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5.0étoiles sur 5
Music for the Advancement of Hip-Hop......, Juil 16 2004
Mike Ladd apparently got into Rap, Poetry & Punk roughly around the same time. That would probably explain his Leftfield approach to rap, and his tendency to view things through a punk-lens filter. This isn't a man looking to make albums that'll enter the mainstream charts. Mike is obviously looking the stretch the boundaries of rap, by making something of substance & forward thinking, much in the same way as 'Gil Scott Heron' did in the the 70's.But rather than being a tired retread of Gil Scott's then cutting-edge social rap-poetry. Mike intermittently injects things with a Punk & unflinching sensibility, seemingly equally at home, with a softly spoken-sung delivery, or a fiercer finger-pointing mildly shouty rhetoric. But the difference in vocal delivery, takes nothing away for the fact that this is incredibly stirring stuff. moving deftly & consistently impressively, through a variety ideas and sounds, taking on-board subjects such as politics & Racism, and cultrual & social observation with the an intelligence and swagger not seen in a emcee in a long time, due mainly to the fact that sub-conscious thought and contemporary poetry, with a level of articulation heard only in the very best rappers manages to impress on many levels. But too forget or even not mention the production backing up this stunning debut would be easily as unforgivable as not commending Mike Ladd on his exceptional songwriting. Beat heavy tracks are largely forgone in favour of a far more eclectic group of arrangements. Ambient flourishes mix with heady electronics, fuzzy bass guitar underpin subtle hypnotic scratching. Tight chords work alongside avant-garde instrumentation. This feels innovative & markedly different from the predominately thudding beats, that tends to dominate hip-hop/rap derived music. Nowhere is this better exemplified, then on the beautiful "Kissing' Kecia", which is feels like a deeply personal fusion of languishing Jazz, and ambient-soul, in which a reverbed chorus is cleverly overlayed, it's truly noteworthy in it's intent and composition and thus so far removed from traditional rap, that it's not even funny. But before you rush out and buy this album, it should be noted, that this is no album to listen to in the car, or play in a social environment, as it requires too much investment, to work effectively as music to have in the background, and listening to the tracks without giving your full attention to what's being said, is largely missing the point of what Mike Ladd's trying to achieve here. He seems intend on getting the listener to think 'Outside the box', and bring a 'New Perspective' to things. If you are prepared to work at this and put the effort to get the most from this album, then you'll find some of the most experimental, innovative and generally refreshing voices in the world Hip-Hop/Rap today.
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