ILL DOOTS

ILL DOOTS

If you caught Flashpoint Theatre’s “Hands Up: 6 Playwrights, 6 Testaments,” director Joanna Settle used the Doots’ magic to perfection. An eight-deep collective of emcees and musicians, they forge a rather-unfollowed path with hip-hop that goes for the gut with supreme sophistication. What started as three dudes in a dorm is now an engine that’s picking up steam. As they put it, what began with “a curious kid from Boston who played bass and loved J Dilla, an enthusiastic young drummer from Reading, PA, and a rambunctious acting student who kicked freestyle raps on the mic,” is something bigger now. Just listen to “Black Matter”—there’s fire and a future here. - Philadelphia Weekly

'Does it always have to be about race?"

In Hands Up: 6 Playwrights, 6 Testaments, Flashpoint Theatre's brutal world premiere about institutionalized racism in post-Ferguson America, you'd better believe it.

In 2014, the New York theater organization New Black Fest commissioned six playwrights to respond to the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. These short monologues chronicle each author's encounters with the daily indecencies of racial profiling, stop-and-frisk, harassment, and casual racism inflicted by police, media, and society in general.

"Racism hasn't gone away," Brandon J. Pierce tells us while performing Nathan James' "Superiority Fantasy." "White people are just tired of talking about it."

Though humiliation at the hands of police and anger and frustration about Ferguson and subsequent incidents permeate all six works, each author delivers a brutally honest telling of his own experience.

Nathan Yungerberg's "Holes and My Identity" and Eric Holmes' "Walking Next to Michael Brown" both present nuanced responses.

Yungerberg was adopted by a white couple in Wisconsin, and, as an adult, he feels a dearth of preparation for the regular hostility inflicted on urban blacks. Actor Brian Anthony Wilson, a giant of a man, brings great sympathy to the piece, his size no shield against slights seen and unseen.

Holmes' story begins with a rhythm and blues fantasia of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson as a romantic hero reholstering his gun after listening to the calm reasoning of actor EZ Hernandez.

The band ILL DOOTS accompanies all six monologues, here amplifying the sense of terror, there providing light riffs that add humor to Holmes' tale of biracial solidarity with Michael Brown.

Director Joanna Settle modulates the tone of the evening with striking precision, most notably in Glenn Gordon's "Abortion." Unleashing Aaron Bell's best comedic instincts as a father writing a letter of life lessons to his unborn child, she turns it into a roaring, tragic piece of stand-up comedy. With deadpan timing and potent subtlety, Bell works the room with a skill that belies his youth.

Veteran actor Johnnie Hobbs Jr. lends his impressive skills to Idris Goodwin's "They Shootin! Or I Ain't Neva Scared," effortlessly shifting from musings about a bird trapped between two windowpanes to recollecting youthful indiscretions that could have turned tragic.

And rage finds voice in Dennis Allen II's "How I Feel," a middle finger of a piece aimed at the clueless who ask why it always has to be about race when there's a mountain of experiences that would otherwise be dismissed if it weren't.

Go. Listen. Hear. - Philadelphia Inquirer

1 Ill DOOTS July 23 at Connie’s Ric Rac
The second of the band’s four-week residency features Aiden Connell, Little Brown Chair, Jon Delgado, Ann Marie and who knows who else. - Philadelphia Weekly

This hip hop collective that began in a dorm room has grown into a fully realized artistic project. Seeing this group build their complex sound in the intimate space of the Circle Bar was truly extraordinary. For ILL DOOTS there is a careful balance between the production of the music and the pageantry of its delivery. Even though the crowd was quite small, the group played as though the house was packed. From the MCs' initial huddle and through the carefully choreographed banter, the collective demonstrated their dedication to their sound and their fans. - Mike Griffith for In Tune

Listen to them and I guarantee within moments that you'll feel cooler. - Alex Baker for Front Magazine

“ILL Doots is a unique hip-hop group with great music that needs to be heard everywhere. I personally don’t have a single other act I’d rather see live instead of this group. Check out all their music for timeless entertainment.” - itzdadiabolical

“There is a showmanship to their performance and a sense of ease as they dig into their instruments. They have done this before and they will do it again...[emcee] Phantom, has a technical flow that almost sounds like the words are composed for the piece of music, not just added to it.” - Matthew Leister for JUMP Philly

The Philadelphia-based group Ill Doots is difficult to categorize but easy to enjoy.

“Our lifeblood (and) our purpose is to use the medium of art to enact change. Social change, metaphysical change, personal change and even, hopefully at some point, legislative change.” - Vincent Harris for Herald-Journal

“If you’re looking for unique, funky hip hop that eschews today’s cliché-ridden production values for a soulful new take on an old-school MC-fronted funk band look no further, Ill Doots is the real deal.” - Kyle Press