An unlikely trio from Long Beach California, Ugly Duckling found a niche in mocking mainstream gangster rappers with a brass backed, light-hearted style, using soul samples and scratching. Growing up in this area in the 90’s, they went to school with the likes of Warren G and Snoop Dogg, being exposed to the epicenter of gangster rap and this is what led them to choose their name. Their lyrics of love, happiness and peace contrasted so greatly with the sound of the time that they felt they were the ‘Ugly Ducklings’ of the industry.

 

When Young Einstein, Andy Cooper and Dustin ‘Dizzy’ McFarland finally came on stage, they were greeted with a raucous cheer from the eager and packed out crowd. They introduced themselves with a story of their previous performance in Brighton over a decade ago supporting none other than The GZA.

 

Their first song ‘I did it like this’ saw Dizzy and Andy flow symbiotically over an auditory sensation of melodious strings over a classically 90’s hip-hop beat. The crowd was overwhelmed by the immediate energy bought on stage by the Long Beach group; clear from the rhythmic bopping of heads and raised hands.

 

We quickly saw where Young Einstein got his name. Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar saw deft scratching and mixing, which was nothing short of genius. Throughout ‘Einstein do it’ he came into his element, showing he could perform with his back to the decks, simultaneously raising the tempo of the beat all whilst seamlessly dropping in samples from spaghetti western style films such as ‘The Good The Bad and The Ugly’. This made for a blissful hip-hop symphony with a touch of soul and jazz.

 

We’ve all seen the over-indulged attempt at crowd participation of “when I say hey, you say ho” but Ugly Duckling took it to the next level and showed Sticky Mikes why they are legends of the industry. They introduced their song ‘Pick Up Lines’ by inviting a member of the audience on stage and subjecting her to some of the most cliché, hilarious and well executed pick up lines, which could only have been rivaled by the Fresh Prince of Bel Air himself.

 

This was a gig I’ve had on my musical bucket list for a long time due to the notoriety of this group as alternative hip-hop pioneers spawning from the golden age of hip-hop. As is apparent from this article, Ugly Duckling performed above and beyond all previous expectations. Over years of practice, they have refined their sound and live show into a spectacle to behold, cementing them as the best live performers I have seen to date.

 

Here is an interview we did with the trio after the show…..

 

How did the Fresh Mode EP take off and how did you all push it?

 

[EINSTEIN] We did a demo tape / album called Down The Road and the ‘Fresh Mode’ song was on that and we decided to press up a bunch of cassettes for local stores. We decided to condense that album into an EP and called it Fresh Mode, and that took off from there.

 

You guys use a lot of samples and it works really well for you but what is your favorite genre to sample from?

 

[EINSTEIN] I mean my favorite thing to sample is drums so that can be from anything but for music, definitely soul and jazz. I like to not sample a bunch of stuff from the same record to try but keep it original.

 

What is the history behind Einstein’s big gold chain?

 

[EINSTEIN] I needed a look, something to stand out and at the time when I got the gold chain it was already ten years out of style so it was almost a revival.

[DIZZY] He was socially awkward too so it was something to talk about for people that approach him you know, like an ice breaker

 

Is Brighton somewhere you look forward to coming too or is it just another stop on the tour? Be real here guys

 

[EINSTEIN] Well I met my wife in Brighton so yeah I love it. When we came here maybe 6 years ago for a show at Concorde 2 and we came to this place for an after party and we met and I had no idea that she would end up being my wife

 

How did the band form in the beginning?

 

[EINSTEIN] We’re from Long Beach and it was mostly gangster rap and I was producing loads of stuff and met Dizzy from one of the groups I was working with but at that time it was really weird for white guys to be doing hip-hop. Then we met Andy and we figured out that we need to have a more unique sound because we’re not gonna fit in with everything that’s going on at Long Beach at the time.

 

Have you got any American hip-hop artists that you would be looking to do a collaboration with?

 

[DIZZY] I think with Ugly Duckling, we just try and keep it in house, we’ve done a couple of songs with friends of ours like People Under The Stairs and Pigeon John but we like to keep everything between us three. It’s easier and it’s our sound and if we bring anything else into it, it’s gonna change that and we don’t want to sacrifice what we have here.

 

Where did you guys get the inspiration for a Journey To Anywhere and Love Revolution?

 

[DIZZY] Drugs! Nah I’m just kidding.

[ANDY] I’m a really big fan of the spaghetti westerns so it’s really laced up with that kind of fake album samples but I remember Rodney came up with the first hook and it just sounded like this amazingly triumphant story of some kind of old western. That’s usually how the band works, there’ll be some musical element that seems to fit in with what we want. So being such a massive fan of those films like the good the bad and the ugly or a fist full of dollars or whatever I just thought I like the idea of a ragtag outfit running from the big boss. It’s kind of a recurring theme with Ugly Duckling, we’re kind of these troopers on the run and I thought that was a suitable concept for that. We’ve done a couple songs like that where we make it almost cinematic, so it has a storytelling feel too it, it requires a little more attentive listening but we like that.

 

 

Elliot Wright