Several of my friends have requested that I start writing actual entries more often. I now invite them to reflect on the wisdom of that action as I devote this entire post to underground British hip-hop.
After one day of listening,
DJ Format's If You Can't Join 'Em, Beat 'Em is already #3 on my list of all-time favorite hip-hop albums - hell, it might even climb higher tomorrow.
If you haven't heard any of his stuff (which is very likely) then check out
these two videos. The former is the first single from the new album, and if Format's collaboration with pasty white Canadian rappers gives you pause, then realize also that the latter video is a collaboration with the ever-cool Jurassic 5, whose two full-length albums occupy spots one and two on that aforementioned list of mine.
Okay, I'm rambling. I urge you to find this album on the iTunes Music Store. Or from me. Out of love I shall now quote from track six, the hilarious "Ugly Brother," featuring Abdominal:
i got a sister... she's hot
and quite frankly... i'm not
for those of you who might be a little dumber
that makes me... her UGLY BROTHER
and that's what this song is about
so if you got a sibling hotter than you SCREAM AND SHOUT
it's really not a reason to be feelin' blue
'cause me and format know what you're goin' through
... at high school i rolled with the nerds
PUNY kids with orthodontic work and glasses
my sister's the polar opposite - cuttin' classes and
smokin' grass in bathrooms with heavy metal drop-outs
how can i put it? she was a KNOCKOUT. [ding]
(now get off the phone with the shrink's receptionist,
because i'm not incestuous)
it's just i think it's safe to guess that it's not my sister's in-depth
POLITICAL PERSPECTIVES
that's so fascinatin'
to these tasmanian-devil, tattooed, budweiser-shotgunnin'
contemporary cavemen
i'm not bitter my sister's hotter than me
i had a crappy hand in the genetic lottery
my parents laugh and say i was the practice run
then my mum feels bad and says, "you have INNER beauty, son!"
what does THAT mean? hot fuckin' TONSILS?
girls are hostile 'cause my eyes are smaller than my nostrils
modelin' agents tellin' my sister she's sure hot
only gigs i'm gettin' are as the before shot...
for ELECTROLYSIS CLINICS.