For years, any time a fellow “Hip-Hop head” found out I live in Massachusetts they’d inevitably ask me what regional artists I was a fan of and I’d dread answering. Sure, I’ve loved Edo G since he told you to “put on your Adidas and step off” back in the day, and Mr. Lif and Edan are the kind of talents that any state would be proud to call native sons. But the biggest Hip-Hop star to emerge from Boston, Gang Starr’s Guru, was known more for repping his adopted home of Brooklyn, and the whole Dave Mays/Ray Benzino/Source Magazine debacle didn’t really do anything to improve the state’s Rap-related reputation either.
Of course, Lif and Edan didn’t just materialize out of the Hip-Hop ether. They came up via Boston’s underground Hip-Hop scene, which now more than ever seems to be producing a greater number of folks wanting to try their hand at the art-form The Bronx, New York gave the world. The problem is, I can’t say I’m a fan of a lot of the up-and-coming acts Boston has to offer. I’m looking for tomorrow’s Lif’s, Edan’s, and Insight’s, but Beantown often comes up short. So it’s surprising at this late date that when I seek out forward-thinking, classically-grounded Hip-Hop from the state I call home I find one of the most well-established names in Boston’s Indie-Rap underground, MC Esoteric, filling the void I’ve long felt.
I’ve listened to Esoteric, most often in conjunction with partner 7L, since the mid 1990’s. And while I was excited by the duo’s early work, back when they sampled the Transformers and collaborated with Inspectah Deck, as years passed and their profile grew I became less-and-less interested. When competent-but-formulaic boom-bap beats and braggadocio gave way to psuedo-thuggery and an ill-advised (but humorous) feud with Definitive Jux, I stopped paying attention. That was, until last Summer, when a 12” for “Play Dumb,” an uptempo Electro-inspired track laced with humorous rhymes about the dumb shit people do, fell onto my turntable and I found myself anticipating the duo’s then-forthcoming album A New Dope. That record proved itself one of my favorites of 2006, and I was suddenly faced with the realization that I might actually have to start telling people I’m an Esoteric fan when they ask me about New England Hip-Hop.
A year later, Esoteric’s just released his first “solo” album, Egoclapper, via his own Fly Casual records, and I’m not only willing to tell people I’m a fan, but the dude has cemented himself as one of my favorite rappers in the game. I’m not saying he’s one of the best technical rappers, but he’s got personality, and a sense of humor, and he’s rapping about stuff I actually give a shit about. It seems like he’s grown up a lot, and a big part of that was getting back in touch with the kid he once was. He’s not just sampling the Transformers anymore, he’s rapping about them, and comic books, and G.I. Joe, and Star Wars, and Hip-Hop, and Boston, and how dope he is. And I like that, a lot. Egoclapper just dropped, but it’s already one of my favorite records of the year. And the bonus disc Pterodactyl Tubeway, pitting Eso’s rhymes against beats sampled exclusively from Synthpop legend Gary Numan, just makes me more of a fan.
Listen to “Typhoons in Japan”
Then, watch “General Zod”.
-El Keter