MAD Dragon Showcase on Sunday, with Kuf Knotz Headlining.

Image courtesy of MAD Dragon. Text by G.W. Miller III.

Kuf Knotz will headline the MAD Dragon Showcase on Sunday at the TLA to celebrate the release of his Boombox Logic Deluxe Edition, a new version of his 2010 debut solo album.

Raised in Bryn Mawr as Ty Green, Kuf’s solo work runs the gamut from hip hop to soul, from indie rock to reggae. Before dropping Boombox Logic last fall, Kuf spent years working in collaborative efforts – the BurnDown All Stars, The Hustle and Subtle Ground.

Everyone who goes to the show on Sunday will receive a copy of the annual MAD Dragon artist compilation disc, Unleashed7. The event starts at 3 pm with numerous bands, including Hezekiah Jones, Swift Techniques and When I Was 12. Tickets are only $5.

Kuf is scheduled to perform around 9 pm. We spoke to him this week.

How did you get into music?

I think I unconsciously got into it. My grandmother, she was a gospel singer. My brother was an MC so he was rhyming all the time around the house. He had music on all the time, hip hop he was into – Kurtis Blow, KRS-One, LL, that era.

But you grew up in Bryn Mawr?

Yeah. I grew up there and then moved to the city for school.

Bryn Mawr’s not really a hotbed for hip hop.

No, no. Not at all. I had to search that out on my own.

Was there a scene out there?

There was a scene called UBF – United Break Force. It was a breakdance squad out there. They actually traveled all around the country. That’s what got me into it. They started this scene called “Scratch” that was at a place called Radnor Rolls. It was a roller skating rink. Every Wednesday, they would have Scratch. It was a big breakdance party and people would rhyme. People would dance. It was a whole big thing. I started going to that every weekend. I never rhymed. I was always too shy. But I took it all in and practiced it at home.

What’s up with the Deluxe Edition?

What it is is a re-release of the original album. And it has three additional new songs and a DVD that was shot over the past couple months.

What’s on the DVD?

The DVD is basically different performances I’ve done and different collaborations, in particular in the studio with LP Styles. And then just some random footage like, I cleanse four times per year, where I don’t eat for ten days. I just do fresh squeezed juice. They kind of documented that. There’s also the Boombox Collective, a monthly event I host at the World Café Live spotlighting hip hop artists – actually artists in general, from throughout the city. They documented some of those as well.

Who performs with the Collective? Do you have some of the Burndown All Stars in there?

Yeah, of course. One of The Dialects – not both of them – performed. I had JawnZap7 perform. The 5 O’clock Shadowboxers. Who else? The most recent one that I hosted, the 4.20 one, had Writtenhouse, Doodlebug from Digable Planets, Don McCloskey, Jessi Teich. It was a pretty nice lineup.

How did the BurnDown All Stars come together?

It’s crazy. Myself, the dude RokBottom, Dave Quicks and Carlos were working on music out of a house in Manayunk. We started recording and invited different Philadelphia musicians we knew, and different MCs we were digging on. We had them record on this album. It was pretty much free-form. We just got the musicians in a warehouse on the weekend and had a party, recorded all the music and chopped it up, made beats out of it and got different MCs to rhyme on it.

That’s how it originally started. Then it transformed into a band because once we put the album out, we wanted to perform it live. The first few shows, they were ridiculous. We had about 20, 25 people switching instruments and whatnot. Then we cut it down to 13 – 8 MCs and 5 musicians. We just rocked out from there.

Do you like doing stuff with the big crew or do you prefer being a solo artist?

I love it just how it is!  It’s nice to be able to just do it. I still rock with a band, you know, as far as performing and all – drum, bass, keys, guitar. It’s cool. We’re a small, tight unit. We’re all on the same page. It’s dope.