Iraq Is The Bomb
September 24, 2009 | 1 Comment
The Narcicyst – reviewed by Nick Conway
http://iraqisthebomb.com/
I’m always conflicted when it comes to so-called “conscious rap”. Labels serve a purpose, yet at the same time they are confining and often times misleading. Immortal Technique is a “conscious rapper”, yet one can find countless homophobic and misogynistic lines throughout his albums. Cam’ron is a “gangsta/crack rapper”, and yet his classic tracks “D.R.U.G.S.” and “Sports, Drugs, & Entertainment” both astute commentaries that even Nancy Reagan could have championed in her “Just Say No” crusade. Another problem I have with the “conscious” label is that it immediately strips the music of its aesthetics and style. It removes the craft and art from the music. All to frequently, we as the listener tend to conflate “good message” with “good music”. If I want conscious, well-reported journalism, I can simply listen to Amy Goodman and her brilliant show “Democracy Now”. Truth is we live in a star-struck, People-magazine-obsessed society where we all too frequently look to our Tiger Woods’, Angelina Jolie’s, and Kanye West’s for our answers to society’s problems. In particular, I find hip hop to be held to an extremely high standard. Nobody ever labels folk or country or rock as “conscious” or “gangsta”. Johnny Cash has numerous classics that could easily fit under the “gangsta” label, and quite frankly, I don’t think we should be looking to Uncle Murda for “conscious rap”. If that is not the reality he lives in, then we can’t expect that of him. And it doesn’t mean we should feel guilty about enjoying the stylistics of his music. “Bullet! Bullet!” is my joint, yet I can still can discern from the fact that I have no valid reason to ever put an actual bullet in someone. On the contrary, if you rhyme about noble issues like decreasing one’s carbon footprint and rescuing kittens, yet your wordplay is soft and your metaphors are predictable, then I really don’t want to hear it. I can respect the message, yet not enjoy the craft.
Fortunately for us all, there exist emcees such as Narcy, an Iraqi emcee raised in Canada, who effortlessly weave aesthetics and message together. It is music whose both form and content leave one feeling enlightened. Let’s start with the title, The Narcicyst. Personally, I dig it. I loved it even before I began listening to the first track. From what I’d heard of said emcee, I had a hunch he really wasn’t going to turn out to be all that big of a narcissist at all. Regardless, it left me intrigued. From the eery, ominous strings of the opening track “Good Morning”, Narcy sets the tone of the album, letting us know he has something of relevance to say and isn’t delivering us a sugar-coated sound or message. This minute long preface transitions smoothly, both stylistically and thematically, into Narcy’s voice on “Vietnam”, a track where he skillfully draws analogies between that war and so many other imperialist atrocities, rhyming phrases of the like, “They say Lebanon’s Vietnam, Iraq’s Vietnam, Palestine’s Vietnam, they wanna see us gone, so far from home, I can feel the bombs…” The track closes with a great quote from an unknown (well, at least unknown to me) source speaking upon the nature of war. She quotes Mark Twain who said, “History may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” A slick and fitting metaphor, particularly because Narcy proves throughout the album that he has a gift for rhyming clever metaphors himself.
Perhaps the track that most embodies Narcy as an emcee, messenger, and thoughtful human is “Iraqi Prime Time News”, a joint where he unleashes a powerful message regarding the way media all too frequently chooses to portray Arab culture as villainous to further a self serving agenda. One listen to this insightful track and it is no surprise to discover that Narcy wrote a masters thesis (brilliantly sampling Public Enemy by titling it, “Fear Of An Arab Planet”) dissecting the Arab-American experience in Hip Hop. Yet again, it’s not strictly what he’s saying, but how he says it, skillfully creating pleasing polyrhythms with his deft lyricism and cadences. “Truth’s loose in newspapers, the new savior to boost ratings, and use hate as a tool to crusade us, ain’t nuttin’ new playas!” Truth be told, that line looks dry as I type it on the screen. That is one of the powers of the spoken word. A gifted artist such as Narcy truly breathes life and meaning into the words, amplifying their power and scope.
As one might expect from such a deliberate artist in which each track, interlude, sample, and lyric seems painstakingly intentional as though it is but one piece in the larger picture, Narcy revisits the title of his album, cueing the listener in to his meaning behind it, on the track “The Narcicyst”. Cleverly sampling the Slick Rick classic “Lodi Dodi” in which MC Ricky D explores the concept of vanity, inquiring, “Mirror mirror on the wall, Who is the top choice of them all, there was a rumble tumble, five minutes it lasted, the mirror said, ‘You are you conceited bastard!’”, Narcy creatively uses his artistry to make the music’s sonic production match the song’s subject matter. Narcy then proceeds to give his own take on narcissism and how he embraces and molds it to his own personal needs. Much the same way youth inspired by Hip Hop have taken their humble surroundings, recontextualized them, and spit them back out for their own purposes (and frequently for the auditory pleasure of the rest of us), Narcy has flipped the word, explaining how he employs it as way of making fun of the current state of Hip Hop while cherishing the confidence with which he approaches his craft and mission of providing quality music that both pleases and inspires). It’s a beautiful take on the word. If one is ever to truly be of any good to society as a whole, that individual must first learn to love oneself.
The album concludes with a bonus track, fittingly called “GOOD NIGHT!”, filled with assonance-laden battle rhymes (“I used to spit you never heard of me verses, so ill tracks cut behind surgery curtains”), punch-lines (“ever heard of an Arab kid this arrogant?….I stay fresh to death like miscarriages”), and metaphors (“my breath control like Baby’s son…Lil Weezy”) galore. Narcy again does a skilled job of setting the tone through his deliberate order of tracks (the point is further emphasized by the fact “GOOD NIGHT!” checks in a full twenty-seconds after the album’s actual outro, informing the listener that what you are about to hear is a break from the previous 18 tracks), leaving us with the reminder that despite the fact he just dropped a cohesive album full of insight and inspiration, he’s not above tearing up the microphone simply for the pure joy of fiercely stringing syllables together in mind-boggling fashion.
Canada’s Ian Kamau Does it Again
September 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment
So as I write this, the date of September 9th has come and gone, and unfortunately, the anticipated release from Ian Kamau has not materialized. Ian though did not however leave us completely wanting, and dropped vol. 2 of the now “September 9th” series. With his album pushed back, Ian put together another mixtape to tide us over as the album gets together. Vol. 2 definitely feels like more of a mixtape with the very noticeable tracks from Kid Cudi (Day & Night) and Dilla (instrumental off Donuts) mixed in, along with two songs from the previous mixtape (Alarm Call and April Fools are reprised in the second installation). This tape also introduces us to a few of Ian’s cohorts, TheRealVoyce, Narcy, Paul, Equinox, and Daneo whom all have decent moments but don’t quite match Ian’s performances throughout.
Ian starts again with “Dear Summer”, re-visiting new moments, memories of hope, and everyday life. Then “Workingonit” is sort of a playful jab at the predicament of the album not being released. Still, Ian’s strength is his direct observations on what’s really going on. “Somebody” is the best example of what shined the brightest on vol. 1 . A bouncy jazzy track, that Ian rides effortlessly again offering up himself as he sings the hook “I am what I am I am”. Somebody is a track that shows the full spectrum of what Ian does on a track. The voice, flow, and his ability to take personal subjects; address them, but keep it universal. “ThirtySomething” is a crew track with each emcee offering their thoughts on turning the big 3-0. The highlights from this tape are Ian’s own brand of self deprecation on “Successful”, “Getsyoudown”, “Father Time”, his rawness on “Old Boys Club”, and “Cant make you love me”.
The dynamic style that Ian displayed on vol. 1 is still present, though he doesn’t show you the whole range as he did on the first tape (missing are the harmonies that gave so much soul to the vol. 1). With that said, Vol. 2 continues to be a solid tape, and Ian still makes the mundane magnificent with his matter of fact common man proclamations. Next up, the Album…..
Written by Mikal Lee for Nomadic Wax
http://www.zshare.net/download/6529439766bea28e/
House of Stone Lays Down African Hip-Hop Foundation
September 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment
For those who say rap has become nothing but shallow, commercial and
offensive, Zimbabwe Legit’s album, House of Stone, is here to prove
otherwise. Characterized by easy going tempos and well layered
melodies, House of Stone is pleasantly reminiscent of an old school
hip hop aesthetic. However, it’s the uncomplicated delivery of a
powerful message that really makes the album noteworthy Hip hop isn’t
dead; it’s just been overshadowed by an abundance of industry
dispensed, mediocre rappers.
In “Take Back the Mic (KHZ Remix),” a winding, almost menacing melody
crescendoes with confident lyrics that blame the industry for the
deterioration of hip hop. This track isn’t simply hating on the
mainstream; its assertions are earnest, backed by savvy lyrics that
critically flip pop references unto themselves: “Take it to the steps
of City Hall/We need to clean up Rap City cause it’s shitty y’all.”
Far from being self conscious about the assertions it makes,
(“Nowadays hip hop seems strange, like a relationship that done
changed”), the track doesn’t make attacks just for the sake of making
them. Instead, it takes a deep look at how hip hop has become
commercialized, thereby making clear this urgency behind taking hip
hop back to its roots. All of a sudden the song is over, when the
music just cuts off instead of fading out. In a stupor of silence, the
listener is left to process all the words that have been said. I
really appreciate the way the track focuses on being effective instead
of aggressive. Leaving cheap shots out of it, the track really gets to
the heart of matter with lyrical content that truly is legit.
Following a similar path, “Vicious Circle: Aka the Struggle” laments
hard times, but without bitterness. Jazzy and full of rich
instrumental sounds, the beat instantly caught my attention. Laced
with some truly evocative images (there’s a rose of concrete growin in
every corner”), the stories of the struggle become more than an old
cliche. I want to hear more about the girl “with the life full of
drama” because she’s characterized in a realistic, personal way. It’s
this kind of detail with which Zimbabwe Legit crafts narratives that
make their songs seem to speak words of truth.
The most noteworthy feature worth mentioning is the focus on
internationalism that runs through the album. In addition to national
pride, Zimbabwe Legit celebrates Africa and all its countries can
contribute to hip hop as an international genre. An interlude titled
Mfowethu, lays rich vocals over a solid, steady, snare and creates a
wonderful combination of sound in a mere 50 seconds. In “All Over the
Map” featuring African All Stars Maggz, Kenny Majozi and Ziggy-Lah,
rapping in multiple languages is just one of the talents this
collaborative track has to offer. The beat is multifaceted and the
lyrics thought provoking in terms of how African artists and others
approach pan African identity. Overall, House of Stone successfully
accomplishes an ambitious project; to portray realities that the
members of mainstream world have overlooked in the past. Classic
beats, insightful lyrics and a multidimensional approach to rap music
result in unique creations that build a new bridge between Africa and
hip hop. This bridge is one I think many hip hop fans should enjoy.
Written by Camille Gutierrez for Nomadic Wax
