It don't matter how dope you write or look

hastings | 8/28/2006 9:35 am | Emcees Without Voices

Emcees without a voice should write a book -- Evidence, of Dilated Peoples

Or rather, blog? The line's backpacker boilerplate by now, (1) but Evidence was pretty much on the mark as far as this is concerned. My voice is nasal and none too nimble. Looks couldn't be considered a mitigating factor, as the hipster-hand-me-down shirt I'm wearing has stretched considerably over the past three pungent days. Since this is nominally a hip-hop blog, I'll eventually mine these body image issues by discussing the work of Biz Markie, Big Pun, Biggie, and Brother Ali. Or not. For now, I'll let UGK's Bun B have the last word: Every time I see myself in print or on TV, I feel like a little white girl. I feel fat.

Ideally, Emcees Without Voices would address hip-hop in all its social, regional, and aesthetic permutations and implications, but realistically, it will reflect my own entrenched biases unless there's some reader input. So if there's an album or book you'd like to see reviewed, a show you'd like previewed, some majestic story line you'd like to see pursued, email me, post something in the comments, or send me swag via snail mail. At the very least, I'll read or hear you out (2).

The following material should appear over the next few days: previously unpublished excerpts from an interview with the Roots' ?uestlove, and something tangentially about local emcee El Guante (3). I will probably also dedicate a post to my globe-trotting sister (4) comprised solely of links to audio streams of tracks with Akon-laced (5) hooks. If I happen to seek the counsel of Andre 3000's magical flask, I will dutifully transcribe the conversation.

Some posts will be heavily endnoted. This is partly out of deference to the blogging style manuals of the cantankerous Christopher/David Foster Wallaces right here, partly because I have trouble grinding through self-indulgent sentences without unleashing a slew of discursive asides, and partly to compensate for insecurities arising from higher educational failings. The footnotes should spare you from a slew of em-dashes, while allowing me to pretend that there's something vaguely academic about the cranky stuff I type under my breath.

As I get acclimated around here, I'll hopefully start embedding audio and video. Today, apropos of little other than the fact that their show at the Annex was woefully underattended, I'll refer you to the video for Black Moon's "Stay Real" off 2003's Total Eclipse. Perhaps nostalgia's at play: emcee 5Ft. rocks the same red ecko rhino hat I wore in high school and still have in storage somewhere:

I also hazily recall a brief exchange with DJ David Muhammad (6) around the release of Jay-Z's Black Album. He seemed a bit dismissive, so I said something like well P.S.A. is undeniable, right? He shut that down tersely: "that's a Black Moon song." Anyway, Just Blaze made good with this remix of P.S.A. (second link down, right-hand column, via Unkut) that swaps out the original organ sample. Note that the video should be clean, but the remix contains profanity, if that sort of thing bothers you.

ephemera

^{1. I've probably abused this line in several pieces for publication at this point, and bored a number of friends and roomates by mentioning how it dovetails neatly with grandiose literary aspirations (since abandoned).}

^{2. I do not get cable, much less HBO. If you invite me to dinner while The Wire is on, I can probably be persuaded to give an uncritical plug to your/boyfriend's/sister's/cousin's album/mixtape/open mic night}

^{3. It will be, umm impressionistic, and really only mention one specific track, for reasons I will make clear in the piece.}

^{4. And the Giardia she picked up in Senegal.}

^{5. Yes, I'm aware that Senegalese hip-hop group Daara J has graced the midwest with a performance, and that they would be a more novel, culturally enriching group to write about.}

^{6. Which reminds me that there's an interview w/ David, originally intended for a Coreweekly profile, filed away on my computer. It will eventually find its way up here.}

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