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· JAHSON THE RESISTANCE
One of the main torch-bearers on the Cincinnati Hip Hop scene, DJ/producer Jahson has crafted tracks for everyone from local acts (he was an original member of Mood and has worked with Crunch E.x. and others) to national artists (Talib Kweli, Killah Priest). On his fantastic, mostly instrumental solo effort (featuring many live instruments), The Resistance, Jahson takes his own stand, and the results are wildly gratifying. The only consistent is the impenetrable beats, as Jahson wades through miles of different influences and genres, engaging them all masterfully, while putting his own spin on each. Dub Reggae grooves drive cuts like “Trade,” “War” and “Happiness,” vintage Soul seethes from “Teach The Kids,” locust-beats mix with shotgun scratches on “Star Gazin,” and an innate Funk sensibility prevails throughout. While “producer” albums can be a little bit too “hodge podge” and cluttered (see: The Neptunes’ sketchy discography), The Resistance doesn’t try to be everything to everyone. Its dynamic feels spontaneous, not forced, giving listeners a chance to explore with the artist and not be spoon-fed. This beatmeister embraces his diversity with clear passion, digging at the roots of modern urban music without getting buried with them. (Mike Breen) Grade: A
· JOHN DOE POPULAR FALLACIES (TRUE LIES)
John Doe is one of Cincinnati’s foremost mixmasters, boasting membership in both the preeminent local turntable team, 1200 Hobos, and the national collective, Uneasy Alliance. On his latest “mixtape” release, the brilliant Popular Fallacies (True Lies), Doe shows an undying devotion to the art of turntablism and the history of Hip Hop in general. Fluidity is the key to a great mix album, and Doe’s delivery is faucet-like, oozing forth like the soundtrack to the greatest party ever. Doe seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge of Hip Hop, instinctively dropping recognizable and obscure samples at just the right moment and tastily blending a plethora of varied beats with the tastemaking ingenuity of a master chef.
It’s Doe’s organizational instinct that is most impressive on Fallacies, as he lovingly crafts each moment like a scholarly Jazz arranger. It’s a lot to reel in, but Doe makes it all sound natural. In Doe’s world, everyone’s invited to the party, as Ted Koppel, Grandpa Simpson, Foreigner and Jack Nicholson mingle comfortably with A Tribe Called Quest, Public Enemy and James Brown. Cherish your invite. (MB) Grade: A +
· JERMISIDE THE BIOLOGY OF KINGSHIP
Deftly skilled as an MC and lyricist, Jermiside comes off like an accomplished veteran on The Biology of Kingship. With the dynamic, 16-track set, the rapper/producer unleashes sure-shot beats and expansive musical ornamentation, from the quirky electro-based Funk of “CPR” to the airy, eerie exultation of “Late Night.” But it’s Jermiside’s rope-a-dope lyrical fluidity that anchors Kingship and gives it its lasting impact. The MC’s writing breadth expands to love songs, something that Hip Hop artists usually seem to have a hard time pulling off. But, like on the shifty, captivating “Music to Watch Girls By,” Jermiside makes it palatable by being playful instead of nasty or condescendingly sweet. Elsewhere, Jermiside’s effusive, visceral style is put to good use on “Nightmares,” a laundry list of real-life horrors (from slavery to AIDS to no health care) that also plays on class discrepancies with lines like “I’m living in the suburbs quiet as riots elsewhere/Frustrated by it ’cause I could see myself there/Spending the night at the Hyatt why you cry in despair.” Jermiside’s more artistic approach to the lyrical side of Hip Hop and his ability to give each track its own individual musical identity make The Biology of Kingship an album with such striking depth, you could get lost in it for hours. (MB) Grade: A
· T-NAPE DOWN THE WAY
Cincinnati’s “strife” over the past few years (riots, police animosity/slowdowns, boycotts and general unrest) is good fuel for street poets in the area from hyper-hostility can come great art of all sorts. On his four-song debut CD, Down the Way, 26-year-old rapper T-Nape takes his general observations and distills them into a new-school Rap music M.O., endearingly coming off as both swaggeringly self-assured and searchingly vulnerable. T-Nape’s instinctive observational lyrics are given a machete edge via the rapper’s chopping flow, which serves as the “bounce” for most of the songs, mixing layered vocals and alluring chants to create tracks that bob-and-weave confidently. Though only four cuts long, the Cincy-centric disc actually has a somewhat conceptual set-up, starting with “Not A Day,” a personal introduction (“As I drop to my knees and cry/We all here to die”) that resembles a birth-like entrance, and ending with “Doomed,” a deathbed-like rumination about searching for salvation which addresses the free-flying contradictions of the narrator’s existence (God and the “good life” vs. cut-throat street survival). T-Nape’s presentation resembles street protagonists from Tupac to DMX, not only in the gritty bump of the music, but also in his honest and reflective lyrical precision. (MB) Grade: B
· SMOOTY – TAME THE DARK EP
A Cincinnati college student involved with Dayton-based Hip Hop collective Cosmic Souls, 24-year-old rapper Smooty infuses a crafty, ethereal music base with his distinct vocal style, a low-register, slow-burn croon. Lyrical topics are delivered unreservedly, from brazenly serious to more light-hearted musings. Smooty mixes both on album highlight “Proletariats,” a smart, big business-and-government critique unspooled over a shimmering Jazz background where Smooty snarls, “When I say Bush is a bitch/(It’s) not a Freudian slip” and manages to sneakily drop in the melody of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” like it was written for him. Between the imaginative soundscapes (dig the circuitous Jazz guitar runs on “Soul Mate Temp Service”) and Smooty’s dynamic, kaleidoscopic lyrical disposition, Tame the Dark stands as a promising early entry from one of the city’s more creative new Hip Hop minds. (MB) Grade: A –
· ILWIL THE SOUND CONTROL EP
ILWIL members Ilyas Nashid (Il) and William Freeman (Donwil) originally met in the mid-’90s while attending college in North Carolina. But the Cincinnati natives reconvened in their hometown after school and have honed their Hip Hop skills to a sharpened point, as evidenced on their forthcoming release, The Sound Control EP, one of a few projects the band has in the works. The grassroots effort (available online at soundclick.com/ilwil) is impressive, with the duo’s talent shining intensely and making it no surprise that they’ve already drawn international press attention. A rumbling Swing Jazz rhythm buoys the title track, a swirl of scratches, big beats and horn samples that create an amusement park-like springboard of sound for the duo’s compelling lyrical interplay. From there, they dig into soulful R&B (“Sofar”) and somewhat more standard (but never rote) Hip Hop backdrops (the trippy “Heartbreaks”), with the duo’s telepathic vocal give-and-take guiding the way throughout. With Sound Control representing the band’s more cerebral side (a fuller version is currently being fleshed out), and another more “commercial” disc in the works, the sky’s the limit for this duplicitous duo. Grade: B+
This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2003.