Blogarhythms

As of last week Boston’s MC Esoteric has dropped three full-length bangers in as many years. I thought Summer ’05’s markedly ambitious A New Dope (with partner 7L) was a fluke. But Egoclapper, last Summer’s solo outing, quieted most of my questions about the ten year vet’s consistency.

After scoring a career landmark like Egoclapper so late in the game (and after a potentially career-ending feud with El-P) I thought Esoteric might rest on his laurels or slip back into “safe mode.” I certainly didn’t think he’d bring the goods a third year in a row. But his second solo record Esoteric vs. Japan (Pterodactyl Takes Japan!) exposes him as the truly ambitious emcee and beatmaker he is. It also establishes once and for all that he sounds his best (and most comfortable) when exercising the adventurous spirit of ’80s and early-’90s Hip-Hop, not so much the staid late-’90s backpacker Boom-Bap traditionalism he’d initially made his bones creating.

So titled because it was crafted almost exclusively using samples and loops from records made by Japanese music artists Esoteric vs. Japan (Pterodactyl Takes Japan!) is a concept album of sorts. The album’s soundscape is littered with vocal samples from Japanese movies. And a whole host of references to kaiju, samurai, anime and manga media mingle with the expected back-in-the-day Rap romanticizing, shout outs to comic books, sci-fi, the internet, sports & other pop culture figures and trademark Bostonisms in Eso’s rhymes. It’s a vibe that bears a likeness to classic Wu-Tang, the output of MF Doom (particularly his album as King Geedorah) and even Doom’s pre-mask group K.M.D.’s two full-lengths in addition to a built-in affinity for the dirty throwback fastrap of Edan (where the fuck is that guy at?) and the original fastrap of the Juice Crew era.

He pays lip service to members of the Juice Crew and a whole host of other old-school greats on “24 Karat Fiction,” a story song in the vein of KRS-One’s “I Can’t Wake Up” that follows a dookie gold rope chain passed back forth between the hands and necks of legendary rappers. He just raps fast and frantic like his heroes without mentioning them on joints like “Mecha Mecha,” “I Do Lo-Fi,” “Heroic Trio” and “Real Rap Design” which features Project Move member Moe Pope spitting a standout guest verse over it’s rattling break, playful orchestral loop and repetitive female vocal sample. While “Gaiking Skydragon Rap” flips an uptempo ’80s-influenced bell-loop-beat and name-drops LL Cool J in between far-east flute sample hooks.

The aforementioned “I Do Lo-Fi” stands out as one of the weirder beats on the album, looping up some sort of Japanese New Wave track (complete with vocal hooks) with a rumbling bassline and simple electro-clap drum-machine beat. It’s memorable lyrically and conceptually too, as Eso humorously pokes Hip-Hop artists whose attention to fashion and trends outstrips their attention to music, a point reinforced by a vocal sample repeating the mantra “we’re so cool.” A similar production formula, drawing samples from what sounds like Japanese Post-Punk and New Wave makes “Plastic Model Version” memorable as well.

Esoteric “I Do Lo-Fi”

His production shines throughout though, even when he’s sampling more traditional Jazz, Rock and Pop stuff. In fact, the dreamy instrumental “My New Favorite,” which drops big chunks of some Japanese crooner’s string-fueled orchestral Pop tune over chopped drum-breaks and crazy fills, is in fact one my favorite tracks on the album.

No excuses necessary, Esoteric is officially a personal favorite too, and I can’t help but anticipate his next move.