Music: Kick Out the Jam

You might have to dig around a little at your usual Cincinnati mall record store to find music from the artists appearing at this weekend’s renowned Scribble Jam Hip Hop festival at Annie’s. But hit a big city shop, and you’ll realize that the featured acts are the vanguard of modern Hip Hop. On a recent visit, Tower Records in Chicago not only had most of the CDs from the Scribble acts available but also prominently displayed their most recent releases. What’s “underground Hip Hop” in Cincinnati is just plain ol’ “Hip Hop” in more bustling burgs.

While Scribble Jam’s trademark feature is the Saturday night battle — where MCs, dancers, DJs and beatboxers dramatically square off — Friday night’s concert showcases some of the best national acts in the biz. Now in its 10th year, Scribble is one of the planet’s premier Hip Hop festivals. Here are some choice picks for Friday night’s big throwdown.

· Boston-based MC/DJ/producer Edan shattered skulls this year with the release of the full-length Beauty and the Beat, a stunningly imaginative kaleidoscope of crosswire beats and psychedelic arrangements that stands as one the best Hip Hop CDs of the new millennium. A true headphones masterpiece likened by some to a Hip Hop Pet Sounds, Beauty is a clash of old-school and new-school, the sparks of which result in Edan’s cranium-tickling future-school.

His clear respect for musical pioneers is all over the album, from the trippy guitar samples to the vintage Soul/Funk beats to his tough, streetwise vocal delivery.

But Edan’s production makes the record melt and drip like a Dali watch, with swirling echo and grimy distortion that give the album an otherworldly bounce. Like a surrealistic pillow fight between a teenage LL Cool J, a peak-form Afrika Bambaataa, a maximally tweaked Lee “Scratch” Perry and early-’70s Pink Floyd, Beauty and the Beat is the perfect example of Hip Hop as art and not a mere commodity. As it says in Beauty‘s liner notes, “It’s about aspiration, NOT ambition.” Edan performs at Scribble Jam with his partner in rhyme, Insight (showcased on two of Beauty and the Beat‘s finest cuts), under the duo name Duplexx. (MB)

· Long before obnoxious Hip Hop producers like P. Diddy pissed around the territory of their acts’ records by starring ad nauseam in their videos and by injecting “uh-huh,” “yeah” and “that’s right” after every other word, there was Stetsasonic’s Prince Paul, who made his aural mark the old-fashioned way. Most notably he put an aural fingerprint on De La Soul’s 1989 debut, Three Feet High and Rising, that remains a still-unduplicated, forest-thick menagerie of archaic yet catchy samples that, when deftly and digitally strung together, gave instant classic status to cuts like “Me Myself and I,” “The Magic Number” and “My Buddy,” the sweetest paean to a penis ever laid down on acetate. Look for Prince Paul to rock Scribble Jam crowds with beats and samples from his nearly 20-year arsenal behind the boards. (KYW)

· Despite its members being scattered across the eastern U.S. and busy with myriad projects, the trio Glue has congealed more solidly of late, stepping up their “groupness” with tour appearances supporting their fantastic debut, Seconds Away, and the new Sunset Lodge EP(released by Cincinnati’s busiest record label, Shake It). Glue features Chicago-area producer Maker, Cincy DJ djdq (of the mind-blowing turntable crew Animal Crackers) and rapper/poet Adeem, who hails from New Hampshire. The group says Sunset Lodge is a taste of where they’re headed on their forthcoming full-length, and the more focused (and even more creative) trajectory makes a hell of an impact.

The trio has become more politically/sociologically-minded with Lodge, with whip-smart lyrical manifestos providing a soundtrack for the multitudes disenfranchised by the current post-2004-election climate (from “Steal the Crown”: “God is ashamed/ They’ve been destroying the world in Jesus’ name”). Yet Adeem’s captivating lyrics still retain harshly personal revelations (“Early Morning Silence”) that add an extra level of empathy and intimacy. The album’s theme seems to be centered on keeping your shit together while everything around you is falling apart. Maker and dq craft a bigger, more engulfing wall of sound on Lodge, with the samples, scratches, beats and occasional live instruments honed to a sharp point. Fresh off 12 dates on the Vans Warped Tour, the group pulls into Scribble Jam with a full-head of steam and a “return to the scene of the crime” victory lap for Adeem, the only MC to win the Scribble freestyle battle twice. (MB)

· “People, are you ready? Let’s start the show.” So began the Diet Coke commercial that featured actor Adrien Brody’s pimpish swagger and the song “Callin’ Out” from Lyrics Born, the hit single from Later That Day, his 2003 Quaanum CD. These days, Lyrics Born’s music is still in heavy demand for television. HBO will feature one of his signature songs, “I Changed My Mind,” in the Aug. 14 episode of Entourage and on Aug. 21’s season finale of Six Feet Under. Tokyo native Lyrics Born (aka Tom Shimura) ranks high on the staggering roster of Bay Area MCs, and his résumé dates back to the early ’90s when he and college friends (one of them DJ Shadow) began the Hip Hop fusion label Solesides.

Since, he’s built a reputation for smearing a little Funk and Disco into his compositions and has been compared to Spearhead’s Michael Franti because of his growling delivery and conscious lyrics. Currently, Lyrics Born is also promoting his latest release, Same !@#$ Different Day, an album of remixes and bonus tracks featuring KRS-One and Evidence of Dilated Peoples. LB is currently touring the country backed by a live five-piece Funk band. (MCF)

· Hailing from Hip Hop’s East Coast golden era when MCs started out as college students, Masta Ace won six hours of studio time with Marley Marl that he didn’t cash in until he graduated from the University of Rhode Island a year later. Ace’s skills floored Marl, who included him on the Juice Crew’s legendary single “The Symphony” in 1988. Lord of the late-’80s rapid-fire Rap style, Ace was embraced by now-defunct British Neo Soulsters like The Young Disciples, who invited him to lay down his classic verses on “Talkin’ What I Feel,” a cautionary tale of self love over a flighty flute and rollicking bass line. As with most MCs who don’t get the domestic love they deserve, Ace took out his frustration on wax and released 1993’s Slaughtahouse as Masta Ace Inc. Though the album was uneven, it stands as one of the first to take Gangsta Rap to task with cold-blooded cuts like “Who U Jackin’?” and “Jeep Ass Nigguh.” (KYW)

· Five albums deep in as many years, Psalm One is a postmodern breed of female MC who can hold her own with rappers as disparate as 50 Cent, Atmosphere, De La Soul, Camp Lo and Jean Grae. That the 24-year-old Chicago-born rapper once studied to be a chemist is evident in the way she dissects and deconstructs lyrics to their barest, then rebuilds flow from the ground up. Expect cuts from her 2005 Rhymesayers Entertainment release, The Death of Frequent Flyer. If DJ Spontaneous of Vinyl Addicts accompanies her on the wheels, guard your neck — it’ll be freestyle smack down. (KYW)

You might have to dig around a little at your usual Cincinnati mall record store to find music from the artists appearing at this weekend’s renowned Scribble Jam Hip Hop festival at Annie’s. But hit a big city shop, and you’ll realize that the featured acts are the vanguard of modern Hip Hop. On a recent visit, Tower Records in Chicago not only had most of the CDs from the Scribble acts available but also prominently displayed their most recent releases. What’s “underground Hip Hop” in Cincinnati is just plain ol’ “Hip Hop” in more bustling burgs.

While Scribble Jam’s trademark feature is the Saturday night battle — where MCs, dancers, DJs and beatboxers dramatically square off — Friday night’s concert showcases some of the best national acts in the biz. Now in its 10th year, Scribble is one of the planet’s premier Hip Hop festivals. Here are some choice picks for Friday night’s big throwdown.

· Boston-based MC/DJ/producer Edan shattered skulls this year with the release of the full-length Beauty and the Beat, a stunningly imaginative kaleidoscope of crosswire beats and psychedelic arrangements that stands as one the best Hip Hop CDs of the new millennium. A true headphones masterpiece likened by some to a Hip Hop Pet Sounds, Beauty is a clash of old-school and new-school, the sparks of which result in Edan’s cranium-tickling future-school.

His clear respect for musical pioneers is all over the album, from the trippy guitar samples to the vintage Soul/Funk beats to his tough, streetwise vocal delivery.

But Edan’s production makes the record melt and drip like a Dali watch, with swirling echo and grimy distortion that give the album an otherworldly bounce. Like a surrealistic pillow fight between a teenage LL Cool J, a peak-form Afrika Bambaataa, a maximally tweaked Lee “Scratch” Perry and early-’70s Pink Floyd, Beauty and the Beat is the perfect example of Hip Hop as art and not a mere commodity. As it says in Beauty‘s liner notes, “It’s about aspiration, NOT ambition.” Edan performs at Scribble Jam with his partner in rhyme, Insight (showcased on two of Beauty and the Beat‘s finest cuts), under the duo name Duplexx. (MB)

· Long before obnoxious Hip Hop producers like P. Diddy pissed around the territory of their acts’ records by starring ad nauseam in their videos and by injecting “uh-huh,” “yeah” and “that’s right” after every other word, there was Stetsasonic’s Prince Paul, who made his aural mark the old-fashioned way. Most notably he put an aural fingerprint on De La Soul’s 1989 debut, Three Feet High and Rising, that remains a still-unduplicated, forest-thick menagerie of archaic yet catchy samples that, when deftly and digitally strung together, gave instant classic status to cuts like “Me Myself and I,” “The Magic Number” and “My Buddy,” the sweetest paean to a penis ever laid down on acetate. Look for Prince Paul to rock Scribble Jam crowds with beats and samples from his nearly 20-year arsenal behind the boards. (KYW)

· Despite its members being scattered across the eastern U.S. and busy with myriad projects, the trio Glue has congealed more solidly of late, stepping up their “groupness” with tour appearances supporting their fantastic debut, Seconds Away, and the new Sunset Lodge EP(released by Cincinnati’s busiest record label, Shake It). Glue features Chicago-area producer Maker, Cincy DJ djdq (of the mind-blowing turntable crew Animal Crackers) and rapper/poet Adeem, who hails from New Hampshire. The group says Sunset Lodge is a taste of where they’re headed on their forthcoming full-length, and the more focused (and even more creative) trajectory makes a hell of an impact.

The trio has become more politically/sociologically-minded with Lodge, with whip-smart lyrical manifestos providing a soundtrack for the multitudes disenfranchised by the current post-2004-election climate (from “Steal the Crown”: “God is ashamed/ They’ve been destroying the world in Jesus’ name”). Yet Adeem’s captivating lyrics still retain harshly personal revelations (“Early Morning Silence”) that add an extra level of empathy and intimacy. The album’s theme seems to be centered on keeping your shit together while everything around you is falling apart. Maker and dq craft a bigger, more engulfing wall of sound on Lodge, with the samples, scratches, beats and occasional live instruments honed to a sharp point. Fresh off 12 dates on the Vans Warped Tour, the group pulls into Scribble Jam with a full-head of steam and a “return to the scene of the crime” victory lap for Adeem, the only MC to win the Scribble freestyle battle twice. (MB)

· “People, are you ready? Let’s start the show.” So began the Diet Coke commercial that featured actor Adrien Brody’s pimpish swagger and the song “Callin’ Out” from Lyrics Born, the hit single from Later That Day, his 2003 Quaanum CD. These days, Lyrics Born’s music is still in heavy demand for television. HBO will feature one of his signature songs, “I Changed My Mind,” in the Aug. 14 episode of Entourage and on Aug. 21’s season finale of Six Feet Under. Tokyo native Lyrics Born (aka Tom Shimura) ranks high on the staggering roster of Bay Area MCs, and his résumé dates back to the early ’90s when he and college friends (one of them DJ Shadow) began the Hip Hop fusion label Solesides.

Since, he’s built a reputation for smearing a little Funk and Disco into his compositions and has been compared to Spearhead’s Michael Franti because of his growling delivery and conscious lyrics. Currently, Lyrics Born is also promoting his latest release, Same !@#$ Different Day, an album of remixes and bonus tracks featuring KRS-One and Evidence of Dilated Peoples. LB is currently touring the country backed by a live five-piece Funk band. (MCF)

· Hailing from Hip Hop’s East Coast golden era when MCs started out as college students, Masta Ace won six hours of studio time with Marley Marl that he didn’t cash in until he graduated from the University of Rhode Island a year later. Ace’s skills floored Marl, who included him on the Juice Crew’s legendary single “The Symphony” in 1988. Lord of the late-’80s rapid-fire Rap style, Ace was embraced by now-defunct British Neo Soulsters like The Young Disciples, who invited him to lay down his classic verses on “Talkin’ What I Feel,” a cautionary tale of self love over a flighty flute and rollicking bass line. As with most MCs who don’t get the domestic love they deserve, Ace took out his frustration on wax and released 1993’s Slaughtahouse as Masta Ace Inc. Though the album was uneven, it stands as one of the first to take Gangsta Rap to task with cold-blooded cuts like “Who U Jackin’?” and “Jeep Ass Nigguh.” (KYW)

· Five albums deep in as many years, Psalm One is a postmodern breed of female MC who can hold her own with rappers as disparate as 50 Cent, Atmosphere, De La Soul, Camp Lo and Jean Grae. That the 24-year-old Chicago-born rapper once studied to be a chemist is evident in the way she dissects and deconstructs lyrics to their barest, then rebuilds flow from the ground up. Expect cuts from her 2005 Rhymesayers Entertainment release, The Death of Frequent Flyer. If DJ Spontaneous of Vinyl Addicts accompanies her on the wheels, guard your neck — it’ll be freestyle smack down. (KYW)

This article appears in Aug 10-16, 2005.