Dark City
label: daybyday

producers: jeff spec, moka only, sweet g, sichuan and birdapres

guests: moka only, ishkan, sichuan and birdapres
year of release: 2002
website: mp3.com/jeffspec
 
If you haven't seen the Alex Proyas film "Dark City", it's a twisted tale of one man's struggle against the mysterious overlords of a blighted, shadowy metropolis. Vancouver City Planner Jeff Spec's new album follows a similarly barbed trajectory through grimy districts and dim-lit streets, with the advantage that you can nod your head or dance to it and it doesn't star Kiefer Sutherland. Thank heaven for small blessings, I say. Opener "The Sound" kicks off with a statement of intent, Jeff coming on "too hot for hell, too hard for street" as a nice stealthy bassline bobs and weaves around the listener before soundly boxing their ears. When you hear the satisfyingly crisp beats on this you will think you know what you are in for - a good, solid, real hip hop album, no abstract bullshit, no 'avant-garde' posturing - but this would be too simple and Jeff ain't the simple type.

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tracklisting
1. The Sound
2. What You Need
3. Dark City

4. The Gamble
5. Set Up Shop (Part Two)
6. Still feat. Sichuan
7. Bounce, Bitch
8. Rock Off
9. Vancoo
10. G Pays It Cool
11. Up Your Pulse feat. Ishkan
12. Something Tells Me
13. The Look Of This feat. Moka Only
14. Taking Things Over
15. The Next Day feat. Birdapres
16. Mellow Meditatin
17. Breathtaking
18. More Fire
If you like your hip hop locked-down and nocturnal, you'll like the title track "Dark City", which employs strings in a spy-thriller fashion like a 2002 update of "Follow The Leader". Jeff's got a lot on his mind ("I been carrying in the weight of the earth upon my back since the date of my birth") but he keeps his flow clear-cut and common sense. The production shifts up a gear dramatically with "The Gamble". This cut features a pitched-up piano staying just this side of water torture and a one-note synth buzz for a bassline. Jeff keeps his delivery very James Caan, with a brutal lack of bullshit: "Set up shop/shut shit down/get up, rock/what now?" "Still" has a very dope eighties-style synthetic feel not unlike some of DJ Shadow's work with Latyrx. The moogy bass stabs on this combined with the stubborn, trip-you-up drums make the track one of my personal faves. "Bounce, Bitch" opens with another synthy b-line, this time with added cheese (but gets away with by employing it in a circular pattern around a nifty rhythm loop). Some cool Kraftwerk-ian blips towards the end too.
"Rock Off" is a surprise move, maybe a bit of bravado on Jeff's part, the hot beat being the kind of thing you could easily imagine charting for the likes of Mystikal or Nelly. It actually comes as a pleasant surprise in the context of the album and provides further evidence of Jeff's versatility. Other cuts like "Vancoo" and "G Plays It Cool" (which bumps along on a wicked 'reverberative' beat) and also blur the underground/mainstream distinction and reveal that old binary opposition as a far thornier, greyer area than some may have you imagine. "Taking Things Over" is notable for its insanely compulsive violin sample and streetwalking swagger of a rhythm along with a 'school of hard knocks' positivity: "You gotta play it cool but it ain't my prerogative / still I take what I got from nothin' / make something positive". "Mellow Meditatin" is a fantastic cut, a heads-down track which, if it a human being, would be one of those intense cats you see out on the street, headphones on, moving with a confident stride and an unstoppable momentum.
"Breathtaking" is Jeff's final summation of his own abilities while "More Fire" concludes the album with a shimmery yet insistent instrumental. I admit, I thought this would shape up to be a good, if predictable independent hip hop album, and it ended up delivering several surprises. Jeff Spec seems to have it all sewn up with his refusal to be branded with any category other than 'hip hop' and plenty of potential directions to take in the future. I'd recommend anyone to pick this up, and to keep a close eye on his next move.
review: joe stannard (kilamuk@yahoo.com)
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