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SIAH & YESHUA DAPOED - The Visualz Anthology

Fondle'em's merit, but also, its mistake, is to have preferred the EP format to any other. For that reason, in a world that still considers LPs as the ultimate masterpiece for music, the legacy of New-York's indie rap scene founding label is not as big as it deserves. Most of its artists, the Cenobites, the Juggaknots or the Arsonists, finally had to transform anthology singles or EPs into real albums, adding to them some demos, freestyles, rarities or new tracks. For some of them, this extension of their previous records was a success, as is the case with the Juggaknots' Re:Release. But for some others, the final output was a bit frustrating and unbalanced, as with The Visualz Anthology, a compilation of Siah and Yeshua's work, released in 2008.

THAVIUS BECK - Thru

Contrary to what his experimentalist posture suggests, Thavius Beck's music has sometimes been too easy. The ex producer of Global Phlowtations, one of its few members who met some kind of critical recognition in the 2000's, thanks to his releases with Mush Records, Plug Research and Big Dada, sometimes spoiled his music with too many effects and pyrotechnics, and with some big, threatening electronic sounds, sounding like an exaggeratedly gothic version of hip-hop. Many times, though, the individual proved that he was really gifted and talented.

CLOUDDEAD - cLOUDDEAD

Appeared by the end of the 1990's, out of the indie rap movement, Anticon was a world apart in hip-hop's underground scene. Located as many others on the very active Bay Area, but gathering people from multiple places, the label funded by Sole managed to federate a large community of original artists, a collection of marginal and weirdoes, all seeking to challenge the many routines of hip-hop.

TOOLSHED - Schemata

Making one's best so that hip-hop looks like a live experience, strengthening raps with the sounds of "real" instruments, has not always been a successful approach. The most famous group which tried to go this way, The Roots, has sometimes failed at it, coming dangerously close to boredom. And when a rapper proves to be good at this, it is more often in concerts than on records. Toolshed, though, a group from London, Ontario, used this formula fantastically on their second album, a record blended with bouncing guitar, drums, bass and saxophone sounds, reinforced with facetious and dynamic raps, and full of rhythm and scratches.

PIGEON JOHN - Sings the Blues

In 2004, along with a collection of poems, Pigeon John released the South Bay Blues EP. This had been the best and most personal record ever delivered by this LA Symphony ex-member, also a Good Life Café regular. It was 8 tracks long only, but each of them was no less than exceptional. They were worth "What is Love?!" and "Emily", the best songs on Pigeon John is Dating your Sister, the rapper's previous album. This EP, however, had not been advertised enough to find its public, and it was more easily available as illegal MP3s than as a regular record. Eventually, we had to wait for a new album, Pigeon John Sings the Blues - the last the mixed-race rapper released on Basement Records before he joined Quannum Projects - to finally get hold of these 8 marvels, but in a new version.

NORMAN - Polarity

The very large Oldominion collective – around 20 affiliates, no less, spread between Seattle and Portland – lies at the very core of the North-West underground rap scene. No doubt there. Just because they are too many […]

EDAN - Primitive Plus LP

Released by the Lewis Recordings, a UK label, in 2002 – the Brits may have been the only ones willing to take risks with such a record – Primitive Plus is the enriched version of Primitive, an EP which generated an underground buzz by 1999. Edan, its author, belonged then to an emerging kind of indie rappers: the hip-hop handymen. Indeed, this graduate of Boston's Berklee College of Music took everything in charge: he provided the raps, the beats, the scratches, the cover art… And as usual in such circumstances, the output looked like a demo recorded in a scullery.

MIKE LADD - Easy Listening 4 Armageddon

When one seeks to determine which album from Mike Ladd is the best, Welcome to the Afterfuture is often mentioned, or the Infesticons' Gun Hill Road. Both records seem bolder than the very first from this university teacher turned rapper and producer, an active member of the Nuyorican Poets Café scene. They look more diverse, and even catchier. Compared to them, Easy Listening 4 Armageddon sounds too soft, sounding like ambient music, or quiet jazz, or even easy listening. This record, however, may have passed better the test of time.

SERENGETI - Family and Friends

It's been a while since Serengeti joined the indie rap scene. Since Dirty Flamingo, in 2003, he's been particularly prolific, releasing up to 4 albums in one single year, in 2006, including the conceptual Dennehy. For a long time, though, the Chicago rapper, whose real name is David Cohn, has played a cameo role. But he persevered, and finally made his way, moving to Anticon with his second record with Polyphonic, Terradactyl (2009), creating the S / S / S trio with Son Lux and Sufjan Stevans, and releasing, in 2011, his most accessible album.

ELIGH & AMP LIVE - Therapy at 3

Though all Living Legends records have not always been flawless, the solo career of Eligh was, for a long time, nothing less than exemplary. Starting in the second half of the 1990's with good albums like As They Pass and Gas Dream, it reached its apex in the 2000's with some gems, first Poltergeist, and then the much original Enigma. After this peak, however, the rapper and beatmaker didn't provide anything substantial for us to enjoy. The reason, as we would learn in 2010 with the Grey Crow album, was due to a serious drug addiction.

MAC LETHAL - Irish Goodbye

A long time ago, Mac Lethal, a white rapper from Kansas City, received some praise. It was by the beginning of the 2000's, when he won or was second to several editions of the Scribble Jam contest, and was sponsored by […]

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