Black Sheep reborn

The last time Black Sheep were a dominant force in the hip-hop world was about a dozen years ago — a lifetime for a rap artist.

But Black Sheep is mounting a comeback, part of which includes a show Saturday at the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa.

So what took the group so long?

Considering the duo’s disappointing sales of the sophomore album, it’s understandable why Black Sheep took its time reemerging onto the hip-hop scene. MC Dres, whose real name is Andre Titus, wanted to make sure he got it right.

“We’re taking baby steps,” he said. “We’re just doing it on our terms.”

As gangsta rap was emerging in the early 1990s, the hip-hop duo Black Sheep gave listeners an alternative, even parodying the genre.

The duo joined the Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul to form the Native Tongues crew, and had hits in 1992 with “The Choice is Yours” and “Strobelight Honey.”

Dres, will step up to the mike Saturday, pairing up with the Jungle Brothers’ DJ Sammie B, whose real name is Sammy Burwell.

On Tuesday, Black Sheep’s new single “Whodat” will drop, with “8WM/Novakane,” an exclusively digital album, to follow next month. Although he said he has matured since making his first albums, the music still has its signature style.

“I think people will definitely recognize it as far as being Black Sheep material, but at the end of the day, there’s a certain amount of growth that comes with any artist,” Dres said. “I’ve been in the game so long, so there’s an amount of growth that is apparent in the music.”

The music remains rooted in R&B;, soul and jazz, with a quality not necessarily seen in many current popular rap artists topping the charts. That being said, he can appreciate that his peers are making money at what they love, but he saw this time as the right moment to reintroduce Black Sheep.

“I feel like it’s a good thing the game has become what it has,” he said. “Cats can drop a single these days and become a multimillionaire, and that’s good for us as a people to have an effect to that degree and create revenue to that degree, but now it’s time to really focus.

“I’m glad cats are getting tired of what’s going on and want something that’s a little more relevant. Cats like me are just here to throw that out as an option…. The music isn’t saying a lot — everybody’s having fun, but we need to do something beyond that. We can’t raise our children to that, and music has the power to do that; we can raise a world with music.”

Dres can relate to the impulse to just have fun with hip-hop. When they were recording and hanging out, they were just competing for laughs and the music followed in their heyday.

“A lot of it was really just trying to make the cats around us laugh — it was all cool; it was all love,” Dres said about his recording days with the Native Tongues crew. “We were competitive — I don’t say it in the mean sense of the word — but to say we all wanted to amuse one another and impress one another.”

Dres is at home on the microphone and when he’s creating music. He enjoys performing for both camps of listeners, those who are fans and those who may not know the music.

“I think it’s just a very intense, high-energy show. It’s fun,” he said. “You walk away kind of reliving a part of life, or if you weren’t there, you’re introduced to an era. I feel like a live performance is Black Sheep at its best.”

The Detroit Bar is known for its eclectic lineups each week, incorporating comedy, rock, hip-hop, Brazilian music, house music and many other genres of entertainment. It’s important for the bar’s owners and managers to keep a variety of acts on the marquee, although sometimes it makes it difficult to keep a steady crowd each night.

“That’s the diversity of it all, but sometimes it’s our biggest curse,” said booking manager Chris Fahey. “Sometimes at the end of the month, it was a rough month, but we had to take a chance.”

The Detroit Bar has gained recognition as a music and entertainment venue rather than just an average watering hole.

“We’re always trying to do something that opens that door to us and utilizes the bar aspect of Detroit,” Fahey said. “Then again, being a venue — it’s more about providing entertainment and different themes and different kinds of music.”

Detroit Bar isn’t new to the hip-hop game, although it doesn’t promote thug or gangsta rap. Four out of five members of Jurassic Five have performed, as well as members of Digable Planets. The Black Sheep show was organized by Abstract Workshop, a hip-hop crew in Costa Mesa dedicated to promoting artists.

“When we got the offer, it was a no-brainer,” Fahey said. “We get behind them [Abstract Workshop] a lot; plus Black Sheep are good.”

Drunken Imoortals and Trybunal will open for Black Sheep, and the Abstract Workshop crew, DJs Cocoe Tsimahidis, Scotty Coats and Josh One will be on the turntables. Live art by Dumper Foo, whose real name is Adam Dumper, will also be on display.