Despite his vast archive of personalized answering machine greetings, the 16-bar promos he rapped for KMEL DJ Rick Chase in the early ’90s — using Raw D.’s “I Got the Power” and Chubb Rock’s “Treat ‘Em Right” as backing tracks — and his legendary stint on the World Famous Wake-Up Show, the Hayward emcee Motion Man says he used to hate hearing his voice on tape. “I wasn’t the biggest fan of my voice,” he admits. “I would leave raps on my answering machines, people would call and be like, ‘Yo, you should put that on records.’ I thought I sounded like a little kid or something.” Which isn’t to say this guy is uh, modest.
Motion Man is, after all, a self-confessed ass fetishist. In fact, he’s one of those emcees who might be walking through the mall one day, get blind-sided by a big beautiful booty girl, and forget why he came there in the first place. Fortunately, big beautiful booty is also grist for his art. This year’s long-awaited release, Pablito’s Way, features a garbled, inspired panegyric to the ass of Rasheda Laquita Johnson (appropriately titled “Dat Ass”) over a Donald B. sample. Were that alone not worth the price of admission, the album also boasts cheeky cameos by Too $hort (download “Top Down”) and Mistah F.A.B., and heavy metal guitar riffs — this rapper is, after all, an unabashed Van Halen fan. Motion Man opens for Del tha Funky Homosapien this Thursday at the Fillmore. The show kicks off at 8 p.m. and costs $25.
