producers: ugly duckling

website: freshmode.com

Have you ever seen, or have you lately seen the "Planet Rock" video? Not only are the costumes of the Soul Sonic Force plain funny, but you can also watch the people having a great time, and dancing to this hip hop classic. And if you closely look at the faces of the boys and girls, then you can see the joy and fun they had. And nowadays this fun and joy in hip hop is missing far too often. Not only in the dark and agressive beats and Lyrics of rap music, but also in the vibe of the audiences and participants. Now let’s admit it: hip hop parties would be much more fun, if we had more music like back then, and if the people wouldn’t be so damn arrogant and hard.

But now we got Ugly Duckling, coming from LA (where else?) or more exactly: Long Beach, and they have a bag of laughter for the real hip hop heads. Following the old school revival of acts like the Jurassic 5, or, well, Jason Nevins, these guys handcrafted fun enhancing beats, seasoned with friendly rhymes. This is some late 80s, early 90s ish going on, and it will please all the grown ups out there. Just listen to "Einstein’s Takin’ Off", a ode to the DJ, and then try to remember all those really great DJ records form back in the days. Listen to "Everybody C’mon", get up and move your hips in a circling motion. Yo, this EP is the party burner right here, without being a R’n’B bastard.

The old school easthetic also dominates the rhymes. Especially through the quotations that you can hear all over the EP. Quotations from classic, that should put a smile on all the old heads listening. Case in point "Now Who’s Laughing", we hear Dizzy Don rhyme, just like Biz Markie did years ago "nobody beats the Diz", or on "Get On This" we hear that famous "but baby bubby we still friends". And how about "Do You Know What I’m Sayin’": we hear "knocking on my door saying hey yo yo" and "this is the music of a hip hop band", and at the end of the album, Rakim gets quoted, when the Ducklings ask "yo, what happened to peace". And these are just few, of so many more quotations that are to discover.

These rhymes make this album phat. Just as much as the other 'tell tales', 'braggin’ and boastin' rhymes on this EP are phat. Or to keep the old school thing going: fresh. Maybe you young cats will not even cherish that, but we old folks, we do. See, this EP is just a positive and proud collection of freshness.