That's the opening to the liner notes of The Persuasion of Art, a 90s left coast compilation that's never been long out of my mind. And revisiting it the other has made me realize this is a true, underground classic, on par with Beneath the Surface, Project Blowed and Evil Cow Burger, even if it never received that level of recognition. I assume the title is a play on the phrase the art of persuasion; it's been the title of a few songs, and a book of that title had just come out the previous year. The Persuasion's a cassette-only release that came out in 1999 on a label called Toiletworldwide - their only release. Toiletworldwide was a small t-shirt and hat company based out of Redondo Beach in LA. I'm not sure who ran it, but presumably somebody associated with the LA scene in order to assemble this impressive roster of artists.
Every song on here is an exclusive except the opening track, "Where the Sidewalk Ends Pt. 1" by Jizzm High Definition, which was also included on his Archives album (where it's subtitled "An Ensenada Story"), which came out the same year. Honestly, I can't remember anymore which came out first. But it has a catchy piano loop supported by a phat live bassline (credited to "Alex and Justin"), which, when coupled with Jizzm's deep voice, is instantly addictive.
And indeed, that addictive quality is a strong factor in a number of songs on this album, particularly the second song "ElectroLights" by Disflex 6. They've got a real ear-worm of a sample, perfectly matched with a funky, staccato flow and scratchy voices that I would just put on repeat over and over again. And their DJ Capsize really knows how to blend his scratches into the music. These guys sound incredible and I seriously regret not copping more of their projects back in the days. I'm gonna have to write a whole 'nother post about 'em very soon.
Who else is on here? Well, speaking of Project Blowed, Abstract Rude has a track on here called "Our Guide," with a moody, very-live sounding instrumental produced by Fat Jack. Not to go too far off on a tangent, but it features adlibs by somebody named Lil' Aaron, which discogs links to a house DJ who's been playing since 1993, but the Aaron on here is Rude's little cousin and clearly a very small child.
And speaking of Beneath the Surface and Evil Cow Burger, also on here are the Shape Shifters. It's essentially a massive seven and a half minute posse cut. But there are no guests; it's just all the members: the original four, plus later members like LifeRexall and Bleek. It's as crazy as its title "Appocapalooza" suggests (ending with Circus ranting about alien abduction), with one of those tracks where the instrumental adjusts for each MC. But it's all underscored by a persistent, live stand-up bass (credited to Regraf-lu-Art) that made for another song I would rock on repeat.
Oh, and also from Beneath the Surface and Project Blowed is the Global Phlowtations crew. I guess they've been a pretty big collective at times, but this song basically just has main members Adlib and Zagu Brown along with somebody named Phlave. Their song might be something they had sitting on the shelf for a bit, since they mention '97 at the top. But it's a tightly produced track (also by Zagu) with some distinctive percussion, and they rock it.
The group that probably sold me the most on buying this compilation is Animal Pharm. At that time, I was super in love with their Pharmaceuticals and Brink EPs, and was just dying for them to release more content. Unfortunately, they only released one more single before breaking up. So it was a big deal that they had a new track on here, even though it's not one of my favorites. Panda and Statik sound good, but the lyrics aren't particularly interesting, the instrumental's kinda meh and the scratching is so subtle you barely notice it. I mean, actually listening to it now, it's funkier than I typically remember it as being, but nothing special - just a decent mid-album track.
You want still more noteworthy names? The Living Legends crew is represented here by 3 Melancholy Gypsies (Eligh, Murs and Scarub). And you might remember me writing about Gurp City MC TopR. Well, his original crew The Earthlings have a song on this. Like basically everybody you used to see on Atak in their heyday: US Pros, The Daysmen Empire, The Cuf and Da Golden Ray, who was a part of the indie Highground super-group The Record Players with people like Young Joseph, Neila, Maleko and Deeskee. To top it all off, there's a pair of DJ cuts, where it's just sick turntablism over tight beats. Traditionally, it's been the hallmark of a great Hip-Hop album to have one of these on there; this one has two.
The Persuasion of Art is a yellow (yellow) tape that came in a full color fold-out J-card. A CD had also been announced, and it was supposed to have additional songs by 2Mex and The Grouch, but unfortunately that never came out. I wonder if those songs ever wound up on other projects or just exist somewhere in the Toiletworldwide vaults. Oh well. You can't really pour through this incredible litany of bangers and ask for any more than what we got.
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