Ancient Puzzle Arts Podcast #15: MH the Verb's Afronaut Selection
$1.00
Hello everyone, and welcome to the September 2021 edition of the monthly Ancient Puzzle Arts podcast! This month we have special guest.... MH the Verb !
A creative collaboration with Multimedia Artist/DJ/Activist, Marcus Cinque Harris (artistically known as, MH The Verb) has been long overdue. I first met MH in college at our radio station, WPTS Pittsburgh. This was a great hub to meet creative people who supported DIY art at the time, especially pre-social media (we technically had MySpace and Facebook at the time, but it wasn't the overdrive, in-your-face thing social media is today). We had back to back shows on Thursday night for a few years. He was the Hip Hop director and he organized shows on campus. His Hip Hop Show with B-Tips featured artists like a young Wiz Khalifa and other Pittsburgh legends from the Shadow Lounge era. We both had DJ nights at this college dive bar called Spice Cafe, which was in the basement of an Indian restaurant and sold $2 beers. Pittsburgh’s music scene was underrated. We grew up in a community that included great DJs & musicians that we got to learn from.
Fast forward a bit after college, and Marcus and I were both living in NYC at the same time. He & his team were throwing parties in Alphabet City before and hosting monthly residencies at Knitting Factory, Spike Hill (RIP) and Union Hall. We even did some group gigs with APA Alum, Chakana Inca. I think one of them was on a rooftop in Brooklyn. We had some great partying days in NYC with fellow Pittsburgh friends but unfortunately didn't connect when we were both living in Philly (I was a bit distracted and in the middle of some big life changes at the time).
A few years ago, MH the Verb relocated to the Bay Area, California, and if you ask me, he is flourishing. He has been prolific with new music over the pandemic (3 projects since Feb 2020 - not an easy feat!). He has been sociopolitically active in his Oakland community, working with nonprofits and creating media focused on social impact. He has been evolving his AFRONAUT swag to a new stage.
What I consistently like about MH the Verb's catalog is his continuous nod to the old school, giving credit to his inspirations, while still expressing his own perspective and personal experience. I love his Philly inspired live jazz instrumentation tracks, as well as his more future funk sounding and modern productions inspired by the Bay Area. MH the Verb gets vulnerable, he gets political, he says what comes from his heart, and continues the tradition of "conscious hip hop," which has an uplifting effect when you listen to his body of work. Please enjoy MH the Verb's APA mix featuring all original music & collaborations with his ArtHouse95 collective including Buscrates, Trap Rabbit, Chena Kovax, & Johann Sebastian featuring Kuf Knotz & Christine Elise, Drusef, dataf1ow & GR Stone! Learn more about MH & his projects via his website:
