School. The 28-year-old has lived in the Central District since 1983, and her ties with the East African community are as tight as her ties with Seattle's hiphop community. "It was weird," she told me over a mug of coffee. "It just happened. One day I learned the owner wanted to sell the place. My sister and I decided it was a great opportunity. We bought the place in December and it has been wonderful. I grew up here; this is my neighborhood. And I grew up listening to hiphop, being a part of the music. So my friends started hanging around here. You know, it's just like that. One day, this guy walks in and asks to spin records; I say sure. He spins reggae on Thursday nights. It just happened."

DJ Duncan is not just spinning any old reggae; he is spinning the best of the best—recent Linton Kwesi Johnson, rare Gregory Isaacs, and old Heptones. As he plays, in walks Amos Miller, who produced most of Teodros's new CD and also "Heavy," the best track on Choklate's self-titled CD. At the bar is Sabzi, who is eating with his brother. "He comes here every night," Rahwa says with a hint of pride in her new business and the fresh scene it has spawned. "He also spins here every Friday with DJ Daps One. I'm also very excited about starting Ladies' Night, which used to be at Re-bar but is moving here on March 3. It's an all-women rap show."

Hiphop, reggae, and Ladies' Night have a new home at Hidmo.

LOVEWORK:: Reviews in URB, Okayplayer.com, OneTwoOneTwo.com, Shotgun Reviews, JIVE Magazine...

Much respect to everyone who's been giving my music a chance, and writing these amazing reviews! Lovework is set to drop nationwide February 27th, and if your in Seattle you can be among the first to pick up a copy at my release party on Saturday, February 24th at the Chop Suey... more information is at http://www.masslinemedia.com




Okayplayer.com (January 2007)

Gabriel Teodros
Lovework
Mass Line Media; 2006

Gabriel Teodros lets his heart bleed on his solo album, Lovework. He delivers a number of powerful messages here, and out of all the albums I have reviewed thus far, I consider this the most important because of the level of social consciousness packed in.

East Africa. Gabriel Teodros lives in Seattle, Washington, but draws so much from his family's homeland of Ethiopia. Teodros says on this album that his words are for East Africa's peace. And with that said, how can one criticize this album? He even has a song called, "East Africa" where he cries for the plight of his people. His words are saddening when he raps about his cousin's educational obstacles, the violence towards journalists, and the colonized minds of his people. And dude can flow, so it makes the album-listening a rewarding experience. Many emcees pretend to be socially conscious because it is "liberal-cool," but lack the knowledge. Teodros spends an album discussing his hatred towards a society that first misunderstood and has now forgotten Africa. One of the most powerful songs on this album is "In This Together." This is where he lets his people know of his commitment to their struggle and he does not hold back as he jabs at a manipulated history by saying in the refrain sarcastically, "They say Ethiopia is not colonized..." His words fit well with the guitar melody providing an inspirational sound that has whispers of Bob Marley's music.

I refuse to highlight any more tracks because I believe that this album should be listened to in its entirety. That is the least someone can do when an artists is creating so others can be free.

- David Ross


Shotgun Reviews (Jan. 13, 2007)
Review by: Angelica LeMinh

Gabriel Teodros - Lovework
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

"Love That's It"

It's no secret that I love the Roots, but can they please stop slanging around the label "revolutionary" like it's a Madlib-Kweli download on Myspace already? And can we start off 2007 by encouraging folks to stop applying this label to themselves? Humility is allowing your music to relevently exist long enough to have other people notice this, and in the spirit of No Label(s), Mister Gabriel Teodros, is more an example of the latter than the former.

After years of CD-R with a Sharpie copies of his music disseminated through friends and selling vinyl out of his backpack, LOVEWORK is here! This beauty-full collection of songs honestly discusses (not just cryptically shouts out) homophobia ("queer folks and hip hop", his personal "love of punk rock") and sexism ("what hurts a woman is what's hurting us all"), responsibility and potential of the art ("I know I got vision with enough sense to listen"), headraps and incense as just another gimmick not to be caught up in, and mixed race politics (disappearing dads and the reality of America's melting pot). He doesn't come across as preachy, just complex. He's not a pariah, but a survivor, vulnerable and necessary because he's speaking the truth and he doesn't have to remind us that he's doing it.

It's fitting that he opens with the hommage Sacred Texts because the whole album could be read as that of his life. Anyone who meets him will recognize his frequent use of "hella" as adjective and proclamations of "eat food" as quoted verbatim of his actual vernacular. His talk of feeling alienation from main acts (No Label) is understood by any hip hopper who felt funny about shows like The Beastie Boys' when Tribe was the opening act. The heart of a man and his reflection on self-image is felt through lyrics like, "I remember when my best friend was Treach" on the GT version of Beautiful, but I'ma cosign with the Abysinnian Creole version and state that "I can see God moving through you" nonetheless, though "they say I'm a hater because of who I love" as well.

His Jesus Piece is a meditation on missionaries imposing religion for medicine and how he reconciles the fact that "a White Jesus still hangs on (his) Grandma's mantelpiece". He can be seen as neo-Garvey, urging Back to Africa as something to do alongside "those who rep red, yellow, green hella harder than me". His is a message of unity, not divide and conquer based on melanin membership, and rounds out In This Together with the inspiring rally cry of "we may not have come in chains but (we're) still enslaved in the mind, we're in this together so your beef is mine".

He reminds those that pack that, "these guns were placed in our hands by the same fools that called us n**ga" and also that "schools and prisons are the same damn industry", encouraging awareness to the institutionalized profits reaped by the war machine and the ways that we are all touched by the universal arms trade on tracks Third World and It's That.

There are a few songs that are a tad repetitive, and a few flows that are not as spirited, but that's only in comparison to the rest of the album chock-full of beats and rhymes of simple complexity and proof that reminds us that there is always work to do, as love is a work in progress. When one commits to making the "music with higher stakes, refusing to assimilate", he can only be found at the "home where the true love is, and home is where the hip hop is". Oh snap, I guess you gotta cop the mixtape ( www.myspace.com/gabrielteodros) to fully get that.

The good news is that it also features the timeless track Chocolatey Undertones featuring a spry-sounding Belladonna and the other half of Abyssinian Creole, Khingz Makoma (amongst other stars). Happy New Year of the Lovers, y'all, let's get to work.


URB Magazine (Jan/Feb 2007)
by Skinny B

GABRIEL TEODROS
Lovework
3 1/2 Stars
Back to Africa or back from Seattle?

(MassLine) Seattle's chronic rainfall and superfluous coffeehouses are a long way from the drought and famine found in the Horn of Africa; Gabriel Teodros knows this and it's that fundamental knowledge of geography (and more importantly, self) that propels his debut record. Born in America but with family firmly rooted in Eastern Africa, Teodros aptly balances the cross-continental struggle while questioning the weight of his own problems (rent, love, trying to get on in this rap game) in face of the much more dire needs in places like Ethiopia (Christian colonization, war, AIDS). Lovework succeeds by not only asking questions, but providing information and inspiration in hope of a solution. The production, mostly by relative newcomer Amos Miller, is skewed toward the thinking-man's hip-hop-not that it's more intelligent, but that the music's lack of abrasiveness (an obviously fundamental rap pillar) allows the listener to ponder Teodros's lyrics. And when we're talking about the plights of Africa, it shouldn't matter where the fuck we're at.


OneTwoOneTwo.com (Tuesday, December 5th 2006)
Written by Nyasha Foy

Artist: Gabriel Teodros
Album: Lovework
Label: Mass Line Media
Rating: 4/5

Now this is a real album-none of that ten-track shit that has you wondering whether or not it's a CD sampler. This is something deeper. This is why they still cipher in circles on the corner. This album proves that hip-hop does not have to be New-York centric to be authentic. And yet, who could have known that the Northwest (of all places) would have such a passionate hip-hop scene?

Hailing from rainy Seattle, Washington, by way of the Motherland (Ethiopia), Gabriel Teodros brings his international stroke of genius to the underground hip-hop scene. Taking a break from his usual position as the group Abyssinian Creole's other half, Teodros is all set to drop his solo masterpiece, Lovework (to be released in early 2007).

If having performed alongside artists such as KRS-One, Digible Planets, and GZA gives any indication as to what should be expected from Teodros, then you will be pleasantly satisfied. Because this is not your ordinary underground conscious hip-hop artist-turns to Louis Vinton don urban story; Teodros' perspective keeps him grounded such that his music is much more poignant than enlightenment from blood diamonds.

Lovework features themes varying between the contrasting struggle of a first-generation immigrant and a rapper to the familiar sentiment of loveless sex. The production is a little under-done; however, there are some precious gems in this bunch. "Sacred Text," for example, presents Teodros' relationship with his music through lyrics such as "My headphones, then, was my only company. I was awkward socially, never fit into a peer group imagine growing up with only music that would hear you. . what else would I do, yall, if I didn't write?" Classic. "Beautiful" and "Lovework," can be appreciated for their distinctive melodies and captivating lyrics; both tracks are simple and soothing, lounge-worthy songs.

"Sexcapism", in my opinion, is one of the best tracks that this album has to offer; what starts off feeling like a tight cipher develops into a heart-torn love song, with a message to the fellas. This one got me: "The best love I was ever in was a friend first, its still hurts, but she's happy when I see her so its for the best I guess, I've got lessons to invest, too. What you love you've got to let it go and grow, too. Even though you want to hold the one that holds you. Sometimes its better for someone that doesn't know you cause you pick the one that doesn't deserve you. I try to fill the emptiness as it gets deeper, they don't know me they just love what's in their speakers, why we scared of women that could be our teachers? Its just the freak in me? Or is it self-pity?" Lyrics such as this leave me speechless, making it hard to find fault in Teodros' approach.

Midway through the album's seventeen tracks, songs like "Racoon Rock," "East Afrika," and "Find A Place" are like hip-hop variations of "Heal the World" as he bemoans about his lost cultural heritage and the unity that bonds us through various global crises. Other tracks such as "No Label" and "Do U" are album fillers and could have been done without.

My only real critique of this album is that Teodros doesn't explore a full range of emotions. His voice is often flat, his passion hidden, and his demeanor even-tempered, which is unbelievable given the topics that he tackles in his ciphers. While this speaks volumes of his humility as an artist to his craft, it overshadows the complexity of his music.

Despite all this, its really hard to shit on an album that is so personal and so genuine. Teodros has already captivated an entire myspace community, and this album is going to put him on the map. I'm just going to sit back and wait for his feature on VH1 Soul.


JIVE Magazine (11/27/06)
By: Jason Kordich

Lovework is an uplifting and soulful narrative that bases its foundation in Jazz and Blues. When "Racoon Rock" chimes "We shall overcome" and "Hip-Hop is forever", as the listener, you can't help but believe it. This isn't a pretentious message but a proclamation of his philosophy. Lacking the militant nature of Public Enemy or the thundering rapture of Krs-One, Teodros' almost spoken word approach is unobtrusive, calm, yet very mathematical.

What Teodros may lack in style and flair, he makes up in clarity, focus, and lyricism. His position on nationalism, race relations, and female MCs is beyond refreshing. Rhyming over simple, yet smooth Jazz cuts allows his message to come straight to the listener without dilution. Have a notebook handy; Gabriel Teodros' Lovework is a story grounded in experience, honed through his observation, and perfected in its presentation.

JIVE Magazine Rating: 4.5 out of 5