Fake For Real

The CunninLynguists have been some of these few guys, more or less affiliated to the indie rap movement of the early 2000's, who managed to make it and find a place in the bigger rap community. Those rappers from Kentucky, however, were not too different from their peers; they had followed more or less the same path – an ascending or descending one, depending on the view. Originally a revivalist group, fond of 90's sounding loops and samples, and with an old school rap mindset, they became more contemplative. Over time, their lyrics turned more introspective, their music more cinematic, flirting with folk and rock guitar sounds.

If we need to select a symbol for retro-futurism – this trend consisting in coming back to the past, in order to reinvent the future – this needs to be Edan Portnoy. With his first album, the underground classic Primitive Plus, the rapper, producer and DJ created an improbable musical subgenre: old school hip-hop for the year 3000. He had gone back to rap as it existed in the 80's, and brought it into the new millennium, as if the 90's had never happened. And with his second album, he had returned even further, in the 60's, transferring psychedelic rock to the rap era.

Chief Keef still releases strong projects, but since he was fired from Interscope, the individual representing the best the dirtiest side of Chicago's street rap, in 2014, is King Louie, the very pioneer of the drill movement. He did it in the early summer with Tony, a release many acknowledge as his very best to date. And actually, it is one of his most consistent; one of his most monochromatic as well, since, as alluded with the cover art, it uses one single color only: the black one.

The name Latyrx (say it la-tir-iks), mixed those of two rappers, Lateef and Lyrics Born, both core members of the Solesides label, along with Blackalicious and DJ Shadow, all later known as the Quannum collective. By the 90's, each of these people, jointly or separately, had delivered masterpieces of the Bay Area indie hip-hop world, like the Melodica EP, or the much more famous Endtroducing…. And for Latyrx, the key release had been an album soberly titled… The Album.

According to his press kit, Existereo was influenced by the likes of Hank Williams III, Black Sabbath and Gram Parsons, in addition to some rappers. This sounded just ridiculous, these people covering genres as diverse as country, metal or hip-hop. And though, it was credible, to whoever was familiar with this rapper - and graffiti artist. His records, indeed, were all incredibly eclectic, even for a member of the Shape Shifters, starting with his first album, Dirty Deeds & Dead Flowers.

With indie rap, it was not always easy to know where such or such artist, or such or such record, was really coming from. The musical influences were multiple, and sometimes, one's artistic impulses would preclude the necessity to represent a region, a style, or a posture. Let's consider the first album of Third Sight, for example, The Golden Shower Hour, some consider as an underground classic. When listening to it, it is not evident that it is coming from sunny California.