Archive for October, 2005

Artist: Danger Mouse & MF Doom

Reviewer: DJ MF

Quick, name the best MC of the last 3 years.

Okay, now name the best producer of the last 3 years.

Perfect.

Now, if you answered anything other than MF Doom for both questions, you need a slap upside the head. Count me among the late converts- it took me a while to get into Madvillain. It took me a while to get into Viktor Vaughn. Same with King Gheedorah. But when the truth finally knocked me upside my large skull, it was an epiphany. Doom is JUST THAT GOOD.

Now another question – remember all those remixes of Jay-Z’s ‘Black Album’ a few years back? Who had the best one? Kev Brown? Nah, too boring. Black Jays? Nah, too Canadian. 9th Wonder? Nah, too Frooty Looped. The best remix album was definitely Danger Mouse’s “The Grey Album” which used lots of Beatles samples to deftly craft something that recognized the past while still moving forward.

On “Mouse & The Mask”, we don’t get any Beatles samples, but what we do get once again proves without a shadow of a doubt that Doom is THE top hip hop act in the world right now. Filled with quirky samples, quirky vocal clips (from Adult Swim cartoons), and the slurred/smooth delivery of MF Doom, “Mouse & The Mask” quickly jumps to the top of the heap as one of the best albums of 2005.

At his best moments on the LP, Danger Mouse constructs beats that ape the sound of MF Doom’s latest LP, “MM Food”, and Doom does what Doom does best- ramble about everything from how dope he is, to reference obscure cartoon/comic characters, to 16 bars of rhyming the same last word. You’ll be drawn into this album immediately by the first three tracks- ‘El Chupa Nibre’ utilizes a haunting electronic flute and a gorgeous breakbeat. ‘Sofa King’, the standout track of the LP uses a slowed down fiddle sample as a base that zig zags between Doom’s stream of conscious flow in a brilliant fashion, and also features my favorite TV clips (say Sofa King fast to yourself). The third track of the triumvirate, ‘The Mask’ gets around to pairing the MC in the mainstream most compared to Doom- Ghostface Killah, and in a preview of an album we’ll hear next year from the duo, does not disappoint in the least.

Luckily, the whole album isn’t just straight up stream of conscious Doom raps- there are some concepts present. Doom tries to steal Space Ghost’s talk show on ‘Space Hoes’ over a tripped out whistle sample provided by Danger Mouse, and on ‘A.T.H.F.’, Doom battles characters Shake and Meatwad to amusing results. ‘Benzie Box’, which features a hella smoothed out chorus by Cee Lo, and a buzzing funked out, and actually DANCEABLE bassline from Danger Mouse, addresses some of the played out playerisms of the genre.

In what seems to be an inevitable climb to mainstream success, Doom and Danger Mouse have created the most accessible album of MF’s career – it doesn’t falter at any point, it is consistently dope with the lyrics and beats throughout, and still manages to keep the quirkiness of both artists that their longtime fans adore. It’s not a classic because I don’t think it necessarily breaks any new ground for either artist, but it is one of the better albums of this year. Cross your fingers that this continues.

Sofa king we Todd it indeed.

Artist: Juice

Reviewer: Joe Castro

Juice is one of the illest battle emcees of all time (if you think that is an overstatement – ask the person sitting next to you), but do you know what else he is? On , his latest album, Juice attempts to answer that question in as many ways as possible.

First off, Juice would like you to know he’s more than an adequate songwriter. If you’re like most people who’ve only heard him battle, then he addresses most of the album to you. Juice steps away from the battle front to craft ideas, concepts, and accomplish the overrall goal of a musician (making solid songs) with a few of the tracks on the album.

Depending upon how high of a standard you try to hold him to, he pulls this off fairly well. On ‘Sick of Hustlin’, Juice and guest Marvo take the time to reflect on the ills, experiences, and observations that accrue in the life of a hustler. Its a decent track and one which definitely prepares the crowd for a side of Juice they may not have yet become aquainted with. ‘Weekend Girl’ finds Juice trading lines with guest Profound. As the title would suggest this song is about a certain type of girl that can be best described with the words “never spend the night with her / never spend the day with her / if we play it cool / we can both have our way with her.” Another standout on the album is ‘All U Got’, which gives Juice the chance to, well just be ill. In that same vein, be sure to check out ‘I Rap Like’.

Second, even though underground acclaim has been synonymous with being a starving artist, Juice wants you to know he ain’t broke. He seeks to reaffirm this with tracks such as ‘J.U.I.C.E.’, ‘Money’, and ‘All Bets Off’. Although these are not bad tracks at all (the production is a tad generic), you can tell Juice made these tracks for heads who may not grasp what he’s really trying to do with the rest of the album. Worth a listen, but they won’t make you work your fingers on the rewind button as hard as you may on other joints on the album.

Another thing Juice wants you to know is he ain’t no punk. A handful of gun references, beat down references, shouts to sets in the Windy City, and some love shown to his West Coast gang affiliations on a few cuts – nuff said.

Regardless of what new ideas Juice wants to impress on the listener about himself with this album, he wants you to never forget that he’s a battle rapper. You’d be hard-pressed to find a single cut on the album where he doesn’t take at least a brief second to grab his own manhood and spit on other weak emcees in the process. The album strays away from the typical ‘battle emcee’ material, but if you are used to hearing Juice just go off the dome in a ridiculous fashion there are a couple interludes of him lyrically excercising. Also check ‘Thanks For Having Me’. That last remark Juice makes with ‘All Bets Off’ is that he’s repping Chicago, hard. Validate this by listening to any track on the album, but specifically ‘Walk With Me’ which plays out like a Chicago traffic report featuring appearances by Paul Masson, Ronnie Black, and C Major. Most Chicago heads can appreciate lines like “stick ball / playing dice by the brick wall / say bloody Mary three times, that bitch will get y’all” on the song ‘Black’.

One weakness as a whole on the album is that some of the production can get slightly monotonous, which can hold this offering back a little. However, it’s respectable because Juice opts out of using big name producers, which gives the up and coming producers opportunity on this album to shine and show promise. So to answer the question of who he is, it turns out he’s everything you thought he was and quite a bit of what you may have thought he wasn’t.

Artist: Josh Martinez

Reviewer: A to the L

Hmmm… nice artwork. That’s the first thing that hits you. If you’re already familiar with Josh Martinez you’ll recognize that the colourful cover is par for the course for a man who’s famed for being a little eccentric when he gets on the mic. If this is your first experience of Mr Martinez however, then you’ll only really begin to realize what the deal is as you make your way through “Made In China.”

This is not really a new album, as it contains tracks from the previously released, though extremely hard-to-find Martinez joints ‘Scribble 100′ and ‘The Hali Hundred’. The rareness of these albums though, plus the fact that there are a few new tracks on here, and the convenience of the fact that everything is on a readily available multi-coloured psychedelic cd means that for many this will be there only chance to hear those older tracks.

Things kick off with ‘La Rambla’, a cut that’s built around an addictive Mexican guitar loop that lurches between pitches to give an authentic “seasickness” feel. On the mic, Martinez ain’t gonna be for everyone – his voice is a little… well… whiny. Also with all the evidence pointing to the fact that he likes to portray himself as one of the new school of “abstract-poet” emcees, it should come as no surprise to learn that he’s down with Anticon.

‘(Sic) Muse’ comes off as a jazzy outtake from the Beasties’ “Paul’s Boutique” sessions – producer Deskee has done a superb imitation of the Dust Brothers production styles from that era. Josh meanwhile… well, he’s just Josh. He flows on the beat, off the beat, around the beat… it really is an acquired taste – and one that, on this cut at least, I was feeling. Josh Martinez equals Hiphop’s Bob Dylan – FACT.

Next cut ‘Outlook’, and later ‘Weed Weed’, both focus more on Josh’s performance on the mic, by stripping the tracks down to little more than bare drumbeats. On the former cut, Josh walks a line between rapping and singing often drifting from one extreme to the other as he lilts his way over WSP’s raw drums. ‘Weed Weed’ is ANOTHER weed song (like you hadn’t guessed), and features Josh’s label partner DJ Moves on production, complimenting the hard edged snares with some mellow flute loops that combine to provide an ideally laidback smokers’ anthem.

‘The Cluuuuub’ is the first of the “new” tracks encountered, and again it has that “Paul’s Boutique” feel. The rubbery bassline is instantly comparable to the Beasties ‘AWOL’, as Josh and the impressive Tachichi spit some nonsense rhymes parodying jiggy rap. Following this up is another collaboration – ‘Big Mouths’ features Martinez trading verbals with Kunga 219 over a simple but effective production pattern of chimes, electric guitar basslines, and live drums.

The trippy ‘Magic Bullet’, the Company Flow-esque ‘Chickenshit’ and the introspective ‘Marxchism’ are up next, and feature three different looks at Josh Martinez. On ‘Magic Bullet’, he sounds at his most animated, attacking wack record labels over a set of understated jazz drums, and ships-coming-into-port noises. The self-produced ‘Chickenshit’ strays into “Funcrusher Plus” terrority, with booming drums and an eerie piano loop creating a dark backdrop that only matches Martinez’s “I’m about as normal as Norman Bates” mood. ‘Marxschism’ meanwhile displays the deep-thinker in Martinez as he examines the effects of Communism over a watery audio landscape.

Musically, ‘Chord Changes’ is probably the most interesting cut on the album – Dert Roads has managed to hook up a rich audio backdrop of rumbling bass and mournful horns, which seems to stimulate Martinez into a more animated state. He’s still talking twenty-to-the-dozen, but the whole thing just sounds so dramatic.

Elsewhere, UK heads will recognise the opening chords of the trippy ‘I’ve Got Devils’ as the theme tune to Formula 1 Motor Racing. Even the familiar tune can’t stop this from being a bit of a plodder though – Nool’s drum beat really does struggle along, and actually pulls Martinez’s flow down with it. Things don’t really improve with the equally sluggish ‘Letter To July’. This one is produced by Jesse Dangerously, but even the switch in producers can’t pull this out of the boredom bin. Follow-up cut ‘Breakdown’ however, does succeed in lifting interest levels. This time Dangerously hooks up a classical piano set over a quicker set of kicks, and as Josh croons over the resulting beat about relationship trials and tribulations, one of the brighter spots on the album shines through.

Rounding things off is the emotional epic ‘Deny’. This is more spoken word than actual emceeing, but this approach actually does the subject matter more justice. As the DJ Moves beat switches and changes to back up the mood changes in the lyrics, Martinez speaks from the heart about the Holocaust. The amount of detail he pours into the words really must be heard to be believed – when people speak about music having the power to change situations, and spark intelligent debate, they could easily be speaking about this track. Its raw emotion and uncompromising descriptions DO make the listener feel uncomfortable, but that’s what its MEANT to do… this is real.

This is another album that won’t be suitable for everyone. I hate to pigeonhole things but when people (usually backpackers) talk about “intelligent, progessive” Hiphop, they could easily be talking about Josh Martinez. Therefore, its the backpackers among us who’ll probably appreciate this more. However, I think its important that even for those who already know that they don’t like music of this ilk… go and check out ‘Deny’. Copy it from a friend, download it, steal it… do whatever you can to hear this cut – it really is that important. Its not often that one track on an album makes such a difference to a final score, but in this case its fully justified.

Artist: Jehst

Reviewer: A to the L

UK heads – unless you’ve been hiding in a cave somewhere Osama-style, you’re bound to have heard Jehst by now. As for the rest of the world, who are often slow on the uptake when it comes to UK Hiphop, Jehst may be the one who finally makes a dent in your listening habits – his work with J-Zone has already garnered much critical acclaim. But who is this mysterious cat who only really seems to have moved into the spotlight in the past year? Well, Jehst HAS been around for a while, collaborating with Evil Ed to drop his “Premonitions” and “High Plains Drifter” EPs, as well as hooking up with the likes of Braintax and Task Force, AND holding down a spot as a member of much overlooked UK “supergroup” Champions of Nature.

Now after a short spot of label-hopping, Jehst has returned to Low Life Records, and dropped this project which contains 2 songs from his new 12″, as well as several of his other best works, including the entire “High Plains Drifter” EP. The enhanced cd also contains footage of Jehst in live action – a nice added touch that also serves to illustrate (from the packed club) how much hype the man is generating at the moment.

What is striking about much of this EP, is how its simplistic construction becomes so head noddingly addictive. Take the opening track, ‘High Plains Anthem’ for example – over little more than a simple percussion break and one repeated piano loop, Jehst rips the shit out of the mic. (“Battling me? That’ll be an embarassing mistake / Like promoters who don’t get the ‘H’ in the right place / My mic stays in close range, I travelled the lone plains / But drift on a high like cocaine.”) For those who are new to Jehst, its the perfect introduction – “Hi, I’m the supremely confident cat from the UK who’s gonna entertain you for the next 40 minutes. Now sit over there and let me do my shit.”

And this seems to be the blueprint for the whole EP – the majority of the tracks are largely sparse arrangements – little more than one drum break and a looped sample flitting in and out of the mix as Jehst busts. This is NOT a diss by the way – I don’t think there are many who could pull off something like this so magnificently. The uncomplicated nature of the tracks focuses most of the attention of Jehst’s nonchalantly confident flow, yet at the same time, they retain enough of a kick and a hook to stop any thoughts of repetitiveness creeping in.

Highlights include the air of menace that Jehst, Ricochet and Tommy Evans emanate on the cold ‘The Trilogy’ – a surgically precise deconstruction of wack emcees that is also revisted, with additional verses from Chester P and Kyza on a later remix; the title track where Jehst pulls off rap’s first just-got-out-of-bed steelo on wax, managing to sound both half asleep AND dope at the same time over rippling pianos and sick scratched choruses; and last but not least THE killer track of the EP – ‘Staircase To Stage’. On this track, Jehst hooks up with J-Zone over one of the killer beats of this year – a flurry of Harry Love pianos and Raekwon lines on the chorus… its a sickeningly heavy track, and its suitably blessed by both Jehst and J-Zone, with the American probably coming off slightly better… “Picture me doing a backspin, or pulling a mack 10 / “I been rapping since the golden age man” – you were wack then…”

So is Jehst gonna be THE one? The first UK emcee to really crack open the US? Well, this is certainly a bright spot on his resume, and his work with the respected J-Zone also means that knowledgable heads stateside may well search him out. They definitely won’t be disappointed – file under “highly recommended”.

Artist: DJ Jazzy Jeff

Reviewer: Topman

I’m sure the majority of readers out there will agree with me when I say that DJ Jazzy Jeff deserves much more recognition than he actually gets. Even if you’re not a hip-hop fan or listener, the chances are you will know exactly who I am on about. There are several ways you may recognise him: the first is through that famous sitcom ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’. Yes, Jeff Townes played Will Smith’s good friend Jazz, who regularly found himself thrown out by Uncle “Suge Knight” Phil. Or, you may recognise him from his partnership with the aforementioned Will Smith. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince repeatedly stormed the pop charts with their brand of bubblegum rap – mixing Jeff’s expert turntablisim and warm grooves with his partner’s simplistic if fun lyrics. Or maybe you recognise the days before modern hip-hop, when the Trick Daddy’s of today were still in diapers, when Jeff was mixing and producing smash hits on his local block laying the foundations of the art.

In the 21st Century we find a very different Jeff Townes. Having split from Will, who of course went onto Hollywood domination as an A-list comedian / rapper / actor, Jeff sunk back into the hip-hop world, put together his own thing with his A Touch of Jazz production company. In August of 2002 the DJ/producer came back with his first proper solo album, “The Magnificent”, released on British label BBE.

The basic formula for “The Magnificent” is quite simple. Jeff is joined by his production crew A Touch of Jazz, who create a set of lush, melodic tracks for an all-star castlist of guests. One of my favourite tracks ‘For Da Love of Da Game’, is virtually solely because of the beat. Produced by Jeff himself, the beat is nothing but divine and perfect. The most relaxing, breezy, inviting spaced out string-loop is coupled with jazzy keys and a solid bassline. Over this deliciously warm arrangement Baby Blak and Pauly Yamz provide chilled-out raps about doing rap music for the love not for the money.

Jeff doesn’t stick solely to any type of style during “The Magnificent.” Musically, he wanders everywhere – from contemporary neo-soul to jazzy rap a la Tribe Called Quest to smooth R&B to hardcore old-skool hip-hop, spread over 17 tracks. Call ‘We Are’ a combination of the first two. Twinkling piano keys and a bubbly bassline support Cy Young’s baritone, positive rhymes about keeping ya head up and living your life despite the odds. Raheem lends some silky harmonising to a mellow trumpet-assisted chorus. Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men proves he has a voice left in him on the smoothed-out ‘How I Do’, and Baby Blak and Pauly Yamz return on ‘Worldwide’ – aided by the production company’s sombre piano-overtone and chugging bassline. A delicious chorus adds a touch more of class to proceedings.

If you doubt Jeff’s ability to create cuts that hip-hop purists will appreciate, end that doubt now. J-Live contributes to the excellent ‘Break It Down’. A pulsating, breathless old-skool drum-based beat supports his skilled, literate rhymes dedicated to ‘true’ emcees and deejay’s. Also, note the battle turntablisim at the end of the track from a number of high-profile deejay’s – prove indeed Jeff remains a fine man on the turntables. Providing a contrast to J-Live’s thinking man’s rhetoric, you can literally see fake emcee’s running for their lives when veteran Freddie Foxx comes screaming in on ‘Scram’, a vicious denouncement of all commercial rap and punk emcees by this blunt, listenable New Yorker. A thick, heavy bassline lends its very noticeable support.

Philly emcee The Last Emperor blesses ‘Mystery Man’ with his fiery new-skool rapping style, spat over a jittery old-skool groove. The only question remains is why hasn’t this talented artist’s debut album come out yet? Chef Word returns for ‘Shake It Off’, a stunningly worded exploration as to why artists should shake-off all their stresses through music not violence (or musical violence… haha). A deep bassline and a cool accordion provides an up-tempo background, with an urgent piano key loop adding some ‘Tubular Bells’ style drama to the chorus.

And finally, any fans of the Roy Ayers track ‘We Live in Brooklyn Baby’ should take a listen to the hands-down stunning cover ‘We Live In Philly’. The various members of A Touch Of Jazz jump into the fray lending strings, guitars, keys and a simple bassline (drums are handled by ?uestlove of The Roots). Moulded into one surreal, vivid end product, Illadelph native Jill Scott lends her distorted, mind-exploring vocals to the track. A wonderful example of Jeff’s production finesse.

Normally you’d expect a 18 full track album like “The Magnificent” to not be an easy listen, but the warm, luscious grooves of A Touch of Jazz and excellent guest artists soon dispel this theory. DJ Jazzy Jeff is definitely one of hip-hop’s pioneers, as well as one of it’s best pioneers, and he proves here that he can still cut it in the contemporary rap world.