Band leafs out stylistically

The Albuquerque hip-hop group 2bers began in 1999 with the goal of staying true to their underground identity, MC Collin Troy said. The group’s name is inspired by that goal — tubers are vegetables that grow underground. Since then, he said they have grown past that mentality, which now seems amateur to them.

“It had to do with the underground, and it was so important that you were underground, which, as we’ve matured, is just so ridiculous,” he said.

When the band first formed, the hip-hop community in Albuquerque was just developing as well and there were hardly any local acts performing. The technology at the time was just beginning to be user-friendly enough for people to create their own beats.

“It was so low-tech. I mean, you got to remember this is before people had personal computers,” he said. “The way we were producing, the means in which we were producing and the format we were producing on — the first show we literally showed up with a tape deck with our beats on tape.”

The tape didn’t work at the show, but fortunately a reggae band that happened to be there laid down the rhythm. The band didn’t intentionally use live music until 2005, and even then, it was one of the few bands using live accompaniment, he said. He said that now the band’s sound has come to incorporate so many different genres and influences that it’s hard to call it hip-hop anymore.

“At the end of the day, we’re rapping to beats, so it’s hip-hop; but really, some songs are very reggae, some songs are very jazzy, some songs are more rock-based,” he said. “Now we have more of a pop sensibility, in a strange way. It’s more pop music than it is rap music … I don’t think people would like to hear that, because we’re still real, but it’s a strange journey to have taken, and I think for us it’s really interesting how it parallels with the journey of hip-hop as pop music.”

2bers DJ and UNM student Adam Page said live accompaniment elevates the quality of the music without making it sound too organized.

“It’s like an organized disorder,” he said. “When you’re just a touch off, that’s how the flavor is made, so I think the live band adds that seasoning.”

2bers had its CD release party for its album “Dig” two weeks ago at the El Rey Theatre. Collin said although the sound has changed throughout the years, there is still substance to the lyrics.

“We almost want it to be emotive and powerful, more like the song-writing of rock ‘n roll in the ‘60s — something powerful, something political, emotional — and that’s our ideology,” he said.

Page said what sets the group apart is that it not only expresses observations and perspectives of the world, but also provides an explanation in the lyrics.

“People will bitch and complain but they won’t have an educated outlook on it,” he said. “The 2bers, when they do present their songs, they’ll give examples … When people give a reason behind the situation, it kind of makes it easy to embrace and also gets the audience listening and thinking.”