The Black Whirlwind

Tonight, we're starting with the B-side, gang.

I'd never heard of this guy before stumbling upon his 12", but apparently Etcetera is a Brooklyn MC and producer who's put out a few records over the years, and is still doing it. There's no date on the label, but according to an old, online press-kit of his, this dropped in 2000. And if you look closely at the label scan, you can see why I picked it up: "Tonight" is a posse cut featuring fellow Brooklynites UG and Gauge.

And when I got it home and plopped it down on the tables, this song turned out to be even better than I was expecting. The beat is hard and energetic, perfect for being torn up by some Brooklyn hardrocks, with cracking drums and wailing industrial-like samples reminiscent of Public Enemy records if they made beats for Stretch and Bobbito freestyle sessions; and both UG and Gauge bring their A-game, spitting two verses apiece. UG dances the line between his classic mystic style and uncompromising ruggedness:

"Who wanna battle?
I travel like bullets through gun barrels!
Get grappled and tackled to the gravel;
Clap you with chrome,
Crackle the bones
Under your vest.
David Koresh
Burnin' your flesh, fricassee.
No one is sicker than me;
Spittin' degrees
Hotter than the sun.
...
The black whirlwind.
Ya world ends!
Your friends and your girl,
It's over.
I separate your head from your shoulder;
Flying guillotine.
Rhymes kill a team,
Murder verbally.
Who ain't heard of me,
I'll send 'em straight to surgery
Leakin' burgundy.
You vs. me, UG,
An ill specimen
That assembles weapons in milliseconds
To kill your section
And then vanish...
Into thin air!"

Etcetera isn't quite as ill as these two, but he keeps up with a more playful punchline-y flow. The hook is a clever play on a lyric from "The Show."

So, how about the A-side? It's called "Beez Like That," and without the guest verses, it certainly lacks the excitement of "Tonight," but it shows that Etcetera can do alright on his own, and the beat's still pretty tight. It's good, and he has some amusing lines, but you probably won't flip this record over too often to find out.

So, like I said, Etcetera is still doing it. He has a myspace here... some of his new tracks seem pretty bland and mainstream to me, but I guess if you like the kinda stuff 50 Cent is doing nowadays, you might like it. He does have another track with Gauge that's at least worth listening to ("Oh No - Version II"), but nothing suggests he's coming with anything as ill as this joint.