08.12
Earlier this month Dr. Trevorkian described Dr. Awkward’s Next Gen EP as one of the most promising indicators that nerdcore hip-hop is growing up and destined to go places. A bold claim that I tend to fully agree with. However, if Dr. Awkward is an indicator Kabuto is an undeniable fact. Both seem to shine within nerdcore instead of being shackled by it and as a result have something MCs Lars, Chris and Frontalot never will; legitimate hip-hop crossover appeal. I’m sure some of you are already prepping scathing replies but let me clarify. I am not making these claims to be controversial nor am I doing it to generate comments. The fact is the bulk of nerdcore (that I’ve heard) suffers from one or some combination of the following: “niche” lyrics, poor production, or bad emcees. With that said there is a collection of nerdcore artists out there rising above these limitations and making some fucking good hip-hop that also happens to be “nerdcore”. Dr. Awkward & Kabuto fall into that category.
With that said, I wanna talk about Kabuto’s latest effort, The Parseltongue Mixtape.
After 2 disposable intro tracks the album finally begins with “Saigons of Thump” and by the time the bridge “hey yo Buffalo Buffalo fucking Bison ya punk” comes through the speakers you should have a good idea of what Kabuto is all about. As the next track, Open Season, begins, you’re wondering if he can maintain this level and by the time the Margret Thatcher sample starts any doubts about Kabuto’s skills will be dashed. Kabuto is the Ice Cube of this genre and no MC is safe from his pyroclastic flow.
As with any album that is 28 tracks long there are ebbs and flows to the album and there are some skits and some tracks that leave you wondering why they were included at all. With a little more self-editing, patience and restraint on the track selection & production Kabuto will have little problem rising to the top of the nerdcore mountain.
Kabuto The Python – Saigons of Thump
Kabuto The Python – Open Season
You can download The Parseltongue Mixtape for free from Scrub Club Records.
Shit man, this blog here opened a new world to me today that I didn’t even know existed! Been watching youtube videos all night and digging lots of these nerdcore jams! Very inspirational! I haven’t been so excited about hip-hop since the very first Wu-Tang and I am so out of the loop I don’t even know if that is a compliment these days, but it’s meant as such!
Thanks for introducing me to this,
cheers!
Meaty Ramone aka MLP
I gotta say I disagree a little with ya. It’s great that nerdcore has some more hip-hop focused artists, but that’s ludicrous to say that certain artists moving this way in the genre is proof that it’s “growing up and destined to go places”. The artists you’ve listed such as Chris, Lars, and Front are known far and wide beyond the boundaries of the genre, and to say that they are “shackled” to it is utterly absurd. No one is “shackled” to the genre and I know that all nerdcore artists have the ability to broaden their musical skills. That being said, they don’t need to conform to any (other) musical identity to do so. The focus of nerdcore in my opinion shouldn’t be about conforming to any one standard or moving any one way, but instead to make music that’s true to being a geek and is of a high recording/mixing standard. Musicians/rappers need to be creative and if they are, and dedicated, talented, and marketed properly then there will be fans (and with it, success in various degrees). I think that in itself would be more of a reason to say that nerdcore is “growing up” than any of this nonsense of the idea that moving the way of more mainstream hip-hop will make things better.
I heart you Shinigami, but I think the key component to Kabuto here is Crossover appeal. But thats just what I think :)
And I hope mr. MLP finds some more awesome nerdy music :)