75 Degrees of togetherness

The local hip-hop overachievers keep working on their swing.

By Jana Rogers

WHEN 75 DEGREES MC-songwriter Rick Bond suggested I meet with the group for 18 holes of miniature golf in Castro Valley, I was intrigued. A hip-hop group wants to play golf? I'm on it.

Just as the sun set and the multicolored lights of the course sprang on, producer-DJ Malachi Padron and vocalist Will Hammond Jr. strolled up the walkway. In no time the "incredible chemistry and love" between 75 Degrees, as Bond describes it, came to the surface: Padron joked that Bond was primping and putting on his "green jacket" to evoke the spirit of Tiger Woods and kick butt.

Seconds later Bond arrived, smoothly dressed and, indeed, wearing a green blazer. The guys knew right where to find MC-vocalist Marc Stretch – inside playing arcade games. The four Bay Area natives were glued to the screen of Tekken 5 just long enough for me to look them over. They were certainly flossin,' in a sharp but understated style. Nothing like I'd imagined after listening to their humorous track "Flossin' on a Budget" off their latest release, The Last Great Hip-Hop Album (Dining Room) – none of them were keeping a tag in a collar, because they might take a shirt back, I thought, as the lyrics ran through my head.

Apparel aside, the group's friendly competitiveness came to the fore as we tramped over the worn blue Astroturf. Stretch teasingly declared that he was going to keep score because he couldn't believe we wouldn't shave strokes off our totals. After a little protest we headed on, and 75 fell into their groove – the groove of friends with the kind of turbulent history that can only make a bond stronger in the end.

And that's where Album begins. It reads like an episode of VH1's Behind the Music: It's the story of the rise and fall and the most recent resurgence of 75, set to soulful harmonies and funky instrumentation. Each member's musical influences – which range from Al Green to Björk and reflect the group's diversity (as the steaming-hot "Story of Us" goes, "four black men, one Mexican, one thick Jewish chick") – come across in inspirational combinations. "Everybody tells a story and goes back and references their musical ancestors," Hammond said as we approached the twirling windmill.

They recorded their 2001 debut, The Rise and Fall of 75 Degrees (Dining Room), in the dining room of Rick Bond's SF home. The self-released project quickly received international attention, receiving Billboard's 2001 Critic's Choice award. That same year British music magazine Hip Hop Connection gave it four stars, calling the group the "hip-hop Sly and the Family Stone."

And then music executives started to vie for the group's attention. But 75 said they learned the success being offered came at the price of their creative freedom. On "Old Man River," they rap about labels telling them how to live their lives, from "what to drive, what to eat, how to fuck" their wives. They were encouraged to cover songs and use rushed beats. They learned that much of the industry's focus is on "CD sales, cross marketing, spinning off a clothing line, and DVD sales and hardly ever about aspiring to make great art, or even original art," Bond wrote in one of many e-mail exchanges, and though they almost signed with Virgin, 75 Degrees decided to turn down all offers and put out another disc on their own Dining Room label.

The final straw came after headlining a Cypress Hill party at LA's Viper Room that showcased rising stars, when the band got into a major fight; some of the members quit and drove back to the Bay Area that night.

Several months passed, and Bond and Padron, also of the Vinyl Brothers, returned to rebuild the castle walls. Stretch (also from the Vinyl Brothers, one half of Foreign Legion, and 2004 California Music Award nominee for best R&B artist) and Hammond joined the ranks. The four of them make up the creative core of 75. Still a family despite the sordid past, Amy Nix (keyboards and bass), Carl "Big C" Robertson (producer-MC), and Lisa Marie "Pi" Jacobs (bass) remained to record on Album and still sit in at several shows.

Since then, 75 Degrees have managed to be prolific, though most of the members have day jobs. The hauntingly beautiful "Jesus Piece," off Album, has been licensed for use on the forthcoming independent film Mr. Id, and they're currently working on an EP and a full-length album, as well as a project called Scarface the Musical, which they may take to the stage. And when the entire band can't come together, Bond, Padron, Stretch, and Hammond perform as Colt 75, which Bond has dubbed the "Black (and brown) hip-hop Beatles."

Spend five minutes with 75 Degrees, and their charisma and charm will make you think the reference works. They're already a classic band, the kind of band that people will write about in hip-hop history books when they look at "really good musicians," in Bond's words, and groups that not only possess tremendous talent, but also did it for the right reasons.

75 Degrees play Sept. 17, 8 p.m., Red Devil Lounge, 1695 Polk, SF. Call for price. (415) 921-1695, www.reddevillounge.com.