A Sucker Emcee
Craig ‘muMs’ Grant and DJ Rich Medina
in a scene from A Sucker Emcee
(Photo credit: Monique Carboni)
“Mom took me to see plays. Pop took me to see Shaft,” are among the numerous childhood memories recalled by Craig ‘muMs’ Grant in his engrossing autobiographical solo performance show, A Sucker Emcee, presented by the Labyrinth Theater Company.
For just over an hour, he delivers an enthralling poetry slam style, spoken word, stream of consciousness monologue that is humorous and dramatic. His description of his early Bronx days is particularly effective with the use of fierce visual imagery.
“The sun shines on The Bronx just the same…The Bronx shall fend for itself…”
He grew up shy and detached there in the 1970’s, where poverty, gangs, and desolation reigned.
“Fighting among themselves for territory and worth amongst the ash of a burning Bronx fast becoming an afterthought in a city of asphalt and dreams, Broken Can You dig it. A switchblade and a leather jacket. A need to belong to something other than the vast nothing.”
“Before hip-hop, I couldn’t speak, I suffered from crippling shyness, and I had no voice.” His epiphany came from television. Seeing the pioneer hip-hop group, Funky Four Plus One More perform on Saturday Night Live, inspired him to pursue that creative outlet for himself. This goal was to become an emcee, also known as a rapper performing his own original material.
Later on in life while performing in a rap group he was told his name was too bland. Since he reminded fellow group members of the Dick Tracy villain Mumbles, he took that, later shortening it as his middle name.
After nearly going to West Point on a football scholarship, then dropping out of college in Virginia, he fell into drug dealing. Starting over in New York City, he became a nurse’s aide, and after years of performing at The Nuyorican Poets Café, he became a fixture there. This led to his being discovered and cast on HBO’s prison crime drama, OZ, as the inmate character “Poet.”
“I’m not really an actor. How much does it pay?”
“$580 a day.”
“I quit the hospital.”
Standing, gesturing, and dancing, on a small bare stage at a microphone, he is accompanied off to the side, by the lanky and personable DJ Rich Medina. Using two turntables, he masterfully spins well-chosen music that complements Grant’s performance.
A hilarious highlight of the show is Grant’s recreation of one of his most successful Nuyorican Poets Café routines. “I hate these goddam Roach Motels and Boric acid!” he exclaims as a cockroach with great, evocative physicality.
Director Jenny Koons has shaped this story into a very well-crafted theater piece that is enhanced by Bradley King’s moodily shifting lighting design. The sound design by Jessica Paz artfully modulates the often loud music so that it never overwhelms the spoken portions of the show. Seemingly just a minimal black box, the set design by David Meyer, has purposefully reconfigured the Bank Street Theater’s playing area to starkly thrust Grant front and center to great effect where he bares his soul.
With expert mimicry, he recreates figures from his life such as boyhood friends, a teacher, and his parents. He also gives a documentary treatment to the times he lived in, explaining the origins and impact of hi-hop. “An emcee moves the crowd…”
With his sharp writing and dynamic performing of A Sucker Emcee, Craig ‘muMs’ Grant tremendously moves the crowd.
A Sucker Emcee (through October 5, 2014)
Labyrinth Theater Company
Bank Street, 155 Bank Street, in Manhattan
For tickets, call 212-513-1080 or visit http://www.labtheater.org
Running time: 70 minutes without an intermission
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