Wednesday, June 3, 2009

My sister said last week that she can’t understand anything in my column.  Having come to the realization that I may sometimes refer to obscure hip hop acts that normal music lovers may not know, I’ll try my best from now on to illuminate more than reference and communicate the feeling behind the music more than the idiosyncrasies of performers.  Hope you enjoy the new, less obscure column!  Comments are always appreciated.

New Jams:

:Raashan Ahmad - Cornbread:  You may or may not remember Raashan Ahmad from Bay-area Crown City Rockers.  Regardless, you may want to download the free "non-album, non-mixtape, non-EP" available at Antiquiet.  Raashan claims it’s a collection of music that brings him to his roots, or Soul Power (the name of the release), and his interpretation is surprisingly ingenious.  He plays with old soul and new hip hop tropes, and lends each his unique delivery, along with a layered thumping, funky beat.  Recommended if you like The Coup and Outkast.

:Dragon Fli Empire - Stay The Course:  Dragon Fli Empire is a duo from Alberta, Canada, and their new release, Redefine, hearkens back to old-school bass-heavy beats with organ, sax, and piano samples.  This album is chock-full of laid-back tracks that make you feel you’re riding around town in 1992 on your way to rent Do the Right Thing on VHS.  Recommended if you like Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth.

:Random - Reset Button (Featuring Wordburglar, Zealous 1, Maja):  This just-released mixtape, called Teacher Rapper Hero, comes with a sad story: just after the album dropped, Random (a.k.a. Mega Ran) was laid-off from his middle-school teaching job in Arizona, according to his MySpace page.  The video in his blog also has the key to downloading the entire mixtape for free, so I guess every story has a happy ending.  Random is best known for the Mega Ran series, "two fun video-game-themed albums featuring samples from the classic 8-Bit Mega Man video games."  The Teacher Rapper Hero Mixtape features cameos from many excellent underground artists, none of whom I’ll list (notice how I’m trying to eschew obscurity??).  This track goes out to all the game-playing geeks out there and, while quirky, doesn’t quite cross the line into nerdcore.

:Lonegevity - Imagine:  Confession: I don’t really like Radiohead.  I know - indie rock sacrilege!  I’ve completely lost my street cred now.  Oh well, back to my point: even as a Radiohead anti-fangirl, I can appreciate the adaptation of a very recognizable tune in this track by Lonegevity, and I thought you might get a kick out of it.  Almost this entire album, called Sessions, is an example of more modern and imaginary production and I recommend it, if only for the interesting beats.  Of course, MC Lonegevity ain’t too shabby either.  In this track, he sounds a lot like the introspective Blueprint.

FLASHBACK PICK:

:Ice-T - 409 (1987):  Known as a pioneer of gangsta rap, Ice-T has always seemed to me to be far more intellectual, political, and better with words than many of his descendants.  I’ve always liked this playful rap from his 1987 release Rhyme Pays, coincidentally the first hip-hop album to carry a Parental Advisory warning.

- Leah Manners -



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