Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Wednesday is, as you know, Hump Day: that grueling 24 hour trek across the bridge to your weekend.  As your trusty bi-weekly hip-hop columnist, I feel it is my duty to arm you with the following EP to aid your stumpy limp to the finish line of Saturday.

:Guru - After Time:  Sorry to say it, but Guru’s new Lost And Found EP is kind of a disappointment.  This track is my pick, but that may only be because the other tracks are too over the top gangsta, and besides, who can argue with a sped-up Queen sample?  Legendary Guru, once of Gangstarr with DJ Premier, has strayed from the organic living beats of Primo and I don’t think it’s done him well, but time will tell.  Get the pun?  Get it?

:Afro Classics - Lemonade:  In this track off their new EP, the L.A. duo Afro Classics show you what they do when life gives ‘em lemons; and, normally, I would definitely classify the Stomp-esque garbage-can beats as lemons, but somehow they make it work here, along with the help of a soul sample, along with some crisp, beat-riding flow.

:Blackout Sands - In The Meantime:  This new single from Milwaukee trio Blackout Sands has them leaning toward a more appealing aesthetic but still holding on to their live instrumentation and avant sounds.  In the Meantime progresses nicely, and maintains a nice funky back beat.

:Zeale - Dull Dayz:  This Pink Floyd-sampling track from Austin artist Zeale (pronounced Zeel-ee) would fit in at a frat party or bumping from a Cadillac.  It’s a head-nodding flow about persistence in the hip hop game and promising in its scope and vocabulary.

:Abstract Rude - Rejuvenation:  L.A.’s Abstract Rude of the Abstract Tribe Unique, Project Blowed, and lately of Rhymesayers Entertainment, has kept his nearly hypnotizing signature syncopating flow style on this solo single.  Ab’s non sequitur line of thought seems somehow less edgy than it used to (i.e. "[the fans] react and love it / sipping on absinthe from the Czech Republic..." wait, what?).  But still, somehow, his tracks are as comfortable as a Snuggie: maybe it’s the ascending stair-step baseline that makes it seem so familiar, and yet worn backwards along with Ab’s meandering mind.  His solo album drops on May 5.

- Leah Manners -



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