Being a lover of a music who attributes at least part of his open-minded attitude towards different styles and genres to my exposure to the DJ and sampling disciplines that provided the foundation and musical backbone of the Hip-Hop genre since its inception I could be accused of being a break, loop, and sample purist. But, as anyone reading this website should be well aware, a group from Philadelphia called The Roots made largely sample-free Hip-Hop safe for people like me when they broke with convention and triumphantly brought the live-band aesthetic to modern Hip-Hop during the veritable golden-era of sampling; the “keep it real” ’90s.
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to assert that The Roots provided the blueprint for many a “Hip-Hop band” formed in their wake, not to mention the crop established Hip-Hop groups who suddenly started touring with backing musicians. I’m sure the milestone Yo! Unplugged Rap special on MTV and The Brand New Heavies‘ Heavy Rhyme Experience contributed to the trend too, but The Roots set the standard for live-band Rap that all the newbies have to live up to, and left a legacy that others have to be careful not to duplicate too closely. It’s for that reason that when I interviewed a local Hip-Hop band called Cold Duck Complex on the very first episode of my Urban Alternatives radio program years ago one of the first questions I asked was what set them apart from The Legendary Roots Crew. I don’t remember their answer, but they’d go on to establish themselves as credible musicians & songwriters and win an arm-load of local music awards. Not all Hip-Hop bands are as lucky, talented, steadfast or original though.
When I found out that Jason “Raw Poetic” Moore, lead emcee for the Washington DC-based progressive Hip-Hop duo Panacea, one of my favorite new groups of the last few years, was also the front-man of a “Hip-Hop band” called Restoring Poetry in Music (or RPM for short) and that they’d released an album, titled Pyramids in Moscow, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Being that RPM works closely with Panacea, acting as their backing band in live settings, I shouldn’t have given it a second thought though, and neither should anyone who enjoyed Panacea’s Ink is My Drink and The Scenic Route LPs since they avoid live-band clichés in favor of creating a live-band analog to their sister-group’s signature sound.
Dreamlike soundscapes built around warm, rolling basslines, synths & keys, flutes, horns, chimes & assorted percussion, live-drumming, prominent guitar and even some sampling & programming abound throughout Pyramids in Moscow. And Raw Poetic holds down his duties as lead vocalist with the same conscious lyricism he’s exhibited with Panacea. But the band shows true range on songs like “Less is More,” “Sliders” and “And Another One,” by incorporating more obvious Rock influences and including a few memorable sing-a-long choruses, essential for a group once told they were “too Hip-Hop for Rock and too Rock for Hip-Hop” by record executives.
RPM - “Less is More”
-El Keter
