Tip: When hip-hop royals like MastaPlann and Bambu come to your city after years of absence, you don’t miss out. You haul ass straight to that venue and you watch them rock that swag.

I arrived fairly early at Victoria Court that Friday afternoon. While the fact that MastaPlann and Bambu’s homecoming ‘press conference’ was located at an Austin Powers-themed room, the kinky atmosphere and psychedelic inspiration didn’t have me weirded out just yet… but maybe that was because I had a fully-equipped long table of food and drinks to keep me calm. But it didn’t take me long to realize that I was getting cold feet. After all, it’s not everyday you get to meet musicians whose fame transcend even your parents’ generation.

But when my turn came to sit  with Bambu and MastaPlann in that large, round bed, my nerves took a hike and the entire situation went from being a formal interview to being a huge chill out session in one snap.

For one, they were super nice and provided quite a few pleasant surprises. Bambu turned out to be an advocate for creating music of sociopolitical significance in addition to also being into community organization. Meanwhile, the guys from MastaPlann were just three lug heads with a passion for songs like “MMMBop” and “The Ping Pong Song” in addition to the music they create.

By the end of our interview, Bambu gave me a copy his album …Exact Change…, and the boys from MastaPlann gave me an unreleased copy of their upcoming album (bootlegged, mind you!)

As much as I’d like to say that it compensates my not being at the concert itself last Saturday at The Collective’s B-Side, no advanced or autographed copy can ever take the place of being there for their unique and intense performances.—LOST GIRL