Blogarhythms

After all the talk of concepts, themes and feelings earlier this week I’m going in a different direction today. Today I just want to nod my head. And what better to provide such a basic, instinctual reaction than the familiarity of artists one knows and loves? And as luck would have it, two of my most favorite contemporary Hip-Hop acts happen to have new releases on deck.

Plenty of praise has been heaped on seven-man Brooklyn Hip-Hop collective Nuclear Family in this space over the last year. The crew’s spin-off groups Junk Science, Iller Than Theirs and The Boys and Girls Club all released outstanding LPs in 2007 and received favorable features for their efforts. Now, just four months after the release of Junk Science’s sophomore LP Gran’dad’s Nerve Tonic, group-member Baje One has compiled enough solo material to convince his friends at Definitive Jux to release it to the public. The project, a six-track EP called Weightless featuring production from Nuk Fam stalwarts J. Howells Werthman & Scott Thorough and Willie Evans Jr. & Therapy of Jacksonville, Florida’s The AB’s (formerly Asamov) is availble now for free download from the Definitive Jux site. The tricky tempo changes and moody soundscapes provided by Werthman on “I (No) O U” and “Mission Statement” fit perfectly with Baje’s sometimes somber and introspective lyrics. While the playfully askew drums and creative sampling of Therapy and Evans on standout tracks “Pan in a Flash” and “Lovely Days” give Baje a chance to flex his soft-spoken but slick-tongued delivery (bearing the same Slick Rick influence as friend and labelmate Cool Calm Pete) his sense of humor and even his Spanish. But regardless of who provides the beats Baje upholds the standard he’s set on previous releases, balancing fun-loving punchline Raps with the societal reflections and insights of a young urban everyman.

Baje One “Lovely Days”

Another familiar face ’round these parts has been that of Chicago-based emcee Dave “Serengeti” Cohen, quite possibly my favorite Rap artist out right now. I first mentioned him last Spring when I bigged up his Chicagoland concept LP Dennehy, a release that proved itself one of the most creatively written and executed Hip-Hop albums I’ve ever heard. Apparently the version of Dennehy released last year was not the one ‘Geti intended to give to the public, so he and his homies at Audio8 are re-releasing the album, re-titled Dennehy (Lights, Cameras, Action!) in early March. For the re-release the tracklist has been radically re-arranged, with a number of songs excised and replaced by new never-before heard cuts that finally allow the story of a handful of unique characters and their day-to-day struggles with family, relationships, romance, economics, gentrification, addiction and racism in and around Chicago to be told in full. The new arrangement and new songs, notably “Teenager,” “Under the Underground,” “Caucs,” “Lights, Camera, Action” and “Lehas,” make the story that much more compelling, but the deletion or truncation of a few tracks (particularly the stuff related to the Derrick character) seems a bit hasty. Even still, if Dennehy was a monumental artistic achievement before, the added clarity of the new, corrected tracklist does nothing but reinforce that fact.

Serengeti “Under the Underground”

Oh, and if you’re in New York catch Baje One and the rest of the Nuk Fam alongside fellow Blogarhythms favorites Cool Calm Pete and 100dBs & Ryan O’Neil at Southpaw in Brooklyn on Friday, February 22nd.

-El keter