Funcrusher Plus - Company Flow

HIP HOP I IGNORED PART 4

I always meant to check this album out. It was critically acclaimed but I guess I never heard it on the radio so I never got around to it. I don't really know what I was expecting as I'd forgotten what all the fuss was about. I think I was expecting some kind of futuristic hip hop informed by Autechre. God knows why. Perhaps I had them mixed up with another group. When I first put the cd in the tray I was a little daunted at the running time of 75 minutes. That's almost twice as long as Illmatic by Nas. I knew there was a white guy on the beats (El-P) and a couple of African American dudes (Big Jus & Mr Len) in the posse. This LP is not really similar to the other 3 albums in this series (Nas, Geto Boys and DJ Paul & Lord Infamous). I don't think they say 'nigga' or 'bitch' until about halfway through the record. Bewildered would be the best word to describe how I felt when it started. Thinking "Another 75 minutes of this? F*%$! What have I got myself into? Is this the underground rap that's meant to be shite?" Persevere I have. It took about ten listens to eventually start getting it. Not listening to Funcrusher Plus in it's time of release makes it hard to pinpoint innovations and where it fits. It was recorded between 95-97. Some of it is contemporaneous with Wu-Tang Clan I guess but not really a step beyond that.

1997 was a strange year for music and for me. I got off the Hardcore Continuum and pretty much missed tech-step (well the records anyway which I later returned to and now rate highly) and speed garage (I tried but...). 1997 was the year I disengaged from the rap scene as well and perhaps there was a reason for that ie. not much good rap. Which could explain why Company Flow were seen as messiahs by some. Wu-Tang Clan released a double cd which I never listened to due to its absurd length and still haven't. The last rap albums for me were Ghostface Killah's Ironman and New Kingdom's Paradise Don't Come Cheap. R&B was in its ascendancy. Timbaland, Aaliyah and Missy Elliot had arrived with The Neptunes and Destiny's Child about to enter pop culture. Germany was still where it was at with arty electronica (Mouse On Mars, Farmers Manuel, To Rococo Rot et al.), to the mellow tech sounds of Basic Channel/Chain Reaction and then onto the more extreme music from labels like Cold Rush, PCP and anything by Marc Acardipane and his several hundred monikers. Nick Cave, Spiritualised, Daft Punk, Royal Trux, Autechre and Portishead all released great LPs. Reissues were becoming more frequent with excellent re-releases from Yoko Ono, The Monks, La Dusseldorf (who I'd never heard!), Pharaoh Sanders, Lee Scratch Perry etc.

Bad Touch Example brings the bad vibes you were expecting from an album with a title like Funcrusher Plus. Haunted beats and distant horns blaze in the background while words are thrown at you at a hundred miles an hour. The best bit is when they say candyman 5 times in the mirror. Some of the references are so 90s like Maggie Simpson, Ricky Lake and Baby Jessica (did she fall down a well?). So I was thinking this LP going to be some kind of funny horrorcore lite, wrong! 8 Steps To Perfection is next and god knows what it's about. Trying to be clever but not catchy. Is that the meaning of underground rap? It's got some nice beats though with little computer game noises and a really cool atmospheric loop that sets a strange vibe. Collude/Intrude begins with distorted commands, an unbelievably funky beat, scratching and disorientating vocal effects. This tune is about some sort of science fiction military football match against a major record company. Aren't they all? Blind's got more reverbed effects. Oh....and hang on....I think they've written a hook on this line "I wanna be payed MC Beserker/Fancy tyin to eat just living". Gee this is almost pop. I'm confused by one of the other lines "Every bloodline is tainted/Signifying malignant raps/Who with bad intentions of Boogeymen and death as a source of laughter." Are they having a go at Horrorcore and Gangsta or are they talking about themselves? More importantly do I care? No. Silence has got a fabulous deep bendy bass sample, choice beats and much scratching. This could get played out on the dancefloor I reckon. Legends is more anti-major label shit. Company Flow claim their style is bizarre (usually if you have to point this out you're not) and independent as fuck (like that's supposed to be meaningful). Sonically there's a great clanky guitar/bass line and some noisy abstract samples. In the final minute it gets into some classic cacophonous scratching. Help Wanted is a sampledelic intro to Population Control with a kind of Brave New World scenario. A classic slowed down tough def jam beat is mixed with eerie samples, aquatic sounds and an off kilter piano loop which makes Population Control a backing track that could have been put together by Moon Wiring Club. The lyrics are kinda 2000AD futuristic but place the song firmly in the 90s with mentions of Bill Gates, Ted Turner and Keyser Soze. Then I'm starting to think they're homophobic with use of the term faggot in a derogatory fashion and not for the first time. Lune TNS is a tribute to graffiti artists and b-boys in NYC with a plinky plonky backing courtesy of a sample from ambient guru Steve Roach. Definitive is more anti major label shtick amongst sci-fi ideas. You get the feeling they only became indie after having major labels slam doors in their faces. Having few hooks and clunky raps would've helped those doors slam. This route to becoming indie is hardly likely to endear you to hardcore indie followers. Anyway I quite like this track with its minimal keyboard, beat, scratching and the top line 'My style Is War & Peace/You're shit is just cliff notes.' This is only halfway through this double LP.

89.9 Detrimental sounds like one minute of a rap battle that Company Flow lost. Vital Nerve features BMS as guest rapper, whoever he may be? Now this is good and the catchiest tune so far giving Raekwon and Ghostface a run for their money, at last. El-p bragging that he's been the 'nastiest MC since birth' over a stark bassline and beat. Is it too little too late though? This is followed by a sprawling epic Tragedy of war. It references Waterworld, Storm Troopers, DEA, Drug smugglers, Jackson Pollock and Watership Down? Strange beat change ups make me like this one a lot. A difficult unfunky beat begins The Fire In Which You Burn. Sitar samples add to the mess along with incoherent raps with too many words. Chorus alert! Krazy Kings has one along with some cool synth stabs. Lyrically it follows their space age hood jams template. Last Good Sleep delves into the darkness with dystopian sounds and a creepin beat. This all adds to the tale of this urban nightmare of alcohol abuse and domestic violence. Info Kill II has another dark creepin beat with terrific synth lines and is one of the more instantly likable tunes on Funcrusher Plus. This tune does actually have a 90s IDM vibe. This is the sort of track I was expecting before I ever put the record on. Hey, it only took 18 tracks to get there. Funcrush Scratch brings proceedings to a close. This is a dark scratching jam fitting with the mid/late 90s turntablism revival and Return of the DJ etc.

All in all pretty much a disappointment. I cannot believe this was so revered. Some editing would have made this an ok single LP. It's hard to imagine kids now going back to it and digging it and using it as an influence. Usually the most dumb arse shit ends up appealing to the following generations see Black Sabbath and AC/DC over Yes and ELP, Darkside over intelligent D&B etc. So I advise you to check out early to mid 90s rap from Memphis as a tonic to get over having to listen to Company Flow.
  

Marc Acardipane On Me Bike

These tunes came up on my Fuck Yeah! Mix on the i-pod whilst cycling today. These tracks really get your legs moving. Is it illegal to ride with your i-pod in your earballs? It does feel unsafe. I was definitely riding into the future and possibly could have ridden front on into a truck and wouldn't have cared. These are still incredible soundz.

Dave Graney - Country Roads, Unwinding

Beautiful track from Dave's new record Fearful Wiggings (sonndz good too, had a few listens). Classic vibe, Clare Moore on the vibe(s).  So evocative of travelling the South Eastern Australian country roads... I've been down these roads and then I've been down them again. He captures the atemporality of country towns, roads and highways perfectly. I've stared out that window Dave and I've stared out it again. Graney's like fine wine, as the years pass by he's developed more complexity, nuances, subtlety and idiosyncracies. Just plain better and tastier.

RIP Alexander Shulgin

Simon Reynolds tribute to Alexander Shulgin here. Well I didn't know much about him until today. He rescued MDMA from historical obscurity in 1976 and is now a legend. Somewhere along the way MDMA became known as Ecstasy. I'd like to thank him for the hits and the memories. In my teens I remember first reading about Ecstasy in The Age (Melbourne equivalent to The Guardian/New York Times) in an article that featured S'Express and 70s fashion. I recall being fascinated by this drug and the subculture surrounding it. I'd probably only ever been pissed previously and never even been stoned. I think I cut this article out. Then a few months later there was an entire expose on Ecstasy and it's effects on its users in like The Age's weekend magazine (probably sourced from The Guardian actually). It had all these great modern fried psychedelic graphics of people being wasted on E. I cut that one out as well. You'd think I was well on the way to being a total E head but I reckon it would have been five years at least until I tried it. Maybe Shaun Ryder and Bez, from The Happy Mondays, put me off trying it any earlier. I was a very infrequent user of the substance but I gotta say I enjoyed it every time.

Then there's the music it helped create. Wow, Shulgin couldn't have foreseen such a flourishing musical movement being created for and by this drug. Ecstasy has been the catalyst for some of the greatest genres of the modern music era of the last 30 years and still continues it's influence today. MDMA was revolutionary and that's an understatement. I've possibly listened to more music created for and by Ecstasy than anything else. It's a testament to the drug that you don't even have to be on it to enjoy this music. Rest in Ecstasy Mr Shulgin.

I could go on probably forever posting E related tunes. Oh hang on this captures something about E-ing. That moment when you think you've been ripped off and bought a dud. Then minutes later it kicks in big style.

Leave It - Mustard & Iggy?

This has been on a couple of DJ Mustard 2014 mixtapes. I know I've seen a couple of videos from Iggy Azalea* so I was a little surprised that this one was her. I'm not sure if this even made it onto her album. The intro (and pretty much the rest) is pure Kraftwerk, goin back to hip hop's roots. Mustard doesn't put his usual "Mustard On The Beat Hoe" trademark on this tune which makes me wonder if it's him at all? His other sonic trademarks are here though but he's got imitators who are according to him are"Fucking up the Money!"

*Ok I can see the contradiction here (ie. she be an Aussie) and no I'm not currently listening to Andre Rieu. But here's a funny picture for you all, if you missed it last year on Twitter. Have a good look. I can't get enough of this!

Come With Me 2 Hell - DJ Paul & Lord Infamous (1994)

HIP HOP I IGNORED PART 3

Come With Me To Hell wasn't hard to ignore. This was a self released tape from rappers DJ Paul and Lord Infamous (who is also The Scarecrow, I think) with production by DJ Paul and Juicy J. It was released in 1994 with no cover apparently. I found it a few years ago in MP3 form from one of those great sharity blogs like Mutant Sounds (RIP). I was unaware of its Three 6 Mafia connection until I played the first track. Triple 6 mafia get mentioned in several of the songs but I don't think they used that moniker as an artist name until the following year. In 1995 Three 6 Mafia released their now cult classic Mystic Stylez album which I didn't hear until 10 years later. I had been led to believe underground rap was shite. How wrong I was. Rap was like supposed to be the opposite to rock, you know mainstream rock (Hair Metal, Stone Temple Pilots, Nickleback) bad! But underground rock good! (The Fall, The Clean, The Smiths, Slint, Royal Trux etc.). The theory was that the good rap rises to the top and you get to hear it. Another case of don't believe the rock crit consensus. Sure some of the people involved on this recording ended up winning an Academy Award but that was after spending a long time in the rap underground.

Come With Me to Hell begins with Intro. It's psychedelic as hell with kids singing a haunting lullaby reverbed to the hilt with great horror synth and pounding drums. While the rappers tell you to "Come with me to hell." and "Triple 6 Mafia may we burn forever." This should be used as a horror film theme. 1000 Blunts puts us in typical hip hop territory. They're bragging about how much pot they've smoked ie "I think I smoked a thousand blunts." This ain't no slick Dre style production. It's very lo-fi with a little toy organ loop keeping the vibe spooky. Long & Hard is their pornographic tale of fellatio. A great crackling trumpet sample echoes throughout while a languid guitar line flows in and out of the mix. It's minimal and repetitive. Drop It Off Ya Ass dives into the criminal underbelly of hip hop. It's all Glocks, Infra red and dead cops. "Come with me to hell you little bitch and see how we live in the land of the 666." The backing track's got keyboard sounds that could be straight out of a horror flick, John Carpenter Stylee. Lick My Nuts is a reprise of Long and Hard. The title says it all really. Pass The Junt sounds so 2014 it could be DJ Mustard on the beat. It's another ode to one of hip hop's favourite pastimes smoking drugs with classic blunted horn samples that could have come from a 70s dub track.

Side 2 starts off brilliantly with some of the grimiest and most dense sampling I've ever heard. You Ain't Mad Is Ya is truly psychedelic hip hop and wouldn't sound out of place on a New Kingdom LP. "We're gonna take you deeper than 6 feet." All Dirty Hoes lays on a kind of sleazy slow jam vibe but the lyrics are no where near as romantic as the sweet sounds. 187 Invitation is a homicidal poem set to some of the coolest horror soundtrack samples you're ever likely to hear. Some of these sounds remind me of Ghostbox groups like The Focus Group and The Belbury Poly.  It's unique, no one sounded like this, that I knew of, in 94. Its Cummin is another ode to the joys of fellatio. It's quite a catchy tune but you probably don't wanna be singin this one around your mum and dad. "Try on some real nigga lip gloss." Its Cummin keeps the minimal haunted keyboard loops coming, along with scratching and the world's most raw brittle drum machine. Back Against The Wall is like an ultra violent gangster film. All hell breaks loose sonically and lyrically. In between there is almost respite with more ominous synth lines. There's a sample from Ice T's Colours which may have been a sample from a slasher movie, I'm not sure. Back Against The wall is truly terrifying and demented. Shout Outs is just that. They shout out to all their mates in Memphis while unashamedly plugging upcoming tape releases. Takin No Shorts ends the tape and it's like a whole other band with a beautiful backing track that could be off Sesame St. "Layin some pimp ass shit" 70s style. They're still rapping about motherf*%#ing guns but then they start hanging shit on rappers trying to be like Menace II Society (the 93 hood film), possibly even being a little self deprecating. This is entertainment after all.

Come With Me To Hell is an awesome journey into the early 90s Memphis tape/mixtape underground. This isn't some slick state of the art expensive studio shit. It was probably recorded in their mom's bathroom. Not many of these tracks would get you out on the dancefloor. Instead of being funky these tunes creep like a stoned stalker. DJ, Lord and Juicy don't really use overexposed breaks or cliched samples. They tore up the hip hop rule book and made a truly original masterpiece and didn't even bother with a cover! This tape sounds totally relevant and influential today. Lord Infamous died last year of a heart attack, finally in hell.

Remastered cd reissue.

Crunk Gabba & What (ever else)

DJ Snake & Lil Jon - Turn Down For What (via Energy Flash). I always like it when any kind of rave, hardcore or electronic vibe turns up in rap. Do these people even acknowledge Gabba, PCP, Cold Rush, Belgium etc. I know years back Timbaland being very cagey about his influences. Many people at the time were thinking it had to be comin from jungle, drum n bass etc. IE the UK. I don't think he ever owned up to it though. It's like Americans can't stand having to acknowledge anything European influenced. Like it's un-American or in some way or weakens their art. Funny considering Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock sampled Krafwerk in the very early days of hip hop (1982). DJ Snake is French though, I think, so he's kinda bringin the Euro vibe like Gesaffelstein did with Kanye last year.

Anyway I was thinking with one of the brands of Lean off the market now, (haven't done the research to see if there are still other brands still making it) what affect is that gonna have on the whole Ratchet/DJ Mustard scene. I guess the track above is one direction, kind of like a noise made for Meth-Heads. The pummel with surely appeal to people mixing alcohol & Meth & whatever else. Ecstasy and pot ain't goin nowhere though. Perhaps the downer euphoria will dwindle a little. Stay tuned.

Lean & Mustard

Mustard On The Beat (at) Ho(me) still. Love the bass pressure in this one. Doesn't August Alsina (and Mustard brings his a game on the beat) just capture losing it perfectly, that point where you're so wasted (sorry faded), just when it's all gonna go pear shaped. Cough mixture be the drink of choice among this lot, Reynolds reliably informs me. I was comparing the wasted sound of this scene' tunes to being sonically akin to mixing painkillaz (and by that I mean codeine or Oxycontin) with alcohol & whatever else. Dextromethorphan is a popular ingredient in cough medicine in America, which in high doses can causes hallucinations. But the cough mixture of choice is the one containing codeine and promethazine. It all reminds me of a story Jim Carroll wrote in his book Forced Entries, if memory serves, about the New York scene in the early 70s. When there was a heroin shortage they'd get into the cough syrup with the codeine in it, just get it over the counter at the Chemist (Aussie term for drugstore) no questions asked.  There was a great Townes Van Zandt track too, Waitin' around to die, that was a love song of sorts to one his many drugs of choice codeine. Now kids and the rappers mix these syrups with soda and call it lean which my brother in law told me about last year. I think I was asking him "what do you reckon is in those red polystyrene cups in all these music videos?" He then said "You mean lean." I went "right" thinking it was something like what the Peruvian musicians have been into since the 60s, Chicha. Chicha being an old Inca alcoholic drink that was used in rituals and festivals. Anyway I was a bit off the mark. Actavis (the pharmaceutical company) even pulled the plug on production on their Promethazine Codeine syrup a month ago due to its growing cult and the way it's being abused. Lean apparently causes euphoria along with motor skill impairment and a dissociative feeling from other parts of the body("I can't feel my face, I'm so numb") . Some rappers have even been overdose victims of Lean mixed with other substances. The promethazine is the catalyst for intensifying the euphoric effects of the codeine in your system. There's a whole list of other slang names for Lean: Purple Drank, Sizzurp, Texas Tea etc.

A cumbia/Chica tune from 1970. Sex Drugs & Tropical Chicha! Good vibes on this one man.

Ha Ha Drake Mofos

Well here Drake sets us straight with what's up with his sex, drugs & Rap. Who knows what they're smokin though? It's not something I've probably even heard of, let alone seen, let alone smoked (getting old). Sex high on pot was always a pretty dodgy and preposterous proposition, usually completely out of the question, so I'm guessing it's not that.

On another tangent has anyone ever noticed some of Drake's trax are a lot like Burial. They seem to have remnants of the hardcore continuum scattered throughout, is that just me? Never read a review on him so I wouldn't know if people are hip to that. Burial could have produced Nothing Was The Same for all I know. It's probably just both artists using the same musical equipment and coming up with a similar feel despite being from different traditions. I must admit the only Drake tune I knew before listening to this album was this really bloody annoying video that was on channel V every 5 minutes. So I couldn't stand him. In fact I would switch the telly off if it came on. Sonically diggin this LP a lot. Dunno 'bout the words yet though. He doesn't seem very cool but hey that hasn't stopped Kanye being an erratic genius.

Sex Drugs & Ratchet

DJ Mustard's still on the beat round these parts. Reynolds mentions a few more here This one I can't deny. I love that minimal spooky fade out at the end but Mustard makes spooky a 'subdued mood of depressive hedonism.'* That's the best description I've heard so far of this sub genre of a sub genre.

Mustard has turned me around on other things. I couldn't get into this at all when it came out. I knew the sonic production was v cool. I thought it was depressing though but now I get that downer euphoric vibe. Like painkillaz and alcohol. I'm not even sure what other drugs this relates to weed, ice? A heroin-y E maybe? Anyway it's a hell of a vibe. Only took me 2 years to get it. Jesus what next Drake?

Actually It was probably this tune that got me to go back and listen to Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid... cd. How is Mustard not on this beat?

I hated Gas Pedal when I first heard it, then hated it again when I gave it another go. I think it was Reynolds who said (and I agreed) it was just a rip off of Snoop & Pharell's Drop It like Hot but then he had it in his singles of the year. So I gave it another go, still hated it. 5 months later now I'm fully into it. The druggy vibe can't be too wasted because they still be horny dudes. The vibe of this song encompasses a panopoly of drugs and alcohol while being on the prowl for some tush (kids, that means booty).

Then there's magic! (I know this is a bit off topic but it kinda fits.) I get chills every time I hear this. I mean it's pop, it's got hooks and it's so fucking anthemic I can't believe it. And I hate that whole New York cultural tyranny thing, makes me never wanna go there. But this song is so good it doesn't matter what it's about. It could be about my dog doing a poo and I'd still get chills every time I heard it. Z does mention E's, well MDMA during this track so that gives you an idea of where the euphoria in this lies. I mean apart from the songwriting and musical arrangement which is enough. A bit like MBV's best tunes it's so euphoric it feels like your on drugs anyway. This is the sonic equivalent of Champagne and an E chased with a few lines of coke.

Also I think this maybe the best pop tune in history.

*That's me paraphrasing a Simon Reynolds quote.