The 37th Chamber 07.23.08: Main Event Players

Posted by Patrick Robinson on 07.23.2008

Mainstream hip-hop dissected using wrestling analogies! Plus: Das EFX and Binary Star hold down the Underground and we crown the King Of The Mid-West!

I was on a drug-free high last week until Friday when I was issued a $189 fine for parking in a "No Stopping" zone. Now I'm going to contest it on the basis that I was delivering an urgent insulin supply for a customer of ours, and my boss said that he'd right a letter personally as a Justice Of The Peace to the Council if they persisted so I figure I'm going to avoid this one. What was really irritating was that the officer said I was delivering food. Yeah, like people deliver fast food wearing a BUSINESS SUIT. Geeze, I know these officers have to meet a certain quota of tickets a day, but come on, when you're not even going to let me explain that I was saving somebody's life, and you're assuming that I'm delivering fast food (based on what assumption, I'll never know), you're just ASKING for a Statutory Declaration basically calling you an idiot.

I did have a distinct urge to run her the hell over, but I figured that if she's carrying a gun, she might shoot my car. Lord knows that car manages to get run into by people who can't bloody drive out of their own driveway properly enough times. Well twice anyway. I hate living in an area mainly populated by people over the age of 60…nobody knows how to drive anymore.

But hey, this isn't a "How To Drive" column, although that wouldn't be such a bad idea for our local newspaper…

Reader Feedback
(May be edited for spelling, grammar etc.)

"'Be' is definitely a classic, personally at least. I was really disappointed with music in '05 until I bought this (let's not mention that Young Gunz CD I bought at the same time too) in May and it reaffirmed my faith if you will. Same for 'The Minstrel Show', every Top 10 list I saw that year, I was waiting to see those two albums and they were presented every time

.. and now that I typed that, I would love to see a Little Brother / Common collaboration just to see how it goes. Aside from a 9th Wonder remix to The 6th Light (which shows how long ago that was made), I don't know of any collab between them" - Joe

I think Be will definitely be thrown around under ‘Classic' territory once it's aged past a certain point. The Minstrel Show…the concept of that album SOMEHOW managed to actually go over the heads of some reviews I read. I'm not saying they were badly written reviews, but seriously, when the damn album liner notes play out as a TV guide and you can't pick up the whole "Show" concept…what the hell.

Those are actually two albums I can play start to finish without having to skip a track. Well, that's a lie, I usually skip "The Corner" on Be as the beat gets on my nerves, but everything else is kosher.

A Little Brother / Common collaboration with say…a J Dilla beat would be nuts! If 9th wants to drop something for them, then hell yes, go along with that too. I'd say Premier too, but I think people are beginning to think I'm a street team member for the guy or something with the amount of love he gets in the column. I'm not…but if the job pays in Premier produced CDs, sign me up!

"It'll definitely turn into a contest of who has the most Stans... lol at the Diddy / Jim Jones play-in" - Joe

Based off Stan fans…I'd say the Top 5 in the Vibe hosted contest to find the "Best Rapper Alive" a.k.a. the BRA, will come down to; 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, Eminem, Jay-Z and…I was about to say 2Pac, but that might be a bit hard.

Jeremy, I'm listening to Cannibal Ox as I write this up, and I'm loving it. That "Pigeon" track seems to be growing on me for some reason more than the others are.

Hmm…a bit light this week, I guess I'll have to be more controversial.

* ahem * Nas sucks, 50 Cent is the greatest rapper of all time because he sells millions of albums and Terminate On Sight sold poorly due to shipping errors, Lil Wayne is the best rapper alive, Jay-Z is too old, Rakim is too old, G G G G G-Uniiiit!

Ok, I ran out of controversial things to say. Please note that I don't actually believe any of the above statements.

BOOM HEADSHOT

The Rant

For all my male readers out there, wait, do I even have any female readers? Apart from Aleng of course (shout out to the Moot Court!), but yeah…

Anyway, I'm sure that at some point or another, you've found a girl that you have a more than passing interest in and in an attempt to develop conversation points, you start listening to some of her favorite artists, so you know what she's talking about.

Having said that, it's actually kind of different for me in that I'm a highly suggestible type of person. In other words, if somebody says "listen to this!" I usually give it a listen, even if it's got nothing to do with my regular kind of music. So the story goes, I was talking to one of the girls at work, and she said that she liked hip-hop, which just so happens to be one of the three qualities I look for in a women (along with a nice laugh, and the ability to tolerate my insanely irritating one. I have very simple standards compared to my friends it turns out).

BUT, and it's a ‘but' worthy of capital letters, it seems she only listens to mainstream stuff, which is fine, but I seem to have zero knowledge of what's going on in the mainstream these days. Not because I'm out of the loop as such, I mean, I have copies of the albums that are considered mainstream, but I don't know what the single is by whatshisface because I don't watch MTV or listen to the radio anymore. The MP3 player is the single greatest invention for the car EVER. No, Nav-man thingies don't count because you should be able to read a street directory. There I go on car education again. Apologies.

Coming off this tangent, we were talking about some of the songs she's listening to etc. and I realized that I do neglect many of the lesser mainstream releases. A couple of months back we discussed the different ‘levels' of underground. You have your known underground artists like MF DOOM, Immortal Technique, Buckshot etc. You have your lesser-known underground artists such as Reef The Lost Cauze, Guilty Simpson and Joell Ortiz. Then you've got the REALLY underground guys who are basically doing local shows and just starting to develop a fan base.

The same works for the mainstream though. To use a wrestling analogy, you've got your Main Event stars such as Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, Nas, Jay-Z, The Game, Kanye West and Snoop Dogg. You have the upper-mid card guys like Chingy, Common and Fat Joe. The solid mid card players like Royce Da 5'9", Plies, Obie Trice, basically guys waiting for that one big break to move into the next tier. Down from that, you have lower card guys that have limited exposure, or guys that are past their COMMERCIAL prime such as Scarface, Talib Kweli and most of the Wu-Tang Clan.

In an attempt therefore, to reeducate myself on the lower side of the mainstream, I ventured into completely new territory in the form of two CDs. One on recommendation of the girl at work, one on my own INSANE recommendation because I have NO IDEA what possessed me to listen to the album.

Her choice: Three 6 Mafia - Last 2 Walk

Reason For Listening: "Lolli, Lolli (Pop That Body)" managed to pique my interest on my own due to it coming up on my iTunes when I searched for [Lolli] (looking for "Lollipop").

Mainstream Location: Floating somewhere around the mid card these days as Three 6 Mafia's commercial dominance came mainly around the turn of the century. Having said that though, their 2005 album, Most Known Unknown did go double platinum, mainly due to the strong singles. Currently though, three years is too long in-between albums in this day and age of aural amnesia and as a result, the album is struggling to go Gold.

What's Good: If you're into party music, or music that can inspire you to break a piece of wood over your head due to it's sheer energy, this is for you. The production on the album is damn impressive, if a little repetitive in terms of the use of the snare on virtually every song on the first half of the album. It has that Lil Jon vibe to it. You don't know why, you can't even begin to fathom a reason, but as soon as you heard the beat, you want to dance. They even incorporate samples of Zombie Nation ("Kernkraft 400") and Queen ("We Will Rock You") on the same album! Basically, if you're looking for something to bang in the car, or if you have friends that listen to party hip-hop only and need something for a party, this is a good place to start.

What's Bad: Well…lyrically, there's nothing memorable. The majority of the album is shit-talking, drug-talking, women-talking, car-talking, which can get a bit repetitive. That is kind of supplemented by the guests throughout the album who do perform quite well (except Akon, seriously, just STOP for a couple of months before people start really hating). There's also the fact that if the above overly simplified lyrical soundings don't sound appealing to you, you will hate this album.

Verdict: When I'm in the right mood, you want that song to amp you up and start screaming "SHUTDAFUCKUPPP" at random people on the road as you drive past. I enjoyed this album, it's certainly not the best album I've heard, but it's made me want to give Most Known Unknown another look.

My choice: Keak Da Sneak - Deified

You can blame HipHopDX as they had a review of this up and gave it 2.5 / 5 stars, which made me think it can't be THAT bad. But yeah, I still have no idea what I was thinking listening to this album given its TWENTY THREE DAMN TRACKS LONG.

Mainstream Location: Keak Da Sneak is a legend from all accounts in the Bay Area, but anywhere else…not so much. Most people I ask think I'm talking about a cartoon, or know him as "that funny sounding guy off ‘Tell Me When To Go' ". So, lower-mid card I guess.

What's Good: Well, there's nothing that makes me want to stab myself in the ear with a pencil, but then again, there's not much I can understand. Production-wise, the album has a pretty decent bounce feel to it and "N Fronta Ya Mama House" (ugh…) sounds like it came right out of 1994.

What's Bad: WELL. There are moments when the production loses that West Coast or Hyphy vibe and begins to turn into an R&B track, which scares me. There's also the fact that I can't understand a damn word the man is saying given he sounds like a reanimated corpse. Then there's the issue of there being TWENTY THREE DAMN TRACKS to listen to.

Verdict: Why the hell did I listen to this? Ok, that's not very fair, as there's nothing outright awful, but there's nothing worth remembering really either. The really hyphy tracks do get my vote for pure energy though.

In terms of another artist who's been growing on me - of SOMEONE'S accord, I have no idea who – is Plies. Yes, the guy that made a fool of himself in a Vibe magazine interview getting confused with the term ‘applies' and pliers. I honestly can't stand his style of rapping for the most part either. He's so…blunt, in terms of both his delivery and lyrics. That being said though, Definition Of Real is currently getting plays between Method Man's Tical 2000: Judgement Day (I have a strange listening habit in that I switch between something mainstream and something from back in the day constantly). "Bust It Baby Pt. 2", "#1 Fan" and "Somebody Loves You" are actually growing on me. I have somewhat identified the culprits: MTV.

When "Bed" first came out, I hated it. When "Lollipop" first came out, I hated it. When "Bust It Baby Pt. 2" first came out, I hated it. So, what made me suddenly like these tracks? I caught the video on MTV and for some reason, which is entirely inexplicable (I like that word don't I…), that made me listen to the track. Maybe when the hip-hop purist inside of me gets hit on the head, my inner Top 40 comes out and somehow convinces the hip-hop purist that the track is acceptable to the senses. I think everybody has a bit of a Top 40 groupie inside of them as sometimes it's only natural to like something that's 100% mainstream, even the most dedicated underground heads would have to admit to liking something that had been on the radio before.

I'm The KING!

And the winner is…



Kanye West's bizarre hair!

Kanye gets the nod here for a couple of reasons. Firstly, in terms of commercial success, he's dominating the charts as both a rapper and a Producer. Secondly, he's helped bring the career of one Common Sense to a greater mainstream audience than I could ever imagine. Finally, hate him or love him, he's a definite personality and is very outspoken on issues outside of his music, something you don't find in many of today's rappers.

His production discography is truly staggering when you realize how many different artists he's produced for over a twelve year period, not many people know, but his first known production credit was back in 1996!

He's also managed to achieve a high level of cross-over appeal without alienating his hip-hop fan base. Ask any casual fan of hip-hop, or even a non-fan to name say, five rappers, and Kanye West is most likely going to end up in that list.

Critically, he's also brought the mid-west to the forefront of hip-hop through his efforts through his own music and Common's work. Apart from Eminem and to a few less people, Royce Da 5'9", the mid-west isn't exactly known for producing main event level hip-hop artists. You could make an argument for Twista, but he relied too much on the speed rap gimmick for too long and seems to be past his prime now.

Kanye West is The 37th Chamber's King Of The Mid-West!

So that leaves us with four MCs, 2Pac, Jay-Z, T.I. and Kanye West. Who do YOU think deserves the title of King Of Hip-Hop out of those four? Candidates will make their case next week!

Taking It Underground
(Albums are coming from the suggestions of a longtime reader CJ)

DOUBLE FEATURE!

I've been listening to a lot of hip-hop this last week, which surprised me as I've been at work full time. I've also been asked by my baby cousin to listen to a certain CD which I might be reviewing for the site…ah…it's definitely not what you'd expect from me. Make sure you have a good laugh, I'll be needing some pills to recover.

Anyway, this week I'm doing something a little different, one album is from CJ, the other is one I have mentioned in passing here once or twice and to a couple of readers via email.

CJ's Album: Das EFX - Dead Serious

Even though I've only been listening to hip-hop for about nine years (started in 1999 for those working too long to do math), I never really got into Das EFX, or a lot of other East Coast acts. Sure, Biggie was a staple listen and of course, there's my Wu-Tang love, and Rakim, and EPMD, ok so maybe there were a lot more than I thought. BUT, I never really listened to Das EFX, despite their EPMD affiliation. I always have had a soft spot for the West Coast so when it came to checking out albums from the mid 90s, 2Pac, Snoop, Dr. Dre, Warren G, Cypress Hill, De La Soul etc. all got preference.

So here we are. My only experience with Das EFX are references on The Chappelle Show, but I do know that their rhyme scheme is what made them truly unique.

Dead Serious runs for about 39 minutes making it an extremely quick listen which is a bit disappointing really as it's really fun hip-hop to listen to. Rarely do you find artists who actually sound like they're having fun and smiling whilst in the studio but Das EFX (Krazy Drazy and Skoob) sound like they do.

The production has that fantastic funk / hip-hop blend feel that many early EPMD records had, you may even recognize the sample used on "They Want EFX" as the same one used on Jin's "Learn Chinese" track from a couple of years back. It's no surprise either when you look at the list of credited samples, James Brown samples are used on five tracks as well as Isaac Hayes, The Meters and Joe Tex.

Lyrically, the album might be difficult to listen to the first time round as their flow can take some getting used to. There's also the use of the "iggity" prefix on a lot of words however, if you listen closely, it's not overdone as many people claim, it's mainly used as a tool to push the flow along and keep the energy building.

Dead Serious was their most commercially successful album as their flow and lyrical styling had not been seen before in the world of hip-hop. Within the next few years after their debut though, their flow become more common place, and with the emergence of gangsta rap in both New York and the West Coast, their fun loving style was sadly being pushed to the side. There are talks of a new album sometime this year or next as they have mentioned working on new material whilst on their European tour in 2007. This will be their first in five (or six) years and I think there is a definite market out there for their music. This one's a definite recommendation if you're looking for some relaxed, fun hip-hop.

My album: Binary Star - Masters Of The Universe

This is possibly the best album I have heard in my life. Personally, I place it higher than Illmatic (sacrilege!), though I'll be the first to admit that it's not an album that everybody will like initially. Believe it or not, the album was released in 2000 so it hasn't even been out the prerequisite 10 years before deeming it a classic, but I have no doubt that to underground heads at least, it's the Illmatic equivalent.

If you haven't heard it, I strongly suggest you get a copy (it'll have to be downloaded as I don't think a physical pressing has been available for years except on eBay) and give it a listen. The production ranges from dark and moody, to bouncy and funky. Samples are used on most of the tracks in a scratching style similar to Premier's, but not as intensive throughout the hooks. Only once or twice does the production falter, but even then it's not so much a criticism of the album, but rather it's not as good as everything else on the album.

Lyrically, One Be Lo and Senim Silla are on another level to virtually everyone I've ever heard on this album. They can jump from conceptual tracks, to posse cuts, to pure hip-hop lyrical showcases with ease to the point where you're not even sure you've been listening to an album, but rather the group's conscious thoughts with music in the background.

Honestly, I'd go on, but I'd be spoiling a lot of the surprise and fun of listening to the album. Highly recommended to anybody who calls themselves a fan of hip-hop music, and if you're an underground fan and DON'T have this, I suggest you start looking for a copy before the NINJAS come!

10 Things…
(10 Things… will be a bi-weekly feature and won't be the usual Top 10 lists, we're keeping it different over here!)

Not sure what to include next week…any ideas? Otherwise, it'll be something horribly random.

Stupid-Ass YouTube Of The Week



Oh shit the ninja's already here!

Before We Go…

Alrighty then, if you don't usually check Fact Or Fiction, do so this week as Phil Watts Jr and I are going head-to-head in an all hip-hop edition!

Catch you tomorrow!