The contiguity of the words "haiku" and "coup d'état" may sound strange. It is, however, an appropriate translation of what this atypical album is made of. This record, indeed, mixes the concision of the most evocative poetic form in Japan, with some kind of revolution in hip-hop. Nobody should be surprised, knowing who is behind the trio: Mikah 9, a member of the Freestyle Fellowship, Abstract Rude, a founder of the Project Blowed open mic, and a third guy, Aceyalone, who is both of these. Three rappers quite used to pushing further the boundaries of hip-hop.
MC's come and go
Using little skill to show
While we overthrow
Such says the only real haiku on the record. At the end of the album, it states clearly how much these exceptional MCs crush all competitors. The key person in Haiku d'Etat, though, is not a rapper. This is, instead, Adrian Burley, an ex-drummer in the alternative rock band Third Eye Blind.
Burley initiated this project and gathered a full collection of other musicians, coming like him from the Bay Area. Jointly with him, David Boyce (saxophone), Emerson Cardenas (bass) and Michael Cavaseno (guitar) support our rappers.
No machine, then, on this record. The sound is 100% organic, providing the rappers with more room to demonstrate the virtuosity of their acrobatic flows. Thanks to the music, the trio explores multiple styles, from the melodic songs at the beginning ("Haïku d'Etat", "Non Compos Mentis"), to the experimentalism at the end - this "that's tight, I like that" sentence, repeated continuously by Aceyalone, with a minimalist bass and someone coughing in the background - including a few escapades in reggae music.
An African song ("Studio Street Stage"), ganja-heavy dub ("Los Dangerous"), over-cool raps ("S.O.S.", "Firecracker", "Other MC's"), tirades on a retro organ ("Still Rappin"), avant-garde weirdness mixed with a famous oriental melody ("West Side Slip n' Slide"), and a return to Jamaica with a Bob Marley cover ("Kaya"). These are the steps on the long trip Haïku d'Etat is; an exotic trip, both appeasing and exhausting, but well organized. Such is the album, a must-have in the Freestyle Fellowship and Project Blowed lineage.