Cater to the DJ

“Formula for the perfect Rock song: a Clever Intro, Memorable Riffs, Good Lyrics, and a KickAss Solo”

~ Anonymous sticker on my guitar.

A simple internet search will reveal thousands upon thousands of such formulas for every genre imaginable, and more often than not, they’re fairly accurate. Place this quote against contemporary mainstream rap formulas: recycled popular beats, often edited for dance-ability; catchy lyrics designed with hooks and runs to reel in fans and remain in their heads; “stories” that follow the latest media trend. Mainstream rap is surprisingly similar to classic rock in spirit – with different emphases, of course. But both, to a large extent, were popularity machines; perhaps the best example of this in rock is Led Zeppelin’s The Battle Of Evermore, which followed a renewed interest in the Lord of the Rings trilogy of books in the early 70’s (lyrics), and advertisement runs rampant in mainstream rap – just look at songs by Kanye West or similar artists, who finish so many rhymes with product or celebrity names (Stronger is a good example).

These two genres are great for contrasting the Underground’s musical ideology – in a content sense and in the formula. Content-wise, “undie” (and alternative hip-hop, which tends to blur the lines a lot) can contain anything imaginable; structurally, its a very free language, and in both senses the correlation between undie and hip-hop’s origins is very strong. In terms of structure, anything goes; many artists prefer to build their own beats (Jurassic 5, The Pharcyde to an extent, rjd2 before a shift to a pop-sampling emphasis) with turntables or synthesizers in the style pioneered by Grandmaster Flash (although the techniques have evolved past scratching and looping in his days). Others sample heavily, like De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest (viewed as underground until Jive Records grew), similar to Afrika Bambaataa’s and Grandmaster Caz’s styles, integrating many popular beats into songs. Growing quickly in popularity among underground circles are hip-hop “fusion” groups like the Freestyle Fellowship and the Hieroglyphics collective, acclaimed for connecting various genres (like jazz, pop, blues, rock, techno, etc.) in back beats and lyrics (for an odd group, check out Dacav5, part mainstream, part undie – their song Tetris uses the famous game song in the background).

Hieroglyphics Logo

Lyrically, the underground is just as diverse, and this is a major part of its appeal. Whereas mainstream artists conform to their record labels’ wishes, independent rappers are free to hit upon any topic or style they wish…Pigeon John (highlight) is an excellent study – his lyrics range from religious tones, to straight-out satire, to improvised songs about his day before the show or random stories he makes up. He also doubles as one of a select group of rappers who refuse to swear in their music; in modern “media” rap, vulgarity abounds, and while it was definately not absent in old-school hip-hop, many artists went to amusing lengths with euphemisms. Artists like Aceyalone’s (highlight) songs are more poetic (in Haiku D’Etat), or freestyle (in Freestyle Fellowship) – his lyrical style is laid out nicely in Arhythamaticulas (lyrics). Hieroglyphics focuses on lyrical delivery, with very diverse content. There is also one glaring seperation between mainstream rap and underground in the United States: east coast and west coast underground raps are not distinctly different – unlike the large schism in both old-school and mainstream rap between East rappers and West side “gangsta” rap (and other west styles, but gangsta is the most notorious), since the underground is so very diverse and mixed, influences are drawn across the country. Because of this, West artists’ bios often list De La Soul as an influence, the same as many East rappers draw from The Good Life’s countless disciples. This creates an interesting unity among underground artists, and is one of the few steps away undie takes from old-school hip-hop.

One final major connection between many of these groups, and old-school hip-hop, lies in the “underground” sense, in small club, bar, cafe or stage shows – scheduled or on-the-spot – and freestyle rap battles, which reflects in their more commercial music – and are nearly absent in mainstream rap. Rappers in the Freestyle Fellowship in particular frequently compete in underground freestyle battles, drawing back to many west coast undie rappers’ roots at The Good Life Cafe, and continuing with its successor, the Project Blowed collective. Since so many of these battles have a live DJ at the tables, the subsequent rhymes are more in sync with the music – hence why “catering to the DJ” is a perfect description; the improvised lyrics flow with the music’s tempo, not over it.  Many of the artists in the Project regularly perform next to amateurs at its own Open Mic night sessions. These are very similar to the DJ nights where MC’s were born in NYC, and the subsequent battles between popular rappers and newcomers to the scene. This is quite possibly the clearest way the underground has preserved the spirit of hip-hop’s origins.

For those who don’t know, Cater to the DJ (vol. 2) is the name of an underground compilation album released by Fat Jack, which carried songs by many Project Blowed artists and many of the best L.A. underground rappers and DJ’s; the disc is similar to the Project’s self-titled compilation albums.

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Pigeon John – Highlight

Aceyalone – Highlight