Ummmmm if you don’t like this album then I’m pretty sure you don’t like hip hop and you need to go bump some Lady Gaga asap. If on the other hand you are chillin on the right side of the hip hop fence where the grass is greener (pun intended), then you are gonna be in an underground paradise. I’m honestly super surprised that this album came out within the last five years because it has such a dope old-school vibe. I feel like these days rappers go one of two ways: They are either intelligent and borderline corny or they are raw but dumb as fuck. Enter Brothaz Bent who thankfully offer up a good dose of smart gangsterism. The best of both worlds if you ask me. I sit in awe at the beats on this album matched with the prime story telling skills. This is basically a day-dreamers dream come true. Turntablism and escapism, dream on hip hoppers.
Lets be real, there are times when underground hip hop all starts to sound the same. It can leave you feeling like you need to go cleanse your listening palatte with some punk rock, reggae, pop, shit anything that sounds different. But I love my hippity hop so much that it would be nice if I could stay in the same genre but get my fix of a different vibe, enter Beans, former member of Antipop Consortium. Dude is a mix of deep bass lines, funky beats, rapid flow, techno and disco? Hey I can dig it, at times I like a little disco with my hip hop. All I know is that he was promoting sci-fi futuristic beats before it was cool ie. now. Only this album came out in 2004, ahead of his time much? I say yes and I also say thank you for abberating. Notice how I have thrown out like 800 different adjectives to describe his music and none of which generally go together? That is exactly what this album feels like. A little hard to define. You probably won’t like every track but you will be intrigued by the large majority. As a hip hop equivalent of a ‘foodie’ I would say Beans is like eating some sea urchin or a PB&J & jalapeno pizza. So eat up the weirdness but goodness.
The thing about people who are HIGHLY sarcastic is that 9 times out of 10 they are fucking geniuses. Case in point: Mac Lethal. Dude has jokes for eternity but when you take a minute to listen to his lyrics you realize that his understanding of life, politics, society, the human condition etc is so incredibly on point. This album contains the perfect mix of humor and real life shit. I don’t think most people realize how smart this guy actually is because he masks his intelligence so well with his crassness and blatant sarcasm. But the thing is smart people like humor too which makes Mac the perfect choice for the cool nerd. He serves up jokes along side his though-provoking lyrical bombs. Do yourself a favor and listen to an entire album of his and I am pretty confident that you will be able to respect him not only for his unapoligetic crude humor but also for his uncanny ability to observe and describe this experience called life.
Production: Lenny D, Lazerbeak, Seven
Label: Rhymesayers
Mac Lethal – ‘Calm Down Baby’
This is a dope lil freestyle from Mac, his skills are pretty legit and hilarious…
Oooowwweeee I don’t know what it is about hip hop collectives that I appreciate so damn much. Doomtree belongs in the same breath as Living Legends, Sandpeople, The Visionaries etc. The hip hop talent oozing out of Minnesota is staggering. I don’t try to understand how that much talent has emerged from such an unexpected place but I do support it, every little dope morsel of it. Doomtree has a little bit of a harshness to them that is like when you have to look at yourself in the mirror after a night of too much drinking and regrets. A dose of reality with a tinge of hope weaving between the lines. The individual stylings of Cecil Otter (stylin on yo ass), Dessa (wordplay for dayyyyyys), P.O.S. (crazzzzy fast flow), Sims (Honesty is his best policy) and Mike Mictlan (badass voice) keep things fresh and diversified. Beats are supplied by Lazerbeak, MK Larada and Paper Tiger. For some reason I feel like a lot of these tracks have a movie soundtrack quality because the images they create in your mind are so vivid. Put this hip hop fam-bam on your radar.
Sapient would be such a nerd if he wasn’t so god damn cool. I mean dude just has an attitude that is equal parts ‘fuck the world’ and ‘I love everybody’. Seriously one of the absolute nicest and most respectful emcees that I have ever met. And when it comes to his music honesty is the game he plays and he has no qualms about talking about the REAL life that he is living. No gimmicks or tall tales leak into his rhyme schemes. Interesting how you can still grab a fanbase talking about the day to day things that most of us are going through instead of drawing up these crazy imaginary lifestyles that not only is nobody actually living but nobody can relate to either. When it comes down to it Sapient is a family man who is just struggling to find himself in the world and make sense of his existence. I find myself in that same boat so his music definitely appeals to me and leaves me feeling like I have a friend out in Portland who understands my plight.
I remember this being one of the first underground albums that I listened to that took me away from the world and placed me temporarily into a much better reality. One thing I love about hip hop and music in general is that it is a perfect escapism tool. For better or worse sometimes we just need to get away from life and pretend that a more pleasant parallel universe exists. This album much like others from the Living Legends crew serves as a lesson in westcoast hip hop 101. Eligh and The Grouch represent qualities that I think almost any hip hop fan can respect whether you are someone who values insightful and thoughtful lyrics or if you have a beats, beats, beats mentality. They prove that you don’t have to be dumb to have a song that bumps and you don’t have to be a nerd to be smart. Sometimes nice guys do in fact finish first.
Production: Eligh, The Grouch
Features: Abstract Rude, Aesop Rock, Luckyiam, Pep Love, Sunspot Jonz, Toons
Label: Legendary Music
The Grouch & Eligh – ‘Mind Over Matter ft. Luckyiam’
The Grouch & Eligh – ‘Moments Like This ft. Sunspot Jonz’
Some record labels have just done things right and don’t have a weak link in their entire arsenal. Quannum Projects happens to be one of those lovely examples where you can randomly pick an album from their collective and you can be pretty confident that good music is en route to your eardrums. This album is sprinkled with the talents of Gift of Gab, Lateef The Truth Speaker, Latyrx, Blackalicious, DJ Shadow and etc. It satisfies your need for both variety as well as an underlying cohesion of sound as all these artists cater to head bobbing beats and smooth deliveries. I recommend busting this album out when you are in the mood for shuffling your playlist but want to be sure that every track hits the spot. PS: Latyrx’s track ‘Latyrx (Last Chance To Comprehend) might in fact drive you crazy BUT it is a track that should be experienced at least once just for it’s sheer unorthadox delivery.
Production: Chief Xcel, DJ Shadow, Lyrics Born
Features: Blackalicious, Chief Xcel, Gift of Gab, DJ Shadow, Lateef The Truth Speaker, Latyrx, Lyrics Born, Mack B. Dog
First and foremost Eligh is a poet. Instead of using a blank sheet of paper to display his art he chooses bass filled beats as the backdrop of his masterpieces. Like a fine wine this album seems to get better with age. With each successive listen I find myself more and more satisfied and intrigued. It’s enjoyable watching Eligh’s style, personality and wisdom evolve over time. I think one thing that has improved on this album is the clarity of Eligh’s flow. It is no secret that Eligh can rap fast but sometimes rappers like this can alienate their audience by rapping too fast and leaving their listeners a little lost. This album has found the happy medium of those ever impressive quick rap skills with the balance of clarity. Rapping quickly is a skill that is left for only a select few but the amount of fast-rapping emcees that actually articulate well enough to make their lyrics accessible is far fewer still. Aside from flow, Eligh gives us behind the scenes access to his struggles with drug use, low self-esteem and confusion over his place in this world. Yet even through tough subject matter the underlying tone of this album is very positive and hopeful indeed. You can’t help but feel complete compassion for Eligh after listening to this album and a sense of wanting to be part of his movement for a better world.
Production: Eligh
Features: Aesop Rock, Basik, Brother Ali, Inspired Flight, K-Flay, Lisa Ahlstrom, Luckyiam, Marty James, Paris Hayes, Paul Datah, Pigeon John, Rifleman, Scarub, The Grouch, Zumbi
Trying to describe the incredible word play of Sage Francis using words is like trying to show someone what Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’ looks like using college ruled notebook paper and magic markers. Sage is a word play guru, a lyrical mastermind, a maverick of discourse. His metaphors have metaphors, his verses have their own neuroses and his ability to make you an interactive player in his complex stories is nothing less than wonderful. I feel as though a lot of hip hop today is good background music meaning that if you are listening to it while doing other things and only halfway paying attention then it will probably sound pretty good. But if you take a second to really hone in on the lyrics and repetitive loops then you will quickly realize that you have been dupped by gimmicks and tiresome lyrics. This is not the case with what Sage is serving. He creates completely interactive music that requires attention and ample amounts of focus in order to fully appreciate his form of hip hop. I know I know, this sounds like work right? Well cultivating an appreciation for highly lyrical hip hop is much like learning how to ride a bike. At first it sucks. You fall, you doubt yourself, you scrape your knee. But slowly you find your balance, you gain confidence, you get a feel for how all the parts of the bike work together. And finally you look back at that person who is holding onto your bike for support and with an excited smile you say, “Okay, you can let go.” And you go. And you are free. This is what it is like when you first listen to complex and wordy hip hop. At first it sucks. You can’t keep up with the lyrics, you feel dumb for not understanding what they are talking about, you let the outside world distract you from focusing on what the emcee is spitting and you want to listen to something ‘easier’. But slowly you find your balance, you pick up on one of the metaphors and are amazed by its depth and complexity, you lose yourself in the storybook of a track without a chance of the outside world stealing away your attention, you find yourself awestruck by the ideas, poetry and creativity dripping beautifully into your conscience. And finally you look at that long list of artists in your I-Pod and with an excited smile you say to yourself, “Damn, I really wanna listen to that Sage Francis album.” And you listen. And you are free.
Production: Alias, Controller 7, DJ Mek, DJ Signify, Jel, Joe Beats, Mayonnaise, Mike 2600, Mr. Dibbs, Odd Nosdam, Reanimator, Scott Matelic, Sixtoo
What can I say about Kool Keith that hasn’t already been said about all functional crazy people/potential aliens? He definitely wins the Guiness Record for creativity in a purely insane sense. The lyrics on this album remind me of when you freewrite something and just go apeshit writing down whatever comes into your mind as this mass stream of consciousness. The difference though being that for some reason Kool Keith’s stream of consciousness actually ends up making sense while most people are left with pages full of dribble. I think this album can better be described by what it is not as opposed to what it is. It is not for someone who likes to listen to albums that sound like anything else ever made in the history of the world. It is not for people who are easiy offended in really any way at all. It is not for the sexually shy, the logic lovers, un-abstract thinkers, the braindead drones or the people who only listen to the beats and not the lyrics. Although shout out to Dan the Automator for making sure that the beats weren’t lacking in any way, shape or form. And lastly it’s not for people who get a little uncomfortable when things get taken outside of the box. If after all that you still qualify as someone who may potentially dig this kind of album then by all means take a peak. You never know you might just find something awesome in an album full of weird. And for those of you who really like your music dirty, audioporn style, then you should make sure to check out Kool Keith’s album ‘Sex Styles’. That album is so wrong that it is oh so right.
