Today's Top Stop: Head-Roc War Machine at DC9

Map It:  U Street-Cardozo 

HEAD-ROC HAS BEEN at the forefront of D.C. hip-hop for over a decade -- first as a member of the sprawling collective the Infinite Loop, then as the frontman of the critically-lauded Roots-style group Three Levels of Genius. He's currently the head honcho of the Head-Roc War Machine.

Heady's played almost every local venue one can imagine, including the Mall, Georgetown University, the 9:30 Club and the Lincoln Theater, forging close ties with the District's punk community along the way. He's appeared on countless benefit bills, a Dischord CD and opened for Q and Not U at the Black Cat. He's been on the cover of the Washington City Paper, too, but perhaps his most impressive feat was drafting A Tribe Called Quest's Jarobi White into the War Machine, which also includes DJ-about-town Eurok and another MC, Noyeek the Grizzly Bear.

The Roc's latest feats include forging a partnership with the internationally recognized electronica duo Thievery Corporation, getting married and raising his very young daughter. He'll perform a free show at DC9 tonight as part of the ongoing Griot series. Express spoke with him by phone last night.

EXPRESS: What did you do today?
HEAD-ROC: Nothing much, went for a walk with the family today. I think I'm pretty much at terms with Eighteenth Street Lounge Music to be on their label and put out this hip-hop record.

EXPRESS: How'd you meet them initially? We're talking about the guys from Thievery Corporation, right?
HEAD-ROC: Yeah. I met them through a mutual friend while working on the Operation Ceasefire [a group seeking an end to the war in Iraq] campaign last year. The huge protest they had on the Mall and the concert down there with Joan Baez and Jello Biafra hosting, the Coup and all them cats. They were big sponsors of the event. They had a lot to do with pulling that off. Eric Hilton from Thievery Corporation told me he liked my material and we talked about maybe doing some business together. So we're finally gonna make it happen. I'm in the final stages of sealing up a deal to put out an album that's produced by Eric Hilton. We've been keeping it tight under wraps. But we've been working on things the whole time. It's looking like it's gonna happen.

EXPRESS: Who are some of the bigger artists you've opened for?
HEAD-ROC: You name it. KRS-ONE, Nas, Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Talib Kweli, Bernie Worrell of Parliament, Branford Marsalis, the Roots, Digable Planets.

EXPRESS: How come we never hear about anyone else from Three Levels of Genius or Infinite Loop?
HEAD-ROC: Well, that's not true. From Infinite Loop you've got DJ Dirty Harry, he's the big producer behind Raheem DeVaughn. Asheru's crew, Black Lincolns, that's made up of all Infinite Loop cats. Cats is out and about, doing they thing.

EXPRESS: What's the deal with Griot?
HEAD-ROC: The griot is the West African storyteller, the mystic, rhythmic storyteller. The original MC, so to speak. We take pride in the griot tradition. It's run by Laurel, Shambhala's manager. She's been around for awhile, very active on the scene. She does that the first Wednesday of every month at DC9. Tries her best to incorporate a lot of different talent. Supreme Commander, [fronted by] my man Boo, they're a punk band.

EXPRESS: What's the best show that you've ever done outside of D.C.?
HEAD-ROC: There was a show that I did in L.A. with Jarobi and Phife [of A Tribe Called Quest] -- that was a good show, but Grizz wasn't there, so I don't know. There was another show we did out in L.A., the Philistines' album release party, that was a pretty good show.

EXPRESS: The story about you meeting Jarobi for the first time at the supermarket, you just recognized him, huh?
HEAD-ROC: Well, he's a highly recognizable cat, if you're into hip-hop music. If you know about the Native Tongues, if you're in that sphere of knowledge about some of the great crews of hip-hop -- cats who established what it is to be a crew in hip-hop -- then you're going to know about Jarobi of A Tribe Called Quest. … [He] has the qualities of a leader about him. Jarobi don't like a lot of nonsense. Think about the stereotype of a rapper. It's a lot of nonsense. He's the opposite of that. He's a husband and a father -- a grown man doing it right.

EXPRESS: D.C. is the black hole of hip-hop. Nothing gets out. Why do you think that is?
HEAD-ROC: There's a few reasons. D.C. radio don't support D.C. hip-hop. D.C. hip-hop, by and large, isn't a type of hip-hop that's accepted on a national level.

EXPRESS: Most of the rappers I know here are conscious rappers.
HEAD-ROC: Exactly. You've got to really over-sexualize your stuff or make it very material-based [to make it these days]. The cats in D.C. hip-hop typically don't do that. There is a thug realm of D.C. hip-hop that does things that are more commercially acceptable. I don't really roll in that circle, but I haven't really heard of them getting a lot of face-time at the venues.

EXPRESS: Why'd you stick with Noyeek of all the guys in Infinite Loop?
HEAD-ROC: Cause I figured we could work together the best to achieve our common goals. How you like that answer? It's a very political answer, isn't it?

EXPRESS: It's a very bland answer. What's the worst show you've ever played?
HEAD-ROC: 3LG did the Bob Marley Festival one time at RFK Stadium and it was probably 104 degrees and it was a big production. It was so hot and nobody was there. We went out like soldiers and rocked on that stage. But that was even fun.

DC9, 1940 9th St. NW; 10 p.m., free, with DJ Underdog + Damu the Fudge Munk, Supreme Commander, Salim + Green Tea, S.P.P. (Storm the Unpredictable, Priest the Nomad, the Poem-cees); 202-483-5000. (U St.-Cardozo)

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