MC Chris

I first heard MC Chris on last week’s installment of “Synchronicity” on KUCI with the always topical DJ Longbeard. He opened his show with the hilarious “Fette’s Vette” (follow along with the lyrics). Boba Fett is my son’s favorite Star Wars character. However, due to the song’s lyrical content, he won’t be hearing this song (he’s eight) nor will he be seeing the final Star Wars installment. I hear it’s just a tad too dark. Lucas sucks. He lures the kiddies into SW I & II with a character like Jar Jar Binks, making the films nearly impossible to watch, then makes III nearly impossible for the kids to watch. So back to MC Chris — not only is he a prolific rapper (check out all the MP3s on his site), he’s also the voice for MC Pee Pants on Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

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Why?

Why? hits full stride on their new Sanddollars EP. More straight-forward, sing-along melodies and hooky choruses replace the usual meandering, stumble-along style. Consider Why? the hip-hop generation’s answer to They Might Be Giants. And it couldn’t have happened a moment too soon…

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Subtle

I just scratched the post I wrote about Subtle when, upon doing a bit of research on the band, discovered that they were in a car accident while on tour in February, and their synth/sample player, Dax Pierson broke his neck and is going through massive rehabilitation. He received $2,000 from insurance and the wheelchair he needs alone costs $30K. So you can imagine the situation he’s in. A career as a touring musician doesn’t offer much in the way of insurance or stability.

His friends have set up a recovery fund to assist Dax in his healing and recovery. I made a donation, and it would be amazing if some of our readers could do the same. Check the site for all the info and for upcoming benefit shows. If you’re not able to support financially, download the tunes, enjoy, and send good vibes in Dax’s direction.

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Hezekiah

Apart from coming live with a multi-instrumental audiophile’s ethic that would make The Roots proud and a fist-pumping vocal delivery that would earn him a spot at the back of a Wu-Tang Clan tour bus, Hezekiah can also lay claim to being one of the only MCs who can throw his hands in the air and wave ’em like he’s from Delaware — because he is! Okay, so it’s really just suburban Illadelph, but it’s still good to see the land of DuPont chemicals and not much else get some play — and that Hezekiah can hold his own against any hip-hop crew from Anywhereville makes it that much cooler to root for the D-state.

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Quasimoto

Songs about potheads always get me listening for the same reason songs about gangstas do: because I ain’t one. And coming from somewhere near Oxnard, California (word to anyone who’s never been there: the name don’t sound street because the city ain’t), I’m betting Quas, the heliumized alter-ego of Madlib, isn’t a gangsta either. But the man can freak a funky beat like the shit was in a blender set to Negativland. Don’t worry if you don’t smoke the doob — Quasimoto’s doing enough for all of us.

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Giant Robot

Not to be confused with the Japanese pop culture ‘zine of the same name, Giant Robot are members of Nuspirit Helsinki and they run the gamut like Jesse freakin’ Owens. From cozy EBTG-ish ballads (“Best Match”) to lanky, dub-hop (“Konevitsa”). And then you’ve got the remixes, if you’re ready for even more curveballs. Best of all, Giant Robot’s site has a mile-long MP3 page with all of their commercially unavailable tracks, which includes their entire debut album and tons of said remixes. Set aside some download time.

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Kaskade

Ryan Raddon, aka Kaskade, got his start by sneaking his tracks into the stacks of demos at Om Records during his employment tenure there. Raddon, teaming up with a regular and rotating cast of collaborators, with an emphasis on live instrumentation, refuses to slump during his sophomore season. Here he offers up a couple off-menu items, a downtempo hip-hop cut and a spacey, chilled-out, four-on-the-floor track.

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Busdriver

Rapping about the rap lifestyle anymore comes off as uninspired straw-grasping. But when it’s rolling off Project Blowed crewman Busdriver’s tongue it sounds more like the demon spawn of Cornel West, H.L. Mencken, and Jon Stewart — and believe me, that would be some demon friggin’ spawn. In a genre full of cultural critics, Busdriver is the guy whose intelligent sarcasm almost always exceeds his peers yet is funky enough to let the masses in on the joke. I wouldn’t want to be holding the other microphone in a rap battle with this cat, but I’d sure want to be in the studio audience.

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Machine Drum

2001. Machine Drum and Prefuse 73 both drop debut albums. Both serve cut up, stuttering, hip-hop that’ll get you jerking back and forth. No doubt, these two are cut from similar cloth — yet many still haven’t heard Machine Drum. What gives? Maybe it’s Prefuse’s A-list collaborators. But what Machine Drum lacks in “friends” he makes up for in deft drops and solid jazz and funk samples.

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Kleptones

These “original” tracks feature some swell breaks ‘n’ beats ‘n’ what-not but, to be honest, the Kleptones aren’t nearly as interesting when abiding by copyright laws… This post is merely an excuse to plug their new mash-up-and-more theme album, A Night at the Hip Hopera. After giving the Flaming Lips a b-boy makeover with Yoshimi Battles the Hip Hop Robots, the audio kleptomaniacs are back at it with a similar tribute to Queen. To have a listen, head over to Waxy.org, where you’ll find the complete album for download as well as a collaborative dissection of the countless samples used therein.

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