Tanya Morgan
Moonlighting
by: Travis Larrier on May 01 2007
On the heels of TIRM’s March issue that tackled the death of hip hop and R&B groups, Tanya Morgan is an heirloom for fans of an era in hip hop when it wasn’t just solo acts, radio singles and $0.99 iTunes downloads. Tanya Morgan (which sounds like the name of an Erykah Badu knockoff) is actually a trio of emcees – Von Pea, Donwil, and Ilyas – hailing from Brooklyn and Cincinnati. On their debut, Moonlighting, they manage to serve up what many of us have been ordering: a plate of nostalgia without the copy-cat recycling.
I first heard of Tanya Morgan on Okayplayer. ?uestlove had just released a “Best Albums of 2006” list that was peppered with some of my unequivocal favorites (Fishcale, St.Elsewhere, Donuts), some indies on a serious come-up (Return To Cookie Mountain—TV On The Radio) and a couple of shockers (The Clipse’s Hell Hath No Fury, Joanna Newsom’s Ys). Lodged in the middle of the list was what I thought was a neo soulstress that I had yet to hear of named Tanya Morgan.
The following anecdote might sound familiar to some of you out there who have been exposed to this artist.
The next week I’m in Cue Records doing a little crate digging and I see Tanya Morgan’s Moonlighting staring me in the face right next to a copy of Fan-Tas-Tic Vol. 1 that I was set to buy that day. What the hell…I really dig ?uest’s opinion and ear on music so how bad could this chick be, right? At the checkout counter the 40-something, balding white dude on the register says, “Aaaah, Tanya Morgan! Album of the year right there!” What?!?!? I’m not big on stereotyping (ok, maybe I am) but this really floored me. In one week’s time I had 2 resounding album-of- the-year endorsements. Was I that out of the loop? Probably. But if this vixen is making 40-year-old white guys cream over her, there has to be something here.
The irony is that as soon as I popped the CD in, the opening skit, to my surprise, was the exact same experience I had in the record store. The only difference was that I wasn’t as disgusted by the surprise of Tanya Morgan’s true identity as the buppie rap-hater on the album’s intro.
So why would a hip hop collective call themselves Tanya Morgan? Everything I’ve read about these guys intimates that there is no rhyme or reason to the name. In fact, their intention was to confuse — an inside joke of sorts. Quite an off-center concept given the self-promotion oriented society we live in today. For most, a nomenclatorial stunt like this can come across gimmicky… hokie at best. The only problem here is that these guys are damn good and are the newest installment of hip hop groups that are moving things forward by taking things back.
The style “flippage”, wordplay, lo-fi production and group dynamic found on Moonlighting make it a throwback to days of Native Tongue groups like De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Tribe and Black Sheep. As we witness the slow death of hip hop groups and all that it entails, there is specific loss in the entertainment department. Groups were always good to feature unique personalities forming a composite whole (see Flavor Flav and Chuck D or the De La trio). In this manner, Tanya Morgan’s Moonlighting has the classic group dynamic with each of the three emcees displaying unique and disparate styles that collate into one gratifying product.
I first heard of Tanya Morgan on Okayplayer. ?uestlove had just released a “Best Albums of 2006” list that was peppered with some of my unequivocal favorites (Fishcale, St.Elsewhere, Donuts), some indies on a serious come-up (Return To Cookie Mountain—TV On The Radio) and a couple of shockers (The Clipse’s Hell Hath No Fury, Joanna Newsom’s Ys). Lodged in the middle of the list was what I thought was a neo soulstress that I had yet to hear of named Tanya Morgan.
The following anecdote might sound familiar to some of you out there who have been exposed to this artist.
The next week I’m in Cue Records doing a little crate digging and I see Tanya Morgan’s Moonlighting staring me in the face right next to a copy of Fan-Tas-Tic Vol. 1 that I was set to buy that day. What the hell…I really dig ?uest’s opinion and ear on music so how bad could this chick be, right? At the checkout counter the 40-something, balding white dude on the register says, “Aaaah, Tanya Morgan! Album of the year right there!” What?!?!? I’m not big on stereotyping (ok, maybe I am) but this really floored me. In one week’s time I had 2 resounding album-of- the-year endorsements. Was I that out of the loop? Probably. But if this vixen is making 40-year-old white guys cream over her, there has to be something here.
The irony is that as soon as I popped the CD in, the opening skit, to my surprise, was the exact same experience I had in the record store. The only difference was that I wasn’t as disgusted by the surprise of Tanya Morgan’s true identity as the buppie rap-hater on the album’s intro.
So why would a hip hop collective call themselves Tanya Morgan? Everything I’ve read about these guys intimates that there is no rhyme or reason to the name. In fact, their intention was to confuse — an inside joke of sorts. Quite an off-center concept given the self-promotion oriented society we live in today. For most, a nomenclatorial stunt like this can come across gimmicky… hokie at best. The only problem here is that these guys are damn good and are the newest installment of hip hop groups that are moving things forward by taking things back.
The style “flippage”, wordplay, lo-fi production and group dynamic found on Moonlighting make it a throwback to days of Native Tongue groups like De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Tribe and Black Sheep. As we witness the slow death of hip hop groups and all that it entails, there is specific loss in the entertainment department. Groups were always good to feature unique personalities forming a composite whole (see Flavor Flav and Chuck D or the De La trio). In this manner, Tanya Morgan’s Moonlighting has the classic group dynamic with each of the three emcees displaying unique and disparate styles that collate into one gratifying product.
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