Mello-D & the Rados LIVE on FOX5 Morning Show
w/ Earl Carter. (About 2 mins 25 secs in)
Established in 1996, Mello-D & the Rados is a four-piece live instrument hip-hop band based in the Washington, D.C. area. Their raw organic sound is most often compared to that of A Tribe Called Quest or The Roots. Mello-D & the Rados have released four albums and have recorded or performed live with KRS-ONE , Jill Scott, Les Nubians, Chuck Brown, The Roots and others. They are best known for the 2005 single "Cool Witchu" which topped national college radio charts and whose music video was seen in regular rotation on B.E.T and MTV2. The band has toured Brazil, England and the U.S. putting on stellar live shows and selling thousands of CDs along the way.
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cd cover to preview and buy
Antitainment
Vol. 2: Truth, Lies, Etc. Now Available!
Mello-D
& the Rados has released their fourth album entitled, Antitainment Vol. 2: Truth, Lies, Etc. Frontman
Darnley "Mello-D" Hodge once again defies
the conventions of main stream hip-hop both lyrically and musically. "This isthe rawest most true to life
album in Hip-Hop this year... and we gonna piss off a lot of people
with this one too." he says with a sinister grin.
From
a lyrical standpoint Mello very candidly exposes himself on several
songs. He takes the listener from laughter, to outrage and from apathy
to concern. The CD starts off with a mid-ninties insprired intro by Jonniblack (aka Jonninfinit). Then in something of
a musical tidalwave, Olugbenga (drums), Jesse (bass) and Sol (keys, vocals) lock the headnodding
music bed while Mello-D smacks the listener in the
forhead with vicious lyrical skills on Raw Hip-Hop. This happens
just after trading verses with the legendary KRS-ONE on Still Cool Witchu, the follow-up track to Antitainment's
hit song.
Mello-D
pulls no punches in criticizing bias in politics and media in the gritty,
highly charged title track Truth Lies Etc and literally blows
you away at the end of the song with a soulful tenor sax solo just before
fading into Welcome to D.C., a roots rock reggae groove featuring
a guest appearance from Akshan.
On I'm Saying Sorry, Sol Zahran croons a spine
tingling chorus while Mello-D runs down the true though not so pretty
details of two of his past relationships. After that, Mello-D takes
you into the mind of a cyber sex feind on Potential Girl featuring V. Rich (Amel Larrieaux, Musiq). There are songs like Waiting on Nine where Mello-D humorously explains the importance
of free cell phone minutes. And on the clever spoof Pimpin Hoes,
Movin Weight and Pushing Packages Mello-D takes all the modern
rap cliches and turns them upside down into something hilarious.
Mello-D
says, "Antitainment Vol. 2 is a continuation of the previous album
except we've taken it up a notch. Our mission has always been to make
great music with a purpose. The purpose is to get the listener to see
the world, the media and themselves in a different way while at the
same time strectching the boundaries musically and creatively. We want
you to take the lock off your brain and open your eyes. This is a movement.
This is not entertainment. This is Antitainment."
