"Man, what's this shit?" Alex says, holding up a copy of "Brokedown Palace", a new album from an Oakland crew.
"Some group that sent me a copy of their CD, Unified School District or something like that", I replied as I let up off the clutch and start to drive off.
"Is it any good?" my compadre asks, as he starts to load the disc into my cheap ass car's stereo system.
"Shit if I know, I haven't listened to it yet".
After a short intro talking about orgies, making Alex snicker to himself slightly, the album's title track kicks in. A simplistic beat fills the car, rattling my Rad Shack speakers ever so slightly.
"Who did the beats," I ask while trying to concentrate on the icy road in front of me.
"Some dude named Ecto One", Alex replies back to me as he starts to wrinkle his noise a bit,
"Man, this MC sounds like a cartoon character or something. Who the fuck calls themselves Super Ugly? That's your moms nickname".
"Fuck you", I snarl back at him.
My head is starting to nod a bit as I'm starting to feel the groove a bit. My boy Alex isn't so sure about it though. The beat encompasses the bare bones sound of hip hop that came from the late 80's and early 90's, something that is very fond to my heart and mind. The MC, Super Ugly, does have a distinctive voice, which takes some getting used to at first. Although I'm not totally sure I like his vocal tone, his flow and rhyme skills are more than adequate. He does command your attention on the mic, which goes good with the simplistic beat.
The next song, "…Sleepwalking", starts to play. It has a sharp flute shrill as the beats alternative back bone, almost overpowering the drums. At first I'm not sure I like it or not, as it starts to be kind of repetitive, but just as starting thinking that, it disappears and the guitar loop plays on. The beat is again simplistic, but still a qualified head nodder. Again, Super Ugly takes a strong stance on the track. Some of the lyrics seem almost abstract in nature, but you can't help to listen to the man spit. I look at Alex and he wrinkles his nose up.
"Man, you and that underground shit, I'm going to put some 50 in", as he reaches for the CD case.
"Touch that eject button and I'll break your hand. Besides, you know I don't own no 50 Cent", I say as I take a swig of OJ while sitting at a traffic light, waiting for it to change.
A familiar voice starts off "Punchfacedrunk".
"Ain't that that punk, Copywrite or some shit," Alex says half surprised that there is a somewhat recognized MC on the project.
"Dude, kill that noise man, Copy's an entertaining MC", I say, although I'm a little surprised to hear someone of Copy's stature on the project. I guess Unified School District isn't some local group like I thought. Copy drops an entertaining verse over the weakest beat I've heard thus far on the project. It contains a keyboard based beat, that sounds somewhat familiar, but I can't exactly place it.
Ecto One more than makes up for the minor mistep on the next song with a beautiful beat on "Sum Columns". Strings and bells fill the car as we drive on. I look over at my boy and he is nodding along to the beat while looking out the window. I laugh and he looks at me, "Ah man, shit's aight, nothin' special though." The beat in a way distracts from Super Ugly, but only because it's so damn nice. I ain't complaining though.
As we drive on, we let the CD play through the next few songs. Alex still mumbles every so often, complaining. I think a lot of his beef is with definite old-school feel to it. Being somewhat into the radio, jiggified shit, he isn't feeling the release all that much. Since I'm more of an old "underground" head, I'm more open to the flashes of abstractism and the golden aged flavored beats. "This Revolting Revolution", stands out, although I'm not particular sure why. A lot of this release is that way. You don't really know what to think of it.
After listening to most of the album, we arrive at our destination and go on with our day. Alex curiously asks me to burn him a copy of the CD after work.
"I thought you didn't liked that shit", I say to him after he asks me.
"Man, I don't know what it is, but I had some of that stuff stuck in my head all day", he replies back.
Over the next couple weeks, I find myself
listening more and more to "Brokedown Place", not sure why I'm listening to it more and more or why I have some of the well crafted choruses stuck in my subconscious. I'm not sure if it's Super Ugly's commanding voice and his ability to make the listener hang on his every word. Maybe its Ecto One's creative knack behind the boards. One such track that demonstrates Ecto One's creativity is "Exit Theme", which reminds me of one of my favorite producers, J-Zone. A constant string sample plays through out the track, a banjo maybe? It has Zone's influence all over it and for the same reasons I like J-Zone's music, is the same reason I'm feeling Ecto's beats. They are often unorthodox and don't follow the traditional rules of hip hop, but they are damn creative. He even uses a nice sample from the "Pump Up The Volume" movie of the 80's, such as Zone used a lot of movie soundbites. Other Zone like beats come up on "Radio Hates Us", that uses what sounds like an accordion, ala Zone early in his career. The true jewel of the song comes in the form of the "after track" beat. If I ever met Super Ugly, I'd beg him to make a song with that shit. It employs some traditional boom-bap drums over a sweet vocal sample that still gives me goose bumps every time I hear it.
Two weeks later, I'm over at Alex's crib, playing some Madden. He pops in the album in his stereo, and puts on track 14, "Know Time Left", which contains a nice guest appearance from Price Po of former Organized Konfusion fame.
"Haha, man, you like this now huh", I say to him after Willie Parker of the Steelers runs past his Viking linebackers.
"Man, this shit is dope. I know I didn't like it at first, but the more I listen to it, the better it gets. The shit really grows on you".
"I know man, I know", is all I can say as Super Ugly it talking about "Screeeeaaaam at the top of your lungs, for once, let loose, let loose"……….