Sometimes it's incredibly hard to write about a record, for numerous reasons. Just one example: what the fuck should I write about Black Flag or Fugazi or Rites of Spring that hasn't been said before? Or what could I write about your band's crappy demo without hurting your baby boy feelings? Writing about iconAclass has been just as hard. I have been a dälek fanboy for years and years, and Will Brooks is my brother from different mothers. But fuck being objective, especially when it comes to music and words.
iconAclass is the new solo effort from one of the dopest and illest contemporary MCs: dälek. So yes, you got it right: the group is called dälek, and the solo project is called iconAclass. I was confused, too. I think it's safe to say that dälek has changed my ways of listening to music - and not only HipHop, any genre basically. I always loved the fact how much they alienated your average HipHop listener. No, wait... I didn't love it. I just thought it was funny. It was just like Slayer being shrugged off by metal dudes for being "too extreme". Now that dälek (the group) is on hiatus, the Oktopus does MRC Riddims and dälek (the MC) does iconAclass.
Both For The Ones (the album) and I Got It (the EP) are masterpieces. And I could stop the review here, because you either get it or you don't. But let me delve in: the beats are simply incredible. No fancy gimmicks, no big ass production, no stolen samples - just solid kick ass beats as the groundwork for some of the most creative wordplay I have heard in HipHop for a long, long time. dälek is fucking angry ("I ain't mad, muthafuka / I'm rabid!") about the state of the world. And very obviously, things are going wrong: "95% of my crew go to stores to cash checks. 99% leave vexed." - but there are some things in life that make it all go good, things that help you through the struggle: "4 out 9 love the New York Mets. 2 my nigga get ill on them Technics decks."
It's a sad thing, but a proven fact: hard times help spawn great music: just remember Reagan era hardcore! "The wealthy done built their pearly gates. Out here evil takes so many shapes. We tend to meet early fates. Trust too many fakes. Idolize those who imitate. Bastardize all who create." For The Ones (and I Got It, too) are records that are on fire with passion and anger, not unlike the rage that Chuck D spat on vinyl with PE. dälek is a poet, no doubt about that. But the true poets have always yelled fire. (And, speaking of poetry and art in general: when was the last time you have heard an MC namedrop Geoffrey Chaucer, Lars von Trier, Pablo Picasso, and the Coen brothers?)
But what really counts at the end of the day is the music. There are crazy bangers on that album, slower jams like "Heat Down" on the EP, dirty Boom Bap jammers, you name it. DJ Motiv adds a few cuts and there, but they are never overdone and just add to the whole flavour. So well, I told you... this might be one the lamest reviews I have ever written. I just can't help it. These two records mean so much to me on a personal level that it's close to impossible to write something that makes sense to anyone who is not in my head. Thank you, Will Brooks! It means the world to me to be a part of this.
"Wack crews out flanked by the Massive. Last thing you say 'bout Deadverse is we passive."
I know it has been said before, but I will gladly repeat myself... Dälek are the future of HipHop, if there is one. I am not saying this because they are my friends (they are), and not saying this because this video brings up the fondest of memories about Thee Oktopus discussing the glory of Badolato's pizza crust (as compared to New Jersey pizza crust) for about 15 minutes (and more), but because... well, it's the truth.
Let's talk in 10 years, when you're gonna finally catch up and when you start to look beyond the fence that goes around your HipHop mindset. (But then again, who am I to talk shit? When I first listened to London Calling 20 or so years ago, I thought it wasn't punk at all...)
This record is a tricky beast to write about, for a number reasons... one, I really, really like it. A lot. And when I find myself liking a record, it gets hard to write about. Bad reviews easy, good reviews hard. Two, it's kinda old. Not "old" as in 1980s old school old, but it has been out for quite some time now. But then again, GLW/DRK has never been about being up to date, and that's that. And finally, three, it is an Austrian hip hop relase. In Austria, we speak German, or at least a version of German. And since this album (or is it an EP?) has German lyrics, I really wasn't sure whether or not I should write this review in English. It's a hard knock life, I'm tellin' ya. But here it is, in English, because I truly feel that this album can be enjoyed even if you don't understand the language. I know that at least I can like French hip hop, or Turkish hip hop, or Japanese "post-core" without being able to understand a single word.
I have mixed feelings about Austrian hip hop. There are many (new) acts, there are many good acts, but a lot of the output these days is just tee-rash. I don't know, maybe it has to do something with the nature of German language, but, in the words of Markante Handlungen, "muas I eana schau wieda mit da Peitschn deiten, wei's die Deitschen biten!". Average and Huckey don't do that. They do their very, very own thing, and it's easy to admit I am stoked.
Ganz schön hässlich is some kind of a concept album, very loosely based on the 19th century children's book "Der Struwwelpeter" by Heinrich Hoffmann. (There is an awesome adaption by Bob Staake available from Fantagraphics, and there was an anti-fascist version during WW2, called "Struwwelhitler".) There are six tracks about the stories in the book, and then there are 5 more remixes. Average is a young (dope!) MC, and Huckey is an old (dope!) MC, so it's pretty much like this, only with words and rhymes. It would be wrong that say that me and Huckey are friends, but we have known each for quite a while now, and that relationship goes back to the days of his old bands, Target of Demand and Seven Sioux, so I am more than stoked to see that he still kicks ass. (He actually never stopped kicking ass, and this is the evidence.)
So what has to be said about this record are three things:
1. The beats are amazing. The choice of samples is great. The cuts are right on. Seriously, this is up there with the best of the best. 2. The words and rhymes and the flow are top of the game, and they are one of a kind. There has been no Austrian release like this before, drawing influence from a classic piece of literature, turning into something unique and original, and above all, pushing limits and staying "true to the game". 3. Kamp makes an appearance, and so does Flip from Texta, and the features and the remixers don't ruin it, in fact they add a little extra something.
Ganz schön hässlich is a hip hop record for the heads and for people who don't even like the music. It's everything that made hip hop so amazing in the first place, it's deep and fresh, and it works in the club just as well as it does on your headphones. Big up! www.tontraeger-records.com
X:144 and SPS are one MC and one DJ, walking in the footsteps of greats such as Guru and DJ Premier, Eric B and Rakim, KRS One and Scott LaRock, or even not-so-greats like Dendemann and Rabauke. Despite being long time veterans in their hometown Hip Hop scene of Orlando, Flordia, they are still under the public radar. Best kept secret? Next big thing? Oh yeah. Expect very, very big things.Which music / scenes did you grow up with? What made you decide to play music yourselves? X:144: Well, my family came here directly from Egypt, Africa, so I'm first generation "American". Hip Hop has always been a fascination with my family, and has been my passion since I could remember - being that we were Africans straight "off the boat". Being born in New York, my first influences were a lot of music from my home country, where the bands backing up the singers were orchestras, like Abdel Halim Hafez (known to this generation by Timbaland's contribution in his sampling for "Big Pimpin'"), or Oum Kalthoum. Hip Hop took place in my life through b-boying, and of course the music: Run DMC, LL Cool J, X-Clan, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, The Native Tongue Family, etc. Then grafitti art became something I pursued, and after this I wanted to be a deejay. Then low and behold, I heard DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince, and for some reason something inside me clicked. I looked at my mother and said, "This is what I want to do when I get older", and I did.
SPS: I grew up around all kinds of music while growing up. I am a military brat, born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and lived all over the place, so it was inevitable to cross all types of music. My biggest influences in music come from all genres. Most of my listening years happened when I lived in Berlin, Germany. I was surrounded by alot of electronic music, Hip Hop, techno, and classical music, so it all was welcoming to me. Hip Hop was more my speed, because it was so raw and to the point. After going to a Hip Hop concert in Germany and witnessing a deejay do a 15 minute scratch solo, I was sold and knew that's what I wanted to do.
How and when did you meet and start making music together? X:144: I have been a part of the Orlando Hip Hop scene for about 15 years now. I've watched the scene grow, and its community change from one extreme to the next. People swearing that they wouldn't sell out I've seen sell out. This created a small tight knit community of "true school" Hip Hop practitioners. I myself was in a group named after my production company, TDP, which stands for Transparent Dark Productions. My rhyme partner at that time was telling me that we needed recruite SPS as our deejay - only to find out he had already started something with a crew called Andromeda. Years later, after all groups and crews disbanded, Nonsense Records was building up their roster, SPS and I included. We were both solo at the time, until conversations arose between myself and Kelly Shockley (CEO of Nonsense) of wanting to up my game. I then heard SPS' track on the Nonsense compilation, Community Service Vol. #1, and got extremely excited. I knew that this is what I wanted in a DJ. Kelly then suggested that we hook up. Unknowingly, he had already mentioned this to SPS - and bloaw! - X:144 and SPS were born.
What do your (almost sci-fi like) names stand for? SPS: Mine's easy...
X:144: SPS is rather simple and to the point: "Second Place Sucks" - named appropriately for his turntablist battles. X:144, well in short: everything is based on numbers and mathematics. The English alphabet is coded in multiples of six, A=6, B=12, C=18, etc... X=144 - 'X' represents the Xth Generation, '144' is the 144,000 recognized by the Ancient Egyptians, Mayans, and "Christians" as sacred number - hence implying that we, the Xth Generation, are the 144,000th here to create a beneficial change in this world. We just so happen to do it through Hip Hop.
Why did you decide to go for the classic one emcee / one deejay formula instead of having your huge ass "crew", like everyone and their neighbors seem to do these days? X:144: Well, I believe the formula of a larger crew was tried by the both of us and by many around us. Two turntables and a microphone is bringing it back to the fundamentals of what inspired us both to be what we are today. It pays respect to the pioneers of Hip Hop music, and maintains the integrity of what we believe is lost. Our intentions is to bring forth an elevated status of the relationship between the deejay and the emcee, so that Hip Hop does and feels a progress and re-evolution in itself. What we do now can only pave the way for the future.
SPS: In addition to that, deejays, in Hip Hop music today, are often slept on when it comes to performances. Keeping the liveliness on the turntables with live cutting and scratching is the core essence of this music. Much of this is lost now, and needs to be preserved. Less can be more, and effective when it comes to the formula we have. The typical entourage of dudes on stage can sometimes lose or bore a crowd.
Tying in to what you just said about the relationship between the emcee and the deejay, I remember a quote from an interview where you said that this was not being utilized to the fullest - and I agree. Still, with the continuous advancement of technical possibilities, I find it hard to say whether or not the one emcee / one deejay - thing is, can, or even should be what "true" or "real" Hip Hop is all about. Any comments? X:144: There is no absolution to anything that grows. The emcee and deejay relationship was the core of Hip Hop music. What we're doing is paying respect to our ancestors and pioneers, while maintaining our 'Bushido' or what have you. Hip Hop has been mis-translated so much so that the culture is in a deficit, a "negative debt". So in order to balance our 'history books' or bring us back to a "positive balance", we have to give "credit" due to what once was. It's simple accounting in a sense... Ultimately we're continuing where I believe the fundamental values left off. So if an absolution is implied of what "true" or "real" Hip Hop is, it's not because of our formula, it's because of who we know ourselves to be.
SPS: This music was practically started in the DJ's hands... everything about Hip Hop stems from that. Change is not bad, but knowing the past is important. Knowing about breaks and digging for those loops and drums is another standard slept on in Hip Hop. Props to the DJ, it's long overdue. Respect the architect.
Let's talk about the "business" side of things for a bit. For most artists, music is something they love to do, but on the other hand, many of them are kind of hesitant to "sacrifice" everything else for their vision. That said, how "serious" are you about what you do? How real is the possibility for you to do nothing but create music, without having to work day jobs, etc? X:144: Well, we both work for ourselves now. SPS is still doing his DJ gigs, and I am still maintaining my studio work, but it's a diligent process. We just came off a 40 city U.S. tour called the "Quit Your Dead End Job Tour"... haha! I know we are living examples of our dreams. It isn't impossible to do what you love. All that's required is belief in yourself and your plan. Belief in the people who you would bring that very talent or idea to. If you don't have belief in people to believe in you, then your work is sabotaged before it's conception. I think that's pretty damn serious if you ask me, and you did. [laughter]
SPS: There's no turning back! We love what we do. This is who we are, and for so long, this is what we've strived and worked for.
You have released stuff on Nonsense Records for quite some time now, and it seems to me as if both the label and you have grown together, and very organically so. How do you feel about being on an independent label, as opposed to some major contract? Also, if someone came knocking with a "better" aka more lucrative deal, what would it take to convince you to leave Nonsense? Solillaquists Of Sound are now on Epitaph, hence the question. X:144: I'd run with the money! [laughter] Seriously though, what we and Nonsense Records are trying to create is a movement. Now I know that sounds cliché, because all labels start this way, and most fall short of their goal to "sell out" for lack of a better term, but it's true. It's common sense, think about it: if we went with a bigger label with a more lucrative advance - not deal, but advance - where would that leave us? In greater debt, making a smaller percentage, lack of control, lack of ownership of our music. With a label such as Nonsense, we both started at the same level, share the same ideals, and like you said have grown together. So as we grow, the label grows. Solillaquists were in a position where moving on to Epitaph was appropriate for their plan, and their longevity. As for us, we are eye to eye in size and growth with our label, so the bigger we get, the bigger they get. All in all, the plan is to create an in-house working icon that can revolutionize how this industry works and how community is defined.
M.E., the debut album from X:144 & SPS, is available from Nonsense Records. SPS only recently was the 2008 USA DMC Supremacy champion, and X:144 has a new website here.
Interview by Thomas Reitmayer • Photography by Mike Begonia
Sometimes it's incredibly hard to write about a record, for numerous reasons. Just one example: what the fuck should I write about Black Flag or Fugazi or Rites of Spring that hasn't been said before? Or what could I write about your band's crappy demo without hurting your baby boy feelings? Writing about iconAclass has been just as hard. I have been a dälek fanboy for years and years, and Will Brooks is my brother from different mothers. But fuck being objective, especially when it comes to music and words.
