In the early 90s, I discovered that there were certain threads in the Hip Hop world that I liked. Eric B & Rakim, Ice T, Method Man (well, the first album anyway), and some others. As the genre drifted further into the mainstream, I found I liked less of it, and have been away from that universe for quite some time. Maybe my problem was just that I didn't know where to look. At any rate, DJ Storm has released a collection of tracks that recall that era in Hip Hop, while maintaining a more modern sound in terms of its recording engineering.
It features a large number of guest MCs who have a variety of styles ranging from more serious to very playful. I find myself actually laughing sometimes at funny lyrics delivered with good timing. The common thread among the tracks is Storm's attention to detail and flair for sticking firmly with a certain Golden-Era sensibility while keeping them all from sounding the same.
From the first track, "Back", we have a good sense of what's to come. Sharp beats, sparse musical background, and cleanly-delivered raps. I don't expect this album will generate many hits for music lyric websites!
"Stay Away" is up next, and it's one of the funnier ones. The easy way styles change from track to track continues throughout the rest of the collection. I'm sure this works well because of the artist's ability to keep a strong vision of what kind of music he wants on the album.
Storm is a drummer, and many of the drum tracks are either performed live or at least samples of his playing. "Hip Hop Shit" is one of the tracks that features a full live drum track. Check out the music video here.
Since he's from Montreal, a few of the tracks are in French. I always find it interesting to hear rap in different languages. Since I don't understand French very well, I can't really comment very well on the content of those. Given the consistency of the rest of the album, I'm going to go out on a limb and say they're probably just fine!
I couldn't finish a review of a Hip Hop album without commenting on the scratching. DJ Storm's scratching style is somewhere between the melodic style of Eric B and the rhythmic style of DJ Zero. It's good that he reserves the scratch segments for places where they sound natural. Like a great drummer who knows when not to show off (my favorite example is Ringo playing "In My Life"), DJ Storm knows when to punctuate his music with some furious wristwork.
Overall, I recommend giving this a listen. I particularly recommend it to people who like a more historical take on Hip Hop.
It features a large number of guest MCs who have a variety of styles ranging from more serious to very playful. I find myself actually laughing sometimes at funny lyrics delivered with good timing. The common thread among the tracks is Storm's attention to detail and flair for sticking firmly with a certain Golden-Era sensibility while keeping them all from sounding the same.
From the first track, "Back", we have a good sense of what's to come. Sharp beats, sparse musical background, and cleanly-delivered raps. I don't expect this album will generate many hits for music lyric websites!
"Stay Away" is up next, and it's one of the funnier ones. The easy way styles change from track to track continues throughout the rest of the collection. I'm sure this works well because of the artist's ability to keep a strong vision of what kind of music he wants on the album.
Storm is a drummer, and many of the drum tracks are either performed live or at least samples of his playing. "Hip Hop Shit" is one of the tracks that features a full live drum track. Check out the music video here.
Since he's from Montreal, a few of the tracks are in French. I always find it interesting to hear rap in different languages. Since I don't understand French very well, I can't really comment very well on the content of those. Given the consistency of the rest of the album, I'm going to go out on a limb and say they're probably just fine!
I couldn't finish a review of a Hip Hop album without commenting on the scratching. DJ Storm's scratching style is somewhere between the melodic style of Eric B and the rhythmic style of DJ Zero. It's good that he reserves the scratch segments for places where they sound natural. Like a great drummer who knows when not to show off (my favorite example is Ringo playing "In My Life"), DJ Storm knows when to punctuate his music with some furious wristwork.
Overall, I recommend giving this a listen. I particularly recommend it to people who like a more historical take on Hip Hop.
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