Amy's Robot

White Rap Revue

Aesop Rock will be performing today (Tuesday) at the Virgin Megastore at 6 pm [scroll down]. Def Jux's website sort of implies El-P and some other Jukies will be there.

So, let's take a second to look at the state of white rappers.

• Eminem. He's got it all figured out. Maybe he's doesn't have the most abstract, brain-bending lyrics, but he's got a perfect ear and narrative style. Looks like he's moving behind the boards now, which hopefully will yield some interesting projects -- but if his gift is for assonance, don't we want him to stay on the mic? Em: try to keep 50 out of trouble.
• The Beasties. They're getting old. What are they working on? They had that peacenik single last spring, but what else? I want the hiatus to be over.
• El-P. His record company, Definitive Jux is a gift to the world. El's producing some of the most talented guys out there -- Cannibal Ox, C. Rayz Walz, RJD2 -- and still putting out brilliant albums of his own. Has there been a recent hip-hop album better than El's Fantastic Damage? If so, El probably produced it himself. Which leads us to:
• Aesop Rock. New album, Bazooka Tooth, came out last month. Maybe he's not as innately skilled as his Def Jux cohorts, but he's still better than nearly everyone else you hear, althoguh he does sort of come across like the lost Beastie Boy...a little uncomfortable in his own skin.
• Bubba Sparxxx. Plays up his crackerdom more than Ted Nugent. Redneck rap was a genre waiting to happen, so it's good he came along. You can listen to all of his new album, Deliverance, over at BET (ironically), where they spell the name of the album wrong. Bubba would kick my ass for saying so, but even Timbaland's production can't save it.
• MC Paul Barman. Brown-educated Jewish intellectual potty-mouthed rap was another genre waiting to be born. Too clever for his own good, but it works, maybe because he's so filthy, and because he combines words in a way that you don't understand until 5 minutes after you hear it. New album came out a year ago, is somehow more foul-minded than his first.

categories: Music
posted by adm at 4:20 AM | #