Fonix #3; Get hooked on it.  There is a lot of music out there.   There are too many good albums that are worth picking up, but I will only touch on 4 of them.  This happens to me pretty often.  I get overwhelmed with the amount of music to listen to, so I just focus on a couple albums and then later, I make my way back to the albums that I missed.  Music is part of my life and I don’t want my relationship to be fake, shallow and meaningless (MTV, BET or any Top 40’s station).  So I usually get caught up in a few albums and branch out from there.  Kimbo Price (A Prelude to Mic Tyson) by Sean Price, The Professional Leisure Tour, Presented by LRG and performed by Kidz in the Hall, Gone Fishing Mixtape by The Cool Kids and Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book by Blockhead are the four albums in Fonix #3.  I will make another Fonix posting after this one to list out all of the albums (that I know of until now) that I recommend, Fonix #4.

Kimbo Price (A Prelude to Mic Tyson), Sean Price, 2009

Whether you call him Sean Price, Sean P!, Ruck, Ruckus or MegaSean, he keeps putting out albums with sick lyrics and some of the most talented producers.  All the top, emerging and veteran MC’s want to get Sean Price to contribute his skills to their albums.  I just picked up Killah Priests, Killah Tacticz and I was surprised to see that Sean Price was on a track.  He’s kept himself busy in the past couple years.  In the past year, he released Kimbo Price (A Prelude to Mic Tyson), D.I.R.T (Da Incredible Rap Team) with Rock as Heltah Skeltah and he has an album coming out with Black Milk and Guilty Simpson under the group name Random Axe.  Anything that Sean Price has been on is worth picking up.  He makes tracks worth the memory on your Ipod/MP3 player.  In the noughts (2000-2010), Sean Price reminds me of Method Man back in the 90′s.  Any Ghostface, Reakwon, DMX, ONYX or 2Pac song that Method touched was guaranteed to be a classic.  Sean Price is doing that now.

My brother put me onto Heltah Skeltah’s first album some time ago and ever since, I have been hooked on Nocturnal.  I didn’t hear about them until maybe 2000 or 2001 because I had been listening to some completely different music at that time.  D’Angelo dropped Voodoo, De La Soul dropped AOI, Del dropped Deltron 3030 and Both Sides of the Brain, Common dropped Like Water for Chocolate, Dead Prez dropped Let’s Get Free, Erykah Badu dropped Mama’s Gun, Outkast dropped Stankonia and Talib Kweli & Hi Tek dropped Reflection Eternal.  I was consumed with DMX (It’s Dark and Hell is Hot), Gangstarr (Moment of Truth), Goodie Mob (Still Standing), Heiroglyphics (Third Eye Vision), The Roots (Things Falls Apart), Jon Forte (Poly Sci), Mos Def (Black on Both Sides) and Jeru tha Damaja (Heroz4Hire) for about two years before that.  Needless to say, there was a lot of music for me to absorb already.  Once I HEARD it, I haven’t stopped listening to it.

Albums:

Nocturnal (Heltah Skeltah, 1996), Magnum Force (Heltah Skeltah, 1998), For the People (Boot Camp Clik, 1997), The Chosen Few (Boot Camp Clik, 2002), Last Stand (Boot Camp Clik, 2006), Donkey Sean Jr (Sean Price and DJ PF Cuttin, 2003), Monkey Barz (solo, 2005), Jesus Price Supastar (solo, 2007)

Recent Guest appearances:

The Matrix on Tronic (Black Milk) (DJ Premier, Pharoahe Monch, Black Milk, Sean Price), Run on Ode to the Ghetto (Guilty Simpson)(Black Milk, Sean Price, Guilty Simpson), You Already Know Remix on Corner Store Classic (Skyzoo featuring Sean Price)

Style:

Wit, humor, skill and passion describe Sean Price.  His style, humor and battle/boxing style of rhyming is a unique style of Brooklyn battle rappers.  He is explicit, nasty and a lot of times he makes me laugh because he takes some things too far.  Ha ha ha stick-em!

If you haven’t heard of Sean Price or Heltah Skeltah and you like good hip hop (lyrics and music), go check them out.  You aren’t going to see him on MTV or BET, so you will have to seek him out.  It is worth the effort.

Lyrics:

“……serve heads like tennis

with words that diminish

bust the scrimmage

I call the high post play

this off tip from the center for a quick lay,

I slay….

anybody come in my lane

gets blown out the frame

by the flipster of lames

look!

who is this

gettin swift

with this pugilist

equipped with the lyrical gift to flip scripts

people duck sick

don’t wanna touch

with that ruff shit

that Ruck kicks

brake boys bones

like Roy Jones

decoys roam

but they can’t mess with my people

he who stepped to Ruckus recognize that I be lethal

my gat spits at whack……

blacks get….tactics

make it hard for any infiltrator to attack this.”

Undastand, Nocturnal, 1996

More!!!!…….

“Microphone check 1, 2, what is this?

a bird and some play

nigga mind your business

witness

a field nigga ready to dump heat

last king of Scotland

ya’ll niggas is lunch meat

ya mean

Idi Amin

team supreme

mean flow and green glow

the Eloheem

P!

team of fiends around me lookin for good shit

stash under a loose brick holdin the deuce-fifth….”

Mama I Want to Sing (featuring Buckshot), Kimbo Price (A Prelude to Mic Tyson),  2009.

The Professional Leisure Tour, Presented by LRG and performed by Kidz in the Hall, 2009

It may seem like I’m blowing up Duckdown Records, but they are one independent record label, based in NYC, that has consistently put out good music.  Duckdown is definitely not catered to the MTV, BET, Hot 97 mainstream rap market.  Duckdown has recruited some serious talent to the label as well.  The original members were Blackmoon (DJ Evil D, Buckshot and 5FT), Smif N Wessin, Heltah Skeltah, O.G.C, The Representativz (Supreme and Lidu Rock) and Rustee Juxx.  Up until maybe 2004 or 2005, they stuck to the core members.  Since then, they have recruited B-Real, Skyzoo, Blue Scholars, Team Facelift, 9th Wonder, KRS One, The Kidz in the Hall, DJ Revolution and (Naledge and Double-O) and Marco Polo & Torae.  A lot of these artists will make Fonix #4, but I don’t enough time or attention span to go through all of the music released by Duckdown in the past couple years.

On Wednesday, December 9, 2009, I got a mass email from Duckdown.  Then about two and a half seconds later, I got an update from Duckdown on Facebook.  About 30 seconds later, I got another update from Duckdown on MySpace.  I can take a hint, so I decided to check out the link.  The link brought me to LRG Clothing’s website to download this album, The Professional Leisure Tour.  I downloaded it for free, opened it up and sync’d it to my MP3 player for the ride home.  That’s right, I have a MP3 player and not an IPod.  I’m one of those PC people.  Anyway, the next day I listened to it on the train home and I started to write this on my phone.  The album made an impression and I bumped another album off the list to write about.

At times, the album reminds me of Connected by Foreign Exchange.  This album throws in a bit more personal struggles with being faithful, trust issues while on tour and other relationship related lyrics, but it’s less R&B and more rap/hip-hop.  The beats are tight, clean, current and far better than the average.  The Professional Leisure Tour is more diverse than Connected though.  There’s more variety of tempo and styles.

Top Tracks:

We At It Again, Flickin’, Jukebox, A Little Bit, Grizzly Man, Everyday, Life I Know.

Style:

Kidz in the Hall, Naledge and Double-O, have a backpack, witty, smart style.  They keep it light and they don’t preach.  Naledge is from Chicago and you can hear it every now and then.  Some people from Chicago sound like they could be from South (and not the South Side), like Twista, but Naledge doesn’t.  His Chi-Town voice/accent is more like Common, Lupe & Kanye than Twista.  Kidz in the Hall are closely connected to Just Blaze and you can hear it sometimes in the production.  Double-O is the musical side to Kidz in the Hall.  The production is diverse, thorough and refined but not to the point of being commercial.

Lyrics:

“…gargle Rose like the shit was Listerine

and my life is a dream

I hope God don’t intervene

it seems like its only gettin better by the minute

and it seems

the more money I get, the faster that I spend it

choir boy image

done shed it like my credit

but my pen works,

like the four digits on my debit

access granted

haters can’t stand it

bet a motherfucker gonna get it like I planned it

life is wrestlin

I’m Bobby the Brain

yeah I’m ‘a manage

yeah you get damaged

so laid back like I’m rapping on a hammock…..”

We at it Again, The Professional Leisure Tour

The album is still free on LRG’s website.  For the link, click here.

Gone Fishin’ (Mixtape), The Cool Kids & Don Cannon, 2009

I first heard of The Cool Kids from a email/newsletter from Fader Magazine.  There was a link to the video for Black Mags.  Black Mags brought me back to when people were customizing their Dyno’s, adding pegs, megs and had their 5 point wheels.  You know…the bikes with one gear and no kick-stand.  For me, that in the early 90′s when people were garage hunting for bikes & cruising around the neighborhood and linking up with kids in neighborhoods across the city.  The beat was fresh in Black Mags and it had heavy, hard hitting bass mixed with some 10 RPM vocals in the chorus.  Enough reminiscing, but that’s where it took me.

The Cool Kids are a unique and talented duo from the Midwest (Michigan & Illinois). Sometimes they mesh so well, its hard to imagine either one of them going solo.  They’re into the retro culture and their lyrics take me back.  They have to be close yo my age because they make references to too many cartoons, labels, albums, etc that I remember (Starter hats, Brittish Knights, Bonita Applebaum, Launch Pad & Darkwing Duck, etc).  Their fashion sense is fused into their lyrical style.  I’m sure I’m not the only one, but it took me some time to figure out who is Mikey and who is Chucky.

Top Tracks:

Champions, Gold Links, Cinnamon, Premium Blends feat. Shorty K, Broadcasting Live, Tune Up, Knocked Down

Style:

They may not be for everyone because they don’t fit the mold of the tired ghetto-fab thug being preserved in the mainstream playlist shared by all the “Top 40′s” stations and channels.  They have a slow tounge, but I don’t think they lack the ability to change it up……I just haven’t heard it yet.  Both of them have a creative flow.  They can jump on and off the beat with the best of MC’s.  They’re light hearted and at times, they remind me of Pharcyde.  But their style is like a combination of Digital Underground, Heiroglyphics and A Tribe Called Quest and Pharcyde.

Lyrical re-occurring themes are witty, popular catch phrases, sports, video games, cartoons, fashionable labels, sub-culture and the ladies.  They may beat their chests every now and then or talk about money but it doesn’t dominate their tracks.

Lyrics:

I’m cool breeze wit ease

like a draft out tha shower

Cool Breeze from Atlanta

I should watch for the hook

right, left, uppercut,

I should watch for the jab

heavy bag, heavy weight

I speed past speed bags

Chuck English, Tune Up, Gone Fishing (Mix Tape)

Put my slippers on and

make minute rice outta lemons,

when they give em to us

who us?

yeah Mikey and Chuck

Launch Pad and Darkwing Duck

I clean clocks like a shop keep

keep shop

clean up with both hands

he want to kill the clock

keep up

they watch me

like a washing machine

I mean

watching is mean

so don’t stare when you’re stepping to us

cause its probably nothing to us

its nothing, it’s just a

‘nother cheeseburger with the ketchup and mustard

whats the hold up

with me holding ‘em up?

they beach chairs

and we foldin’ em up

I see hairs

and I know when to cut

its repairs and WD-40 for the squeeky ass hinges

I call maitenance

never really had a problem with the basics

But its….

noises keep coming from the basement

my white friends wanna do investigations

But I’m straight

you know what happens to the niggas in the monster movies

No wait,

I would rather switch places and vacate

and sit in a jacuzzi with particular girls

Mikey Rocks, Tune Up, Gone Fishing (Mix Tape)

Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book, Blockhead, 2007

I first heard of Blockhead when I was looking through the song names and producers on Aesop Rock’s album, Float.  There were several tracks named breakfast, lunch and dinner with Blockead.  At that time, I didn’t take the initiative to look him up.  When I heard Aesop’s other album, Labor Days, I saw that Blockhead produced a couple tracks, so it sparked my curiosity enough to check him out.

Blockhead has produced tracks for several artists, (Aesop Rock, Mac Lethal, Slug, MURS).  One similarity between Blockhead and several artists from Def Jux, is that they all can explore darker sounds and excel.  Especially in Music by Cavelight (2004), the violins and other strings mixed with the urban beats and mix of piano and obsure samples, probably from old movies, create a consistent, dark and impressive collection of instrumentals.  Did I mention that?  All of his solo albums are instrumentals.  This was a surprise to me because he consistently works with creative and talented mc’s and then when you buy one of his albims, no lyrics.  I have seen albums released by hip hop producers go in both directions (with or without lyrics).  Some albums, like Wanna Buy a Monkey (Dan the Automator), The Grey Album (DJ Dangermouse) or The Magbificent City (RJD2) all are albums released by unique hip hop producers but they all have lyrics and are formatted similar to hip hop albums.

Style:

Downtown Science (2005), Music By Cavelight (2004) and Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book (2007) are all very different in feel, tempo and tone.  Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book is one of his more upbeat albums.  In Coloring Book, the samples, strings, xylophone, guitar and beats all raise the mood like a very well edited and stylized intro to an indie movie.  His albums set the mood like a soundtrack and are very lucid and urban.  I say “urban” because that’s where the fact that he produces hip hop shines through.

Lyrics:

See above………seriously?!! C’mon Son!

I work in an interior design/architectural office in NYC and the day can be filled with stressful phone calls from the site, emails and deadlines.  There are times where we are designing, there’s production time and the majority of the time is filled with being able to creatively solve design problems to maintain the quality of our work while a project moves toward an actual building.  Most firms, that I have worked for, have a studio feel which means that there are few walls and a lot of open space.  We can play music outside our headphones, but it has to be “appropriate” for the various ages and tastes in the room (whether 3 or 14 people).  Blockhead’s first two albums were perfect for putting on in the office.  Most people that I work with believe that classical music is the best music while studying, working, etc.  But Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book and all of Blockhead’s albums are perfect for those that don’t have the “sophistcated” ear for classical music.  I hope everyone caught the “clever” use of quotations for sarcasm.  But, if you don’t work in an open setting, where the higher ups allow it or you yourself (if you own your own business) will not allow music to be played out in the open or in your headphones, Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book is perfect for playing while you are trying to get something done.  The only problem will be that it will make it seem like the album is too short (13 tracks).

Apparently, Blockhead is releasing a new album soon (sometime this winter).  So, if you have checked out some of Blockheads work and you like what you hear, keep an ear to the ground.

Ronin

Categories: Fonix

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 11:50 and is filed under Fonix. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.