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Image via Villain Park
5 On It is a feature that looks at five of the best under-the-radar rap findings from the past week, highlighting new or recently discovered artists, or interesting obscurities.
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Image via Keita Juma
Keita Juma ft. Brandan Philip – “Come Over”
Yesterday morning, I discovered that Azealia Banks had liberated her long-anticipated debut album Broke With Expensive Taste.
On first cursory listen, it’s mostly excellent, at its brightest burn delivering on the exhilarating promise of “212”—a revelatory song as fresh at the close of 2014 as it felt in 2012. Banks’ melding of hip-hop, house, and various other strains of electronic music—all under the auspices of a fashion-forward, highly capable female rapper—remains cutting edge, opening the door for exciting marriages of house and hip-hop by the likes of Goldlink and Vic Mensa, among others.
The fact that an album that has been sitting on the shelf for the better part of two years still sounds vibrant and new speaks to the plentiful fertile ground remaining for experimentation between two genres that have far more in common musically and culturally than one might imagine at first blush.
Ontario rapper/producer Keita Juma’s “Come Over” feels like an excellent outtake from the recording of Broke With Expensive Taste, a skeletal house music bounce buoying Juma’s mesmerizing, monotone raps. “Come Over” hearkens back to the inception of hip-house, benefitting from the influence of rappers who’ve since learned to weave intricate flows across uptempo production. It’s not a dumb turn up record, it’s not trap; it is a record that forces your foot to tap and your head to nod—a reminder that the only kind of fun rap fans have doesn’t need to take place at a strip club or be accompanied by bottle service.
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Image via Villain Park
Villain Park – “W.M.N.A.”
The specter of groups like Pharcyde, Boot Camp Clik, and lesser known Golden Era gems like the Bush Babees loom over Los Angeles quartet Villain Park. Their loose formula—dusty drums, jazzy samples, stream of consciousness rhymes heavy on style if not yet consistently profound in content—reads like the sort of revivalism that got so stale in recent years in New York.
In practice, Villain Park’s music is vibrant, a mixture of youthful energy and an adherence to the past that’s reverent of the spirit, not purely the sound (a point so many failed attempts to resuscitate the Golden Era get patently wrong). Villain Park’s spark makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts, songs like “W.M.N.A.” and “We Be Dem” feeling like smoked out freestyle sessions and free form routines transmitted to digital wax for posterity.
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Image via Sir E.U
Sir E.U – Madagascar
Sir E.U’s “NIKEBOY” popped up in August as an impressive surprise, a distorted take on future bounce setting a stage for the Maryland rapper’s impressive, agile flow. A little over two months later, E.U returns with Madagascar, an intriguing 10 song set that exhibits his skilled rapping while exploring his experimental taste.
Playing like a glitchy fever dream across its concise runtime, Madagascar feels ambitious and forward-thinking while remaining personal and often understated. “NIKEBOY” stands out as the project’s most vital song, though the lurching, distorted title track and hallucinatory closer “XC93” give it a run for its money in terms of inventiveness. Madagascar is unlikely to get the attention or credit it deserves for the risks it takes (a product of E.U’s presently limited profile); it is a thoroughly impressive listen from a young talent taking flight, consistently unpredictable and satisfying in its attempts to push boundaries.
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Image via Energe
Energe – “YBA”
Energe’s “YBA” hit a chord with me before the Chicago emcee began rapping.
With its eerie opening—cinematic synthesizers giving way t0 typically thumping percussion—”YBA” channels film scores like Vangelis’ Blade Runner, evocative and otherworldly. Producer ADotTheGod’s beat lends a certain gravity to Energe’s rapping, itself solid if not particularly spectacular (though he does deliver a relatively memorable chorus and a few inspired moments within the verses). Music to momentarily transport you to another world.
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Image via Frank & Stein
Frank & Stein – Frank & Stein EP
The EP is full of spooky fun and we hope you enjoy it.
To find rappers that don’t take themselves too seriously and dip into the fanciful without being corny or unintentionally comedic are a rare commodity.
The Frank & Stein EP (brainchild of previous 5 On It entrant Mr. Yote and Yungeth Dre) takes the inspiration of Halloween and…well…best to let the rappers themselves explain it:
“Stein has finally risen out of the spooky old graveyard chilling right outside Dr. Franky’s creepy castle just in time for halloween night. Bring your friends along and tip toe through these woods together. Also a familiar little ghost wanted to join along in the graveyard boogie too, so he decided to throw in a special little bonus track for you all as well. Enjoy and make sure you snag a bunch of goodies when the sun goes down…
Yote Squad…”
Surprising execution makes what could easily be a gimmicky, saccharine into an enjoyable (if decidedly goofy) listen. Frank & Stein is the fun side of horrorcore, like a late night B-movie favorite.
