I heard at the beginning of last week that Eyedea passed away. It was definitely sad news to hear, but it didn't hit me that hard because I hadn't been following his career for the past few years. it really got me thinking about some of the music that, at one point or another, was an integral part of my life. Throughout the late 1990s to the mid-ish 2000s, underground hip hop was my go to. during this era, a number of classic hip hop albums were dropped in the mainstream and major labels were putting out good music that didn't always sell well, but were given a chance. As a corollary, the underground scene was immense, as the underground is often, at least in some senses, a reflection of the mainstream. I mean, del the funkee homosapien was a major label. those were good times.
A sub-genre of this massive underground world was the tripped out white boy stuff. A lot of people were deemed "the underground version of Eminem" and a lot of "so and so beat Eminem in a freestyle in 1992," type shit. it was a very interesting aspect of the scene. it had always been that most hip hop shows were attended by white kids, so it always seemed natural to me that a bunch of kids who were raised in the third, more post-modern era of hip hop (think freestyle fellowship and organized konfusion) would end up offering their take on a culture that they felt was as much theirs as everyone else's. It worked because a lot of kids got it and alot of really interesting and creative artists got to make a living putting out very fascinating takes on hip hop music that reflected themselves in a way art is supposed to (what is art? are we art? is art art? what do you think, art?).
I get very reminiscent for this era. and with the passing of eyedea I got out the hard drives and cd cases to mine for some music i used to listen to everyday but haven't heard in years (up to seven for some stuff). I love music for this reason; I can, for example, listen to something and really try to remember where my head was at when I first heard an album. So with that in mind, I have been on a listening spree, looking for the music to reveal clues about what my deal was in 2000. Its like therapy with white rappers.
Here is my top ten favorite underground white rapper albums. They would all be peppered in my top 20 rapper list, but none of these guys are the best ever or anything. But close. (Also it must be noted that Beastie Boys are not considered in this discussion. They are a whole different thing that, to me, out ranks any of this stuff.)
5. Sage Francis-Still Sick...Urine Trouble (2000)
I know this isn't really an album, more of a mixtape that he sold on tour. It is part of a larger series of mixtapes that he always sold at shows. I bought this at a show in St. Louis in 2001. the show was atmosphere, sage francis, eyedea and abilities; it was in the basement of the student union at Washington University and cost $7. Great times, awesome road trip. This one has a lot of freestyles and random bits and pieces, but it is worth for the few full songs, the best of which being "majority rule," in my opinion. here's a verse:
I got lectured once while eating breakfast for lunch
Said dad to me "Reality is nothing but a collective hunch
Whatever you want the truth to be, simply fool the masses
Attack them mentally with tools of power like the Masters
Get em in elementary school and college classes
Eventually you'll overrule their cowardly asses
Don't worry about society, they're all horrible bastards"
With this knowledge I blast kids. stay dark like Howard's glasses
I'm "Stern!" plus I rule with an iron fist
With no concern, it's so cruel, where did I learn this?
It's in my gene pool. For permanent bliss
It seems cool, only if you suffer from eternal ignorance
Internal innocence rejects external filth. Hurdle the guilt
My ancestors left. Dress with a traditional kilt
Curdled milk that's under suspicion will get spilt
Ain't no use crying. Who's lying about the empire I built?
Another self proclaimed historian
With Einstein as his passenger, and a flux capacitor in his Delorean
Rewrote my past, taught me sin
When we spoke at last he caught me in the chin
There was no need to ask, I know he fought me to win
My broken task is born again, let a new war begin
I think he saw me grin. Played my ass like a sucka
Turned that brunch between me and my father into our last supper
That shit is great, I don't care who you are. Sage has an incredible ability to handle words and really twist shit up. He came from that Rhode Island slam poet thing, so he's really more of a poet, but his flow is tight and he owns beats. Political bent that made a lot of sense to me at the time.
That show in 2001 was a month or so after 9/11 and sage played a brand new song called "makeshift patriot" that put the whole world in perspective. check it out as well, if you haven't. Although I have the feeling that anyone reading this knows these songs.
4. Aesop Rock-Labor Days (2001)
At the time, this was arguably the most anticipated album in underground hip hop. He had done some albums on smaller indie labels, but then he signed with el-p's def jux label. This was huge. Blockhead on the beats. El-P street cred. This was what it was all about in the competitive world of subterranean rap music.
And this album delivered.
No letdown. Almost a perfect album. And this was at a time when def jux was putting out mr lif, cannibal ox, and a bunch of other luminaries, they owned shit, and this album showed it. The thing with aesop rock is that at first listen he makes no sense. you can't really understand his words and he is using such amazing word play and complex logic and analysis that it takes many many listens to figure out. sometimes, that is a reason to only listen to a record once and give up on it. with labor days, it was just a way to justify listening to it every day for months. Sample verse from "daylight":
Slacker bounded intimate tabloid headline with a pulse
Shimmy cross the centerfold, and a dead time engulfed, divvy crumbs for the better souls
With seven deadly stains, adhere the blame to crystal conscience,
The result's a low life counting on one hand what he's accomplished.
Ok, link me to activism chain, activate street sweep
Plug deteriorating xenobit Pendragon
I hock swords cores for the morbid spreading of mad men (Alley gospel)
Sinking yer Lincoln-Log cabin and Charlie Chaplin waddle
--I could zig zag and zig 'em again for the badge dream sparkle in my brick wall windows
Another thick installment of one night in Gotham without the wretched "Houston we have a problem
--Attached to the festive batch of city goblins"
Who split holiday freak on a box-cut cinema high road bellow
Head gripped! Watch red bricks turn yellow
Sort of similar to most backbones at camp Icarus
We're all feeling crimes congregating at pamper for bickering
Life's not a bitch! Life is a beautiful woman
You only call her a bitch because she won't let you get that pussy.
Maybe she didn't feel y'all shared any similar interests
Or maybe you're just an asshole who couldn't sweet talk the princess.
Kiss the speaker wire; Peter Pacifism pagan thresh hold
Stomach full of halo kibbles
Wings span cast black upon vigils
Here to duck hunt ticker tape vision and pick apart the pixels
I got a friend of polar nature, and it's all peace
When I seek similar stars but can't sit at the same feast
(Metal Captain) This cat is asking if I've seen his bit of lost passion
I told him yeah, but only when I pedaled past him.
That's some deep shit. I have yet to figure out hardly any of it. There aren't many albums you hear where your brother has to explain bottleneck effects in localized evolutionary ecosystems just to understand what Aesop Rock is talking about in one line of one song. This was really fun to me for a while. As I have grown older, I have become more lazy and don't have time to do it anymore, so I started listening to Young Jeezy. As good as Jeezy is, he can't touch Aesop. I still almost tear up every time I listen to "No Regrets;" I feel like me and Lucy have met many, many times before....
3. Anticon-Music For the Advancement of Hip Hop (1999)
Anticon was, at the time, the number one underground label, at least in the deep underground where weekend long drug benders often resulted in ground breaking albums. Anticon was more of an artist collection with a similar outlook on hip hop that had very few rules and very loose boundaries. Most people, at least the ones I knew, were first introduced to the Anticon thing through this compilation album that featured most of the current roster of artists at the time and a few close friends. This was the first place I heard Atmosphere and Deep Puddle Dynamics, both of which are coming up on the list. This compilation revolutionized the way I listened to hip hop. It did for me for hip hop what bitches brew did for how I listened to music in general.
There are so many ridiculous songs on this album that it is hard to pick an appropriate verse. For posterity, I'll go with Eyedea's verse from "Savior?" with Slug and Sole. This was the first thing I ever heard from him; he was 17 or 18 and hungry as shit. Actually I'll post the whole song. Slug and Sole own this as track as well.
(SLUG)
Sometimes I wonder if you'll ever shut the hell up
But you don't quit, and you just don't stop
Sometimes Iwanna hop on the 5 and ride circles around my city a couple times
And pity my troubled life
Sometimes I wake up like 'fuck the world!'
And after I fuck my girl, I wanna curl up in the corner of my basement
Waitin' for civilization to fold
The pressure to pay that toll, it takes control
So I can be a better dad, I can be better in bed
I can be a better man, I can be better off dead
I can a better son, boyfriend or employee
But I better fix my head before I let that shit destroy me
Yeah, you know me, that cat with no game, no gear
Been in love as many times as I've been alive in years
It ain't my fears that's riding me, nope
It's how I cope and construct, and how I act as if I don't give a fuck
But damn, if I stop and count the amount of fucks I've handed out
All in the name of trying to find what it's about
I'd probably drown, gasp, cough, gurgle, found dead
Stiff position as if I'm about to jump that hurdle
So while you lose your hair, I'm losing a war
You living thick off the pulp while I'm chewing the core
And sometimes I reflect, sit and wish that I was ignorant
Unaware of the poison so I could enjoy sipping it
That's why the only thing on my mind is everything
So I blame my brain for trying to hold me down
And when they finally wash it and hang it out to dry
Make sure they know I spoke, make sure they know my sound
EYEDEA
Dear primate relatives with extra-terrestrial intelligence
I've gathered delicate information stating my spaceship's developed a virus
And I was thrown out of orbit past the moon
And crashed here November 9th, 1981, Monday afternoon
I've adapted to this twisted way of living
But I always knew I wasn't from this planet cuz I'm so damn different
I've kicked it with kids that would've but couldn't
Kids that could've but wouldn't
Some took it, misunderstood, stood under it and overlooked it
Love, hate, straight, crooked
Bad, good, should, shouldn't
Plastic, metal or wooden
It's all a part of water based pudding
This is a cry for help and I don't give a fuck
I've joined every alien cult on earth waiting for ya'll to pick me up
I've sipped the cup of reality, now my brain is dying
I try and explain I'm not human, now my room is an insane asylum
They blame the violence on children and try to forget they raised 'em
Jerry Springer and Banned From TV is what they get paid from
Man, I hate them homosapiens, they're a little too complex
Survival instincts are blocked for the biggest cock contest
Man, please come get me, the shit's sickening
Man, I can't stand it
I wanna break the ozone and go home to my own planet
This panic, I'm stranded, goddamnit I'm damaged, my sanity's bandaged
Ever since I landed I've been abandoned and planned to run
I ran and managed to reach peace for a day or two
But it's probably government computer chips that make me think the way I do
Hey, I knew my origin was beyond this galaxy, even as a baby
I asked the ones who told to call parents and they said I was crazy
I've been beat half to death by those designated to serve and protect
I pay them taxes from my check so they break my neck
Now take a sec and think what I did to deserve this
I'm waiting for the mothership spacecraft
To take me away from this purposeless earth shit
It's worthless
I'm like a polar bear living in the equator
Or an ice cube in the refrigerator
I'm outta place and outer space is where I need to get ya'll
So when you come down, just remember I'm leaving with ya'll
Sincerely yours truly, Eyedea
Chorus:
So if you've got a savior, please won't you introduce?
Cuz you muthafuckas behavior has got me broken loose
SOLE
Oh, ya don't like sand? I heard it tastes like dirt
I do dirt, my girlfriend used to be a rock
All the favorite words, they woulda been 'stop' if she could talk
So I did, lovemaking, playing inside a mole hill
Ever read the diary of the ego without a fate?
Music without a place
Man without a plate
Metal plate in skull which means I'll never get a chance to fly
Wasn't coordinated enough to get college grants for playing sports
But I stole your girl
She was lucky enough to get the goods by a smooth talkin', player hatin'
On the class failin', shoplifting one man solar system
I'm the sun to earth, super nova Novocain, no preservatives
Don't know exactly what life means
But I know for damn well that she ain't talkin' to me
But I know everything I spend will somehow ends in negativity
I can smoke all your imbeselic isms and idol ideologies
For idiots who idolize ideals but never truly comprehend
And feel experience experiments
They said take breaths when you can
I fill my pockets will small triangle remnants of static moments
Pessimism appeals to Sole which stikes him as more likable
Never know no equals, still my style becomes more biteable
I forgot how to sleep, don't remember being tired
Which means heads think I'm sick until the day that I'm fired
A wise man told me be a snake and let all people believe you're a sheep
Cuz all ya have is your pride, so in the end you'll never sell me cheap
Yes, Sole really says "Oh, ya don't like sand? I heard it tastes like dirt/
I do dirt, my girlfriend used to be a rock." That is fucking amazing. It covers so much in two lines. Eyedea's verse is dense if you peel away the layers. And slug just nails it. The rest of this album is this good. It is super heady (not like a 20 minute bathtub gin heady but foucault and hegel having coffee with carl jung heady). check this album for an introduction to a who's who of late 90s psychedelic white hip hop stars. some of em are from Canada. It was like that.
Numbers 1 and 2 to come later.....Enjoy for now. Thanks for Reading.
peace,
g
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