[Ear To The Beats] Underground is On Top

Blu & Exile

by David Dennis Jr.
April 23, 2008

“The underground done spun around and did a 360.”—Eminem

Remember the group Arrested Development from the early 1990s? Yeah, that group that did “Tennessee.” That hemp-wearing, poetry-reciting motley crew of MCs and singers carved a new niche for hip-hop music. Soon, this underground niche became a pretty common punch line. The underground scene became an archetype for the overly conscious absurdity of “next-level” thought. The underground MC became associated with open-toed sandals, incense, hate for pork, dreadlocks and people calling each other “God.” Frankly, this MC was quite awful and pretentious for a little while in the late ’90s.

Luckily, though, Little Brother and Kanye West changed the scene. The collegiate rappers let us all know that they are real people, too, not caricatures of gangsterism or pretension. While Kanye sent this image to the mainstream, Little Brother has been holding down the underground as a place for no-BS rhyming to take place. They even took shots at the “Coffeehouse MC”: “You tryin’ to battle me with sandals and capris on? C’mon dog,” they rap on their first album, “The Listening.” Now, because of these movements, underground hip-hop has seen a resurgence in respect and quality. This year started off as a stellar year for the artists that like to stay under the radar. So let’s take a look at some of these lesser-known albums.

EMC, “The Show”: Wordsworth, Stricklin, Punchline, Masta Ace. If underground hip-hop had a dream team, this would be it. Wordsworth is simply one of the sickest MCs in the game. His ability to manipulate the word is on a level all its own: “Back to back consistently/can’t quite, I’m a spit ’til no one can exist but me.” Punchline and Stricklin provide an everyman approach to each verse they spit. Masta Ace is the leader of the group, and has created a couple of classics of his own. “The Show” follows Masta Ace’s tried–and–true formula of creating a concept album. This offering shows the four MCs getting ready to perform, and then actually performing on the road. Through this two-day journey, the artists give us a look into the music industry and some of the more frustrating aspects of being an up-and-coming artist.

Pete Rock, “New York’s Finest”: Pete Rock is a legend by now. His production catalogue lands up there with the greatest of all time. In fact, there would be no “Illmatic”—possibly the greatest hip-hop album ever—if not for Pete’s production. Pete has definitely earned the respect of his peers if the amount of help he received for this album is any indication. Pete produced the tracks and let the best MCs in New York just go to work. Artists like Redman, The Lox, Papoose and a few members of the Wu Tang Clan stop by to give their artistry to the amazing album. “New York’s Finest” is classic New York hip-hop at its best.

Blu: There’s no album listed on purpose. Blu runs the underground scene right now. He is the most promising new under-the-radar artist in a very long time, having collaborated on three unbelievable albums over the last few months. The first, “Below the Heavens” produced by Exile, was on the short list of classic hip-hop albums of 2007. Blu hopped on the scene and turned heads with his brutally honest lyrics and ability to convey the most complex emotions in a very accessible manner. “My main goal is to prove to these high-school graduates/don’t think you outschoolin’ me, cuz truthfully I’m sick of these fools thinking they foolin me/Wait until the day you feel Blu and see.” This year is promising for Blu; he is releasing his new LP “Johnson & Jonson” later this year. The album has already leaked and looks to have the same acclaim as Blu’s 2007 offering.

 
posted by on 04/23/08 at 07:00 PM. [printer-friendly version]