Tony Norman: The bombastic antics of KMOS & Selecta on ‘Bringing ’88 Back’

“Who is that Black dude and ‘dat Jewish cat / Bringing hip-hop music back / just heard their newest track.” — from “Global Movement” by KMOS & Selecta.

If you’re inclined to give KMOS (Khari Mosley) and Selecta (Jim Scoglietti)’s full-length debut release “Bringing ’88 Back” a fair listen, you’ll find yourself smiling, nodding and feeling optimistic about local hip-hop with an old-school twist for the first time in years.

For Mosley, who was elected to represent District 9 on Pittsburgh City Council last year, and Scoglietti, the owner and founder of 720 Records, “Bringing ’88 Back” is a chronicle of dues paid as well as the tangible culmination of a two-decade-long partnership in a genre that has entranced them both since their formative years on the North Side and Squirrel Hill in the 1980s.

When asked when they first met, they have a hard time pinning down the exact year, but agree that it was in the early 2000s at the now defunct Shadow Lounge in East Liberty and that introductions were made at some point by the rapper’s brother, Anire Mosley, and their first cousin, a DJ who goes by the name Arnie P.

Scoglietti gets animated recalling those days at the Shadow Lounge. He was deeply impressed with Mosley’s skills on the mic and was eager to work with him, especially when it became obvious that the nascent rapper didn’t mind driving him to and from the venue that had became a second home to both of them several times a week. 

Scoglietti didn’t have a driver’s license (still doesn’t) but Mosley, who grew up on Liverpool Street on the North Side and had a car, didn’t mind taking the extra step if it meant working with someone as attuned to his own artistic journey as his collaborator from the East End was.

Whether you agree with KMOS (pronounced Kay-MOSE) and Selecta that they’re the “new Eric B and Rakim” or “the illest duo you’ve seen since Woody and Wes Snipes” as KMOS raps with tongue firmly planted in cheek toward the end of the introductory track of “Bringing ’88 Back” depends on your affection for Ron Shelton’s 1992 basketball classic “White Men Can’t Jump.”

It’s as if Mosley is at times daring you to call him corny, especially when the same song referring to basketball court hustlers contains lyrics like “Prophetic, poetical phonetics / if ‘MOS said it / no co-writer or ghost edits / just don’t jet before you check out the post-credits” and “Peep it / not being conceited, bro / those who tried to sleep the flow / right now is eating crow / I’m the seasoned pro / undefeated the people know / they witness history when KMOS emcee a show.”

“Bringing ’88 Back” is a love letter to an era of hip-hop excellence that many consider the genre’s golden age. It is unabashedly retro, but never ponderous. You either get the cultural references and the playful vibes of those times or you don’t.

KMOS and Selecta use their experience in hip-hop’s trenches to speak to the particularity of the moment with both cheekiness and fiery indignation.

What the record is and isn’t

What you’ll hear on the album that clocks in at 46 minutes is a celebration of an art form that has been through many iterations a half century after its birth in the Bronx. That was when poverty forced Black and Hispanic youth to freestyle into existence what would eventually become a multibillion-dollar global music industry.

What you won’t hear on this record is a degradation of Black people, women, sexual minorities, gratuitous violence, gunfire, stupid skits or the ubiquitous n-word. 

There are plenty of cuss words on “Bringing ’88 Back” to be sure, but they’re uttered in the service of a narrative. It’s a narrative that tells a track-by-track tale of two artists navigating personal challenges during an era of deindustrialization, gentrification and the political sleight-of-hand required to maintain the illusion of equity in the “most livable city.” 

This is particularly ironic for Mosley, a longtime participant in local grassroots politics who is now the chairperson of City Council’s Intergovernmental Affairs and Education Committee. 

A former political outsider, Mosley now has actual influence on the city’s future. If his lyrics are any indication, he understands what many of Pittsburgh’s biggest problems are. It will be interesting to see how he deals with them: 

“Where I’m from is trapped between a big city and a cozy village / Between the broken bridges and the phony image / promoted by the folks with privilege who throw they spinach / around town so they can plot which blocks to go an’ pillage / Between a selfie seen through smoky tinted rosy lenses / And the sections where citizens feels so defenseless / The horror show is endless, so relentless, bro, it’s senseless / the disparities are so tremendous — from “Tale of 2 Cities, Part 2”

While hip-hop is generally associated with youth culture, “Bringing ’88 Back” sounds refreshingly grown-up because it is more dependent on classic beats and astute word play than quick dopamine hits that may go down easy, but leave no lasting impression. 

That’s not surprising given that Mosley and Scoglietti have been practicing and refining their collaboration longer than many current chart-toppers have been alive. Neither KMOS or Selecta is chasing the almighty buck, but both are aware that opportunities may be slipping away as their hair gets grayer and young bucks with far less interesting stories to tell question their right to “headline a tour.”

“Bringing ’88 Back” is KMOS & Selecta’s way of planting a flag on the music genre they’ve loved for more than half their lives. Because they’ve been around so long, they’ve both lived rich and interesting lives. 

Dealing with Detroit

Mosley is in a position to translate his experience into lyrics and he doesn’t shrink from rapping about what happened the night he and his wife, Common Pleas Judge Chelsa Wagner who was the Allegheny County Controller at the time, were cuffed by Detroit police at their hotel after attending a concert in early March 2019.

Mosley was accused of disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit, but neither the video evidence nor the police or hotel worker testimony held up at his trial months later. He was acquitted of the misdemeanor charges during a short trial months later.

Still, the arrest and the unjust treatment Mosley and Wagner experienced at the hands of law enforcement reverberate on several bars of “Bringing ’88 Back.” 

The lyrics to “KMOS” spell out what happened to the couple far better than any news article ever could:

“So bogus how they tried to railroad me / Didn’t know the one and only Marvelous Mr. Mosley / low key, they trolled me hoping they’d provoke me / to react so they’d be justified to choke me up and smoke me. / Wifey had questions when the police tried to brodie his way into the room to cuff me up and throw me / out the Marriott, said I wasn’t a guest / Next day they tried to run to the press, saying the brother’s a mess / We thought his wife was under duress / They called the cops and said that I was reaching under the fresh / ‘Lo Tech joggin’ suit that covered my flesh / Some would suggest they hating on a brother’s success / Big Phill said you see how the brother was dressed? / With cuffs on still the motherf***er was fresh.”

In production

“Bringing ’88 Back” benefited from the talent of “six or seven producers.” Contrary to what this writer assumed, Selecta had no input into creating the actual beats. “I’m one of the few DJs around with no interest in production,” Scoglietti said with a laugh, adding that he plays and scratches the songs and beats Mosley has selected and provided. 

The cover of the album is a 1988 photo taken at the Three Rivers Arts Festival by Christian Raab, an Austrian grad school student at the University of Pittsburgh who was taking pictures of young people hanging out at the Point that day.

When Mosley was researching photos for the album cover that exemplified the spirit of young Black Pittsburghers of that era who were as immersed in hip-hop culture as he was, he was immediately drawn to Raab’s black-and-white photo. It was a perfect fit for the mood of the songs he was crafting.

Mosley searched for Raab online, found him and asked his permission to use the image, which the photographer granted. He was flattered to be a part of any project celebrating classic hip-hop in Pittsburgh.

Unless he’s off the clock, relaxing with his family or attending a cultural event, Mosley is rarely seen without his trademark bow ties or tasteful suits. He cultivates the image of a man who knows perception is everything in a town like Pittsburgh whether that’s fair or not.

“It is the honor of my life to serve on Pittsburgh City Council,” Mosley said of his day job. “While my team and I have focused on constituent services, policymaking and building strategic alliances, we remain committed to honoring the rich cultural legacy of the giants who rose out of the communities I represent. 

“It is imperative that we chronicle, celebrate and contribute to the treasured traditions we have inherited from so many iconic talents that came before us.”

Where’s Pittsburgh at?

It takes both a sense of history and a sense of humor to listen to so much joy, braggadocio and old-fashioned beat smarts crammed into the grooves of “Bringing ’88 Back.” The record is never embarrassed about hyping itself the way the best hip-hop records did three decades ago.

“Ain’t playin’ games or half-steppin’ / I had lessons that seemed like curses / transform to mad blessings / We on a path destined for greatness from lab sessions / To live shows, man, we be in our bag flexin’ / It’s ironic how now we’re iconic for bringing back what ya’ll been missing, but why flaunt it / No bionics, sly comments, just fly garments / You know the joint’s hot if you heard I rhyme on it / At me and James’ functions ain’t no strange disruptions / just cuts and rhymes complimenting insane production / I’m known throughout the ‘Burgh like my last name’s McCutchen / We won’t stop ’til we get that hall of fame induction.” — from “Where’s Pittsburgh At?”

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