Typical Hip Hop Shit

producers: nobs, losaka, maki, eibol, hippo.

guests: losaka, eibol.
year of release: 2003
website: 3sc.org
"Is this a hip hop album or a wrongly labelled piece of garbage..?'. This is how Nobs put it on "Musicide", his first album. Then he went and chose a sneaky title for his next, one which has us suspiciously speculating, as though he enjoyed to leave things unsettled. What is typical anyway? Cynicism stays as an overall theme, this is what we get as a first impression, while struggling to catch a clue, as there were endless on "Musicide".
However, Nobs sets off noisily, spitting every word of "Typical Introduction" like unleashing it was essential for the very next breath: "(I play) any game with a piece on the board / I release through the court and unleash on the hordes / no CDs in the store or a deal with these whores / just a fat dick for the critics with chap lips who don't recognize the blueprint of a classic /.../ its just that Fingerprint, be on some different shit / on the rise while you others kids are impotent."

tracklisting
1. Typical Introduction
2. Warped Wax
3. The Critic
4. Typical Interlude
5. Gun Girl
6. S&M
7. Hot Sand feat. Losaka, Eibol
8. FLBS
We got the definition so far and even get more on "Warped Wax". Staying in the same lane, it reflects on the music business and what it takes to get recognition and where's the line between self-realization and the sell-out; and Nobs sounds quite honest when he claims his "15 seconds of fame without the nudity that distracts or some gangster fucking shooting me." At this point we get one of these dispraising voices on the answering machine which appear after almost every track, questioning Nobs' work and giving parental advice like he'd better go back to school or finally stop rhyming about girls, that he's not Slug and whatever. It feels like by doing so, they already took the sting out of every other devastating criticism. Especially as Nobs get the chance to hit back in no time as he is doing now on "The Critic" (produced by Maki), a track which might overtop every other on this EP with its absorbing bassline, guitar (very simple, very effective) and Nobs giving proof of what's to be expected from him: unbound lyricism, spread out effortlessly, a story developing fully over 4:30 - no hooks needed. It centers a species called 'critic' and its mediocre life. A sociological typology wrapped in a quiet suburban story with a tragic end. Added to that, an instrumental skit ("Typical Interlude") was made responsible for the aftermath.
"Gun Girl" provides the missing link to "Musicide" while picking up what had ever been a fixed point in NOBS' repertoire of unresolved riddles: how agonizing love can be and how fatal a disease: "At this point it makes my mind numb, questioning is this the kind of person that I can die from / I sit in my room, listen to 45s and wonder will the day come that you be by my side / I don't go to school anymore, I worry myself sick / I let you have your ways so don't you damn call me selfish / didn't say that you did, I jumped to conclusions / taking a film of my mind so you can watch me loosin'."
As we slip over to "S&M", it feels like different parts, rhyming and instrumentation, only go together after some time, like a camera that needs to be brought in focus before you take the picture. And while he, Nobs, talks about that girl who "needs the pain, loves to scream", accompanied by uninvolved guitars and the occasional singsong in between, it holds the quality of things that never really coincide, still accompany each other in a very odd way.
After another talk on the phone there's no hiding anymore of how this EP is gonna end music-wise, as more rock elements mingle with the matter. Rhyming is even accelerated though, and no struggles visible. The beach is taken as a metaphor for life (life of a musician in this fucked up music industry) on the ballad "Hot Sand", which features Losaka and Eibol, first complaining: "no one gives you love just a lot of criticism to shift your vision from rhythm to dirty politician / I've witnessed gimmicks, the shit is unreal / plus I don't now how a gun feels", to later ponder "life's a beach, why dont' you di(e)-ve in, but you got to make it to the water first / to even quench your thirst, to even make a splash / wade in the shallow water to relax" and finally coming to the conclusion that "life's a long walk on the beach to remind you you goin' nowhere."
"FLBS" then holds out against this nihilism. Definitely directed towards rockmusic with its guitars and such, it feels like a real outro. Like 'we on the road again', 'this-was-it-see-you-next-year', a waving goodbye from the lonesome cowboy throwing any last piece of advice over his right shoulder before disappearing in the light of the setting sun: "try to live your life to the fullest/flying high with the bullshit / hope to avoid the straight bullet / a flesh wound is nothing but proof you got to move out the way of this decay."
It leaves us wanting more, perhaps with the illusion, that there has been a lot. But there hasn't. At least not as much as this last track suggests. And not as much as we could expect from someone whose lyrical flights normally reach considerable altitudes. Well, if we're confident enough to sit and listen, geniality occasionally drips through. Nobs is angry and ready to keep with the pace. Plus, the collaboration with Losaka, Hippo and Eibol from the H2A-crew (Ossining, NY) had only been fruitful. Since "Musicide" Nobs has made several steps away from himself (former self-made shrink), he is trying to innovate and not sound like himself over and over again. But then, it feels as if with the eagerness of doing something beyond the ordinary, enjoyment got stuck somewhere on the way. Hooks to catch, the decoy for the prey, (i.e. the audience), are often missing; still, the potential to be a good deal more than 'typical hip hop shit' is not. And for this only, this piece is worth the try.
review: denise
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