Viktor Vaughn: Vaudeville Villain ( * * * * * )

Vaudeville Villain
Originally uploaded by David E.

MF Doom, the new flavor of the month, underground hip-hop's current poster child, hiphopsite.com's best album of 2003. Is the hype real? Is he as good as the underground community making him out to be?

"MF" stands for "Metal Face". This is a fitting name that coincides with his dark tones. Casting himself as a villain, he becomes the antiwillsmith. Vaudeville Villain is his best album to date. His mush-mouthed rapping style is not like an any rapper out there. He's not the fastest rapper, but he is very skillful at rapping around the beat. He appears to purposefully stray off the path and bringing it all back together to fit just perfectly, like a jazz musician improvising, and bringing it back to the familiar.

Vaudeville Villain has some very clever lyrics, keeping with the villain theme with lyrics like "If I don't study, I'ma cheat off Peter Parker / keep a liter of vodka inside my locker". Also, in "Let Me Watch", rapper B Apani plays his highschool girlfriend. It chronicles his relationship with her, and how poorly he treated her, and played her, like a villain would do. The chemistry the two have rapping back and forth, her disin' him, him disin' her works well. This is not your pathetic Eminem flavor of cowardly misogyny. MF Doom clearly comes off as the bad guy, and B Apani's character takes the higher ground. Unlike Eminem, it's clear that this is a character that he is playing like a bad-guy in any comic book, or Hollywood movie.

The production is top notch as well. Right away on the albums title track, you hear a killer beat, a skillful rhyme, and the coolest sounding music. To hear this without the rapping, check out mfdoomsite.com. The music will play when the page loads. It's perfectly ominous. Another great tune on the album is Saliva. This is produced by the amazing RJD2. The song has funky beats and some cool ass horns.

There's some humor on the album too. On "Open Mic Nite Pt 1", you hear a spoken word rapper, with the obligatory bongos in the background, spouting typical holier than thou cliche' slam poetry. It's quite funny. On "Open Mic Nite Pt 2", you hear a cheesy drum beat with a very unskilled MC rapping about his love for Marijuana. In both cases, the next act is the talented crowd pleaser that can lay down the killer rhymes, and killer beats.

So, is MF Doom the new flavor of the month? Possibly. I certainly hope not. The hype is real. I listen to this CD far too much! I agree with hiphopsite.com. This is the best hip-hop CD of 2003.

EL-P: Fantastic Damage ( * * * * )

Fantastic Damage
Originally uploaded by David E.

EL-P, member of underground pioneer Company Flow, was arguably responsible for the revival of underground hip hop in the mid to late 90's. In contrast to contemporaries Jurassic 5, EL-P's rapping style is abstract and eclectic, where Jurassic 5 brought us back to to the old-school. EL-P is to Jurassic 5, as Avant-Garde Jazz is to Swing. As a result, his style runs the risk of alienating a large percentage of the hip-hop audience by loosing listeners to what I call the "I don't get it" factor. You can't dance to it, you can't rap along with it, you can't predict the hooks. It's for these exact reasons that I love it.

EL-P left Company Flow and started his own record label "Definitive Jux" in 2001. Def Jux has quickly gained respect and notoriety in the underground hip-hop world. Notable artists signed with the label are Cannibal Ox, Aesop Rock, Mr. Lif, and RJD2. From Def Jux came EL-P's first solo release, "Fantastic Damage".

Fantastic Damage brings us more of what EL-P is good at. Complex, eclectic rapping, along with top-notch production. The feel is dark, real dark. The best word I could find to describe it is "apocalyptic". This is most prevalent on "Deep Space 9mm". Throughout the track you hear a dark droning noise that brings a certain feeling of impending doom. I mean this is a good way. It gives me goose-bumps.

This CD is not your fathers Oldsmobile. Defiantly something you don't want to use to put your kids to sleep with at night. Stick with the nature sounds for that. This CD is to be absorbed. It's to be listened to repeatedly in your car, iPod, or whatever device you use to isolate your personal musical experiences. It's also an acquired taste. A taste that you understand and enjoy more and more with every listen.

I recommend this for anyone that wants to try something different. If you need to be challenged, and are as much of a music snob as I am, you will love this. Be warned though, you will either love it or hate it. If you hate it, I can only say "I told you so".

Click The Supah-Latin: Square Won ( * * * * * )

Square Won
Originally uploaded by David E.

This CD released in 2001 has gone relatively unnoticed. This is too bad because this is in my opinion among the best hip-hop CD's ever.

Click is a beat-box virtuoso. I suspect that this CD was overlooked because beat-boxing is not seen by many to be a serious art. Those critics need to hear this album.

Click enlisted some serious talent on this album. The albums second track, Jaw Jabbin' features Jurassic 5's Akil with his usual perfect rapping. Track 4 is Click's homage to what many call the 5th element of hip-hop, the beat-box. The sixth track, Lunchtime features Jurassic 5 rapping over Click's beat-boxing. It's allways good to hear another track that has Chali 2na rapping!

This CD is a feel-good CD. It has all of what was good about old-school beats, sounds and rhythm. You can just picture a city street with cardboard on the sidewalk, a guy with a boom-box on his shoulder, and a guy creating the coolest beats, and on the cardboard is the freshest break-dancing you have ever seen.

This CD is clean enough for your kids to listen to, yet intelligent enough for an adult. Click makes this a family effort as well. His son Anthony raps on "Diferente'", and you get to hear an impromptu freestyle on track 13 which is appropriately named "Family Freestyle". On this track his wife and kids all take turns rapping from what sounds like it was recorded with a 4-track in the family living room.

I have nothing bad to say about this CD. It's a gem, a diamond in the rough. If you miss what hip-hop was like back in the day, this CD is like a breath of fresh air.