I Never Thought I'd Say It - but this is Good Rap!

I'm a music fan and my tastes are fairly eclectic, a trait I credit to my Grandpa Paulson's genes. His record collection (which I inherited) included everything from Balinese Gamelan music to Dixieland jazz to Broadway show tunes to Elvis Costello. There are only two musical genres I do not like: country & western and rap. But just through chance, I came across some rappers that I (shudder) actually like. It's an English dj called DJ Format. DJ Format and his MCs are clever, witty and literary and on top of being actual listenable rap, they have spectacular videos by a superb filmaker named Reuben Fleischer. In their song “We Know Something You Don't Know” they have lines like:
“We know something you don't know and if we don't share than we don't grow...
...dollar bills don't make feel me feel complete; only the oneness of God can repel and dispell deceipt...”
In the video the lines are delivered by folks in plush shark and tiger costumes--don't know why, no reason, it just works.
DJ Format works often with Canadian rapper MC Abdominal, who is the key to some of their best collabarations. Abdominal's rap name is a clever pun, because if you do a Web search for abdominal and rap, you find that “RAP” is a medical term which stands for “recurrent abdominal pain”--probably 99% of his fans never even get this connection. Anyway, this is (boy do I hate to say this...) really cool rap. Of course the fact that I like it means the kids will probably all hate it (although my teenage son does want their CD for Christmas). Take a look at their videos on Reuben Fleischer's site. They're just good.
[Via Andrew Trygstad]

Posted by Ray Trygstad | Category: Fun | 10:02 AM