a night green blues primer


    the Night Green Side of It is undoubtedly a rap album. however, to truly understand it, one must approach the album as if it were blues. first, because the mc who wrote it is now a bluesman and secondly because the themes, aims, auto didacticisms, left turns and tunings are all learned from and an extension of the blues d/b/a rap. 

in an effort to better make cents, we present the Blues Side of the Night Green Side of It. 



gallis pole - leadbelly 

this is a tragicomic number that no astrologer could pen. leadbelly laments the homies coming to chuckle at his public execution. they taunt him, "we just come by to see you hanging from that gallow's pole." not one you soon forget.


hobo blues - john lee hooker 

a commanding, charismatic riddler with a slow trot and a chilled boogie. behind the curtain, the wizard stuttered and came across shy. the first spell a budding conjurer would learn is to toss shadows against the wall. "the next time i start hoboin', i'mma have my baby by my side." amen brother. 



 pushin' my luck - robert belfour 

three hours west of my house was a wolf man, roaming and devouring as he pleased. this document here presents the aforementioned in his natural habitat, pushin' his luck. the hypnotism involved in this joint affects all parties participating, use caution. 


flying airplane blues - blind boy fuller

a beautiful bit of surrealist aspirational poetry infused with primordial bop gun mannerisms. the kind of pickup artist who lands airplanes. the blind boy could see this song was a hit and stole the mechanics and melodies from memphis minnie's "me and my chauffeur blues". a scoundrel and a hounddog, makes it all the sweeter to hear him pine for his love. 


in the army of the Lord - Rev. Robert Wilkins 

this man sings like candied yams steeped and sweetened in maple and sugar about his war clothes, his sword and shield, his lack of an apprehension for death and you cannot help but be gathered, be taken into, be shown something new about old convictions. try to remember a few things you hold close and will never relinquish. 






judge harsh blues - furry lewis 

better run and get three, a hundred dollars won't do. that western tennessee gravitation pull is again too strong for mortal hearts, eyes, wombs. there's a thunder without light show. furry lewis remains possessive of his ultimate betrayer. a plum fool. 





as long as you get it done - guy davis

cut ya if you stand and shoot ya if you run. some cats come ready for war. it don't matter how you do it, just long as you get it done. up from the fluffy killing fields and hard times tiled floors, soaring a friendlier sky with a haggard voice. 

all night long - skip james

you can find me riding in the woods somewhere mama... 


skin game blues - peg leg howell

a how-to manual on making it through this evil cracker world as a natural born easeman who ain't got to work. occasionally your sunday clothes will be in pawn. the tour de force will deliver tours in France soon enough but there's work still to do along the 6 string freeway. 

The Night Green Side of It

 



It seems every five years the necessary reagents are gathered, the requisite rituals are actualized and a reliable tailwind persists in pushing the ruby yacht to port. From the center most chambers, in the belly of that noble vessel, we would do well to find two, brand new and ancient scientists of zen at work. Doused in the obsidian of meditation, steering this beleaguered and hulking craft from the cabin of the inner mind’s eye, a control panel lit with neon sonnets.

They weren’t aware until its completion but it had obviously been a trilogy. Much more will than skill. The initial busybodying so the flies don’t come. Of course, evenings were spent pouring over the purple moonlight pages. We have heard the day speak, we have felt the sun’s unrelenting, wide eyed takes. We gather now to listen to the night green side of it. To wit, to let the shadow spit. Black magic is compounded. Suppose the blues were bentonic but the jazz was bebop and the raps were free. They didn’t bend notes so much as slide on ‘em. Salt is white. Seasoned salt is orange and has a first name. This knowledge becomes vital at the crossroads where titles are passwords. Don't look back.

Kenny Segal is an impractical joker. The unassuming assassin is known in celebrated, educated parabolas for being the ambassador of festive at the junction of peril and head nod. Reliable innovator of bass frequencies and cartographer of sonic maps. He manages a new zodiac on this particular spin of the samsaric cycle. Where does one travel after leaving hell? Kenny Segal knows.

The poetic responsibilities are helmed by R.A.P. Ferreira. His ear is indigo now. The ink remains verdant but the sun is setting. We are in the twilight of someone’s idol, remembering how to rap with a hammer. The ruby yacht is a battle ship with a law library. Back to that old chestnut, the rapper is a magician. Perhaps something more sinister applies to tricks? It’s after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet?

The night green side of it makes promises, keeps them. Creates hurdles, leaps them. The mumbo jumbo continues to pool out of the yellow back radio, even after it broke down. All the proof we need that the ruby yacht is eternal.

blues gig of the year aug 22nd 2025

 


pull up on me, i'm fitna be out west shortly. 

OUTSTANDING UNDERSTANDING vinyl & the auction house

 

because i insist on being involved in every level of my art's production and handling, i have tried to scale upward my operation to the best of my ability and have ordered, in the past, quantities like some 2000 of an album to facilitate retail possibility. as is the norm, i have engaged in internet commerce and somewhat struggled to deal with customer service and shipping blunders. most of this stuff i take on the chin, i have no training and no investors, no safety net but also no regulator and no boss. life is good. 

because i have done all this work i have, in the past, insisted on pricing my work at a premium. this has been bemoaned by some and i do not want anyone to feel me callous. 
so, i thought to create the soulfolks auction house. 

there are 142 days remaining in the year, 143 when we launched this project to the public. i will be auctioning off one copy of OUTSTANDING UNDERSTANDING on vinyl every day until 2026. 

there is a "Buy Now" feature priced at 1,000$. 

to secure your copy on wax, click here


BACK OUTSIDE








R.A.P. Ferreira & BLAX keep the neohoodoo in orbit bringing the phOnk westward. dates and tickets below:

THU 6/12 Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
FRI 6/13 Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou's
SAT 6/14 Olympia, WA @ The Mortuary
SUN 6/15 Corvallis, OR @ Bombs Away Cafe
MON 6/16 Sacramento, CA @ Colony Cafe
WED 6/18 San Francisco, CA @ Neck of the Woods
THU 6/19 Los Angeles, CA @ The Paramount
FRI 6/20 Yuma, AZ @ Western Club
SAT 6/21 Phoenix, AZ @ Trill
SUN 6/22 Albuquerque, NM @ Spirit Stage
TUE 6/24 Colorado Springs, CO @ What’s Left Records
WED 6/25 Denver, CO @ Hi Dive

situations & spectacle tour

 back on that lonesome trail yet again. joined by my homie BLAX. from the atlantic northeast all the way down to the panhandle of that florida. come catch us readin from the spell book. 






APRIL 2025 
R.A.P. FERREIRA & BLAX
THE SITUATIONS & SPECTACLE TOUR

4/9 - Portland, ME @ SPACE (tickets)
4/11 - Burlington, VT @ Light Club Lamp Shop (tickets)
4/12 - Boston, MA @ the Lilypad (tickets)
4/13 - Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere Space Zone One (tickets)
4/14 - Washington, DC @ Songbyrd (tickets)
4/15 - Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie (tickets)
4/16 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Smiling Moose (tickets)
4/17 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern (tickets)
4/18 - Cincinnati, OH @ Madison Live (tickets)
4/19 - Chicago, IL @ Gman Tavern (tickets)
4/20 - Iowa City, IA @ Gabe's (tickets)
4/21 - Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon (tickets)
4/23 - Indianapolis, IN @ Hoosier Dome (tickets)
4/24 - Nashville, TN @ Drkmttr (tickets)
4/26 - Orlando, FL @ Conduit (tickets)
4/28 - Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 (tickets)
4/29 - Charlotte, NC @ Snug Harbor (tickets)

WE DAZZLE ON THE CASUAL

peace world

as you know the phOnk stops for no one and when duty fails to call, the soulfolk still show up.

it's been a long road and word is it's only been lengthening. 

our friends at Scenario 2024 have given us a stage, a night, an opportunity to say what the moment and the poem demand.

humbly we present WE DAZZLE ON THE CASUAL, a ruby yacht demonstration of poem power.


April 10th, 2024 at the Regent in downtown LA. 

you are cordially invited

tickets available here 



ORFEU