Jesse Dangerously and Ambition tinker with time and nail nostalgia on the very locally-sourced video for “Home Team” as The Library Steps.
Halifax hangouts ranging from pizza corner to the dirty steps beside the Khyber are the real stars in the first single from the reissue of Rap Dad, Real Dad as the pair are joined by friends in retracing their steps through the Halifax hip hop scene, all the way back to freestyling in front of the library as was tradition on Friday evenings in the mid-’00s.
Halifax hip hop heads may be most familiar with Jesse and Ambition as members of the Backburner Crew that helped usher in a pivotal period in the underground scene in the area in the late ‘90s through the ‘00s. This pioneer spirit and sentiment resonate in both the sights and sounds of “Home Team”.
In what fellow Backburner alums Ghettosocks and Process dubbed PRD (Public Rhyme Distribution), Jesse recalls, “It was just an agreement that people who wanted to kick rhymes would show up at about 6 PM on Friday and someone would have a boom box to play instrumentals on (that was often my contribution. I had a powerful silver JVC beast that an unsuspecting Cash Converters had priced at $11) or some of us would take turn beatboxing if no box showed up that week.”
A freestyle break (sadly lacking in that bargain of a boombox) arrives mid-video and accentuates the strong throwback kick that “Home Team” hits with. The beat dares you not to nod along as both emcees flow reflectively.
“I wanted to make the record with Ambeez (Ambition) because since I moved away from Halifax in 2007,” says Jesse. “He’s become an incredible beatmaker in a style that so frequently hits all the familiar qualities of the lo-fi, low bitrate, jazzy boom-bap I grew up on. Like he makes the beats I want to hear better than I do.”
The pair’s styles and message mesh surprisingly well considering the gap that prompted the set’s title. “Rap Dad, Real Dad is the title because I rather patronizingly always felt (or at least hoped) I was at least an avuncular rap influence on Ambeez, but also he actually has a son that he has to raise in real life and I’m firmly in middle age and still just trying to be a parent to my own best understanding of hip hop.”
Hip hop is at its best and most pure form when differing views, experiences, and styles come together to become more than what each artist would bring individually. It’s those very ideals that spawned the freestyling fraternity featured here. While old-timers can revel in the fond memories of days gone by; hopefully a new generation is inspired by the tradition, collaboration, comradery, and more on the Library Steps.