Sunday, November 29, 2020

Keep Troopin' In a Place Called Four Wing Island

This was well-timed.  I've been in the mood for something new... not just in the basic sense of a song I haven't heard before, but some really new Hip-Hop.  You know, it's an easy trap to fall into when you're a little bit older where you just listen to old school Hip-Hop in your comfort zone.  And then you just listen to the biggest, dumbest pop rap song "the kids are listening to" and immediately recoil saying, okay, nothing but TDS Mob for another four years!  So I looking for a little shake-up, and as fortune would have it, this one found me.  Four Wing Island by an independent London MC named Joejas.  I mean, just look at that cover.  If this one doesn't fit the bill, nothing will.

In a sense, this feels like UK equivalent of Odd Future, scrappy, young and entirely self-made.  "All music," we're told, has been "written, recorded and produced by JoeJas."  The artwork and everything's all done by him, too.  There are no guests except for a single other voice that pops in to back him up on a couple hooks.  But where Tyler and co. came out dark, bordering on horrorcore, Joejas comes out as light (or at least un-sinister) and defiantly childlike as his artwork suggests: "just another nigga to these cops, aight, with my limbs stretchin' out my drop-top tike.  No license, registration, parents tryna pull me out said 'it's only meant for kids to play in'!  Said fuck that then I got weighed in, woke up later and my brain moved places.  Already got a mortgage and a lame whip.  God damn, bro!"

His singles (at least the ones I checked out on Youtube) are all pretty strong, though the album as a whole drifts into some weirder, more conceptual areas.  You know, like Kwamé's second album, except that album lost control to a series skits that were meant to create an over-arching narrative about a hard day at Polka Dot School or whatever.  Four Wing Island doesn't have any skits, but it tends to get lost in over-repeated hooks and esoteric references.  Like, for an obvious example, what the heck is "Four Wing Island?"  The title track tells us repeatedly that it's a place where he feels safe, and the liner notes hint that the island is a kind of reference to how each song has a distinct (isolated) tone.  But I'm not sure we're meant to have any idea where the Four Wing name comes from or what it might mean.  Like a Greenthink record, we're just left to guess at a lot of the insular references.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but you should be forewarned going in, because they're the sort of unsolvable poetic mysteries that will frustrate as many listeners as they might intrigue and delight.

But don't get the wrong idea.  It's not as hopelessly artsy-fartsy[to use a technical term] as I may be making it sound.  Don't look for any familiar samples to latch onto, but there's a lot of emphasis on creating relatable moods (one track is a essentially a piano solo over a Hip-Hop beat), talking about just drifting around on his bike, eating alone feeling heartbroken or "stay bumfy reading comics in my undies."  "4wingkilla!" is just a fun opportunity to go hard over an aggressive beat, "even in these bright ass clothes I'm still seen as a threat... make me wanna wile out Mortal Kombat 'finish him,' uppercut rip a shin, adrenaline kickin' in."  That's a pretty tight flow there, and the lyrics are consistently well written throughout, no matter the subject.

So this is the first I've heard, but it's actually Joejas's third album.  It's out on CD in an attractive digipack with a full-color booklet of lyrics from his website.  And, as of this writing, his previous two CDs (Planet and Gappy) are still available, too.  Of course it's all streaming everywhere, too, like all music is nowadays, which is probably good, because I'm sure you'll want to try before you buy.  But I'm very glad to see there's a solid physical release for those who decide to get on board.  This reminds me of the Atak days, with a catalog full of mystifying scrappy young idealists releasing tape after tape, pushing the envelope and being just a little too "out there" for the undaring.  Just what the doctor ordered.

Thursday, November 19, 2020

LA's Finest Dopest Rhymers

Oh man, you have no idea how excited I was when I came across this one!  A split 7" of rare and unreleased LA Rap on a small subscription service label called Ximeno Record Club run by Danny Halloway.  Meaning, you can only get one of these records by subscribing to the whole run, or as in my case, finding someone willing to sell their copy second hand.  But I think your odds for that may be better in this case as it's the only Hip-Hop record in the line-up, which is otherwise comprised of all funk/ soul and reggae stuff from the 60s and 70s.  So I imagine there were several collectors who were happy to dump "the rap one."  Or maybe the label itself is just selling overrun spares.  Either way, there are copies online as of this writing, so you better jump on it or you'll be kicking yourself.

Side A gives us "On the One" by legendary Project Blowedian Medusa.  This is her first vinyl release since the "Fiend and the Fix" 12" with Nobody in 2000.  Produced by Evan V with some fresh cuts by DJ Drez, originally appeared on her rare 2012 CD-only Whrs the DJ Booth? album on Jthesarge's label, One Wise Studios.  You can tell Halloway was choosing a favorite on the first listen, because song stands out with its upbeat blaxploitation-style funk guitars and catchy horns.  Medusa is in full force with her clever, deep-voiced lyrics, "first of all, I don't speak in no whiny tone. What I wanna do that for?  Bitch, I'm grown.  Diamonds?  Nah, leave well enough alone.  Stylish and classy, ain't nobody like me.  Men find me sexy, women exciting.  They stand on by me, just in the Walmart tampon shopping."  Then, as she's wont to do, Medusa goes full R&B to sing the hook with Drez mixing up some "Mona Lisa" and "Public Enemy Number One" behind her.  It's one of those songs you want to replay as soon as it hits its last note.

But I was even more amped for the B-side, the never before released or heard anywhere "In My Niggahood" by Vooodu.  The label tells us this one was recorded in 1993 during his ferocious True Sound stint, which of course was Halloway's label.  This is something a little more serious than the fast-paced battle rhymes he was spitting back then.  He slows down Chic's "Good Times" just enough to give it a creepy, ominous vibe with a patchwork of other samples slipping in and out, all to match his own sinister voice as he kicks some street stories about his youth in South Central.  Vooodu was a master, and it's a crime so little of his work has made it out of the vaults, making this record essential.

According to their website, Ximeno is gearing up for another year ("Series 2") of releases starting this month.  Let's hope they take the opportunity to crack open the True Sound vaults of classic unreleased LA rap once again, and we Hip-Hop heads can get our hands on a few copies.

Thursday, November 5, 2020

Juice Crew All Stars Was My Boys

Here's an interesting one!  It's a "Juice Crew Law" remake by the All Stars, but not the Juice Crew All Stars you'd think.  There's a new Juice Crew in town, yes even newer than Juice Crew 3rd Millennium: a Shanghai-based B-boy crew.  And this is a record by DJ DSK, a British expatriate now based in China who's assembled a pro tem super-group of English Hip-Hop artists collectively known as the All Stars, released as a tribute to the crew.  The All Stars and "Juice Crew Law" are obviously throwback references made to the original crew in fun, but the connection runs deeper than some punny names.

Musically at least, this is indeed a remake of MC Shan's original "Juice Crew Law," with the All Stars rocking Marley's original instrumental.  Well, at least they use it as the base.  DSK mixes in additional musical samples, and the All Stars layer a wealth of turntablism over the top.  Not only are there cuts in the hook like you'd expect, but the segment that would traditionally be the third verse is dedicated to just a killer stuttering slaughter of The Choice MCs' "Beat Of the Street." Yep, the All Stars aren't all MCs.  Specifically, they're MCs Chrome and Whirlwind D (who I think I might've mentioned here once or twice before) and DJ/ producers Specifik and Mr. Wonderful.  I'm not 100% certain, but from what I've been able to glean, I believe DSK produced the track and Specifik and Wonderful do all the scratches. 

This is a pretty fun update on a classic.  You might ask who needs a new "Juice Crew Law" when we have the original, a question that usually brings most remakes to their knees.  Even assuming the remake's good, why listen to it when you can listen to the classic, right?  Well, this one adds a lot, with additional instrumentation flushing it out and the cuts are killer.  Not that the original didn't have any good ones, especially the 12" version.  But there's definitely enough fresh elements in the mix to make you yearn to relisten to the this version specifically.

Plus, let's be honest, Shan wasn't above the occasional corny line ("my rhymes say more than a tasket, a tisket. Too clever, yo, I never go out like a biscuit." "The same theory if the words don't fit; got the nerve to get on stage and wanna sing that ____? Wait a minute, wait just a second. You know that's not my style.  'Sorry, just checking!'").  While rhymes praising break-dancers by their nature don't hit as hard as aggressive battle rhymes directed towards Krs-One, I'm happy to report the verses are 100% free of cringe moments.  And I don't know about you, but while I have been able to overlook some infamous examples in my childhood favorites, that's a pretty crucial standard to meet for my listening enjoyment of any song at any time.

Still, if all of this isn't enough to compel you to seek out a copy for your own yet, let me tell you about the B-side.  DSK has another song for us, "Check Out the Technique" featuring Akil of Jurassic 5 (making this a tri-continental effort) and London MC Mystro (here billed as Mysdiggi).  This has similar themes, but is more of a general tribute to Hip-Hop, rather than any specific crew.  As Akil details, "no matter the element, the culture pushed excellence, dedicated freshness, hard work and messages.  We pushed the limit: go all out to win it.  From start to finish, we get in it, we created our own lane of genre, built it up proper, B-boys and poppers, DJs and lockers, MCs and graf writers, Soulsonic fire fighters; we loved it, we lived it, built it like an empire."  This time I assume the cuts - which tend more towards rhythm scratches and some Premier-like juggling of a line from Jay-Z's "Threat" on the hook - are by DSK himself.  This track's a little slower and funkier; a cool head nodder though lacking the dynamic energy of the A-side. 

"Juice Crew Law" is a 7" record that plays at 33 and comes in a plain black sleeve.  It's released by DNA Records, DSK's own label, not to be confused with the famous NY label.  The A-side also names B-Line Recordings, Specifik's label, so I gather this is a joint release to some degree.  I'm not sure if this is limited to a specific pressing amount (they don't say as much).  It's already sold out from DSK's bandcamp even though it just dropped like two weeks ago, but a lot of the usual online record shops seem to still have it, at least as of this writing.