Verse of the week

a new series. once a week, meaning one less original idea per week. will it last? will it provoke debate and stimulate rap-fuelled fun? who knows - a galactic mystery.

all hail the inaugural GMS Verse Of The Week - 2007 week 25

R.A. The Rugged Man on 'Renaissance' by Hell Razah

For our first venture, everybody's favourite husky-voiced beard-tugging tramp-rapper and Wu-Tang bbq-chef R.A. The Rugged Man obliterates a loping soul sample with a Kool G Rap-style polysyllabic onslaught. This looks to be a single taken off Hell Razah's Renaissance Child - the most underrated album of 2007, in GMS' non-existent half-year round-up. At any rate, they've paid for a video using loose change found down the back of a sofa, and featuring a nice fuzzy hat that Hell Razah's mum was planning to throw out.



"On the real", Hell Razah and his other guest, Tragedy Khadafi, both put in verse-of-the-week level rhymes in what amounts to a Black Market Militia posse cut, with a nicely urgent hook from Timbo King. But, having spent the first half of the video fending off invisible bees while various sub-Wu henchmen stay well clear and inspect each other's winter-wear, Rugged Man owns the song, claiming his status as rap incarnate by invoking a head-spinning succession of genre greats.

It's enough to make GMS get its Pitchfork on: "This makes R.A. the anti-Mims - promulgating an organicist-historicist relationship to hip hop culture and the artistic muse that rebuts the self-actualising natural-rights rhetoric of 'This is Why I'm Hot'." Word to Michel Foucault. Anyway, it makes KRS One's perfectly good Hip Hop Lives sound real hokey by comparison.

R.A. The Rugged Man - 'Renaissance'

Yes oh yes, I guess, suggest the rest you fess
I'm Tribe Quest, I'm Moe Dee Wild West
Treach, 40, Jazz Jeff, Slick Rick, I'm Doug Fresh
I'm def, I'm Canibus before he met Wyclef
Original, I don't bite
I don't need nobody to ghostwrite
Kool G Rap strike the mic
I recite the type of hype
That you like, I'm Sweetback
I'm Uptown Saturday Night
I'm Black Ceasar, I'm Rudy Ray Moore, Dolemite
I'm an assassin rappin'
I'm Grand Wizard Theodore when he invented scratchin'
I'm Wu-Tang Killa Bee, epitome of Public Enemy
Gamblin', hustlin', like Smooth and Trigger be bitter, b
Bums diggety-diggety,
Das literally, I'm Pun in the middle of Little Italy
Didn't do diddly, gettin' me
Listen to me
I'm all good, I'm hood
I'm Ice Cube before he turned soft and went Hollywood
I'm Poetic from Gravediggaz
I'm ODB, I'm Headquarters
I'm Ted Demme, I'm Paul C
If I ain't better than B.I.G., I'm the closest
I'm Richard Pryor before multiple sclerosis
I'm beef, I'm gold teeth, peace
Mantronix, Stetasonic, Symbolic, Bambaata, Soul Sonic
I'm Dre, The Chronic
Melodic with logic Islamic
A poverty prophet
Economy robbery, cock it
I probably properly droppin'
It gotta be honesty
Opposite of novelty, rock it
I Herbie Hancock-it
I'm Onyx Throwin' Ya Gun
I'm Funky 4 + 1

Buy Hell Razah's Renaissance Child
Buy R.A. The Rugged Man's Die, Rugged Man, Die

Wu-Tang affiliates round-up: Mathematics, Hell Razah

Picture courtesy ohword.com

2007 looks set to be a make-or-break year for the Wu. It’s the tenth anniversary of their last critically- and commercially-successful statement, ‘Wu-Tang Forever’. The perceived decline in the genre during the intervening period, brought into focus by the ongoing debate over whether ‘Hip Hop Is Dead’, has provided an opportunity for the Wu to reassert their position at the cutting edge. “How can hip hop be dead if Wu-Tang is forever?” RZA recently asked. A year ago, such a statement would have seemed absurdly out of touch. Now it’s a beacon of hope. For every hopeless flop (Method Man, Inspectah Deck, U-God), there’s a success story (Ghostface, Masta Killa). We’ve already had a look at entertaining new work from RZA and ODB, and expectations for Raekwon’s ‘Cuban Linx 2’ and the Wu’s ‘8 Diagram’ are incredibly high for acts suffering from a ten-year creative slump.

Where the Wu go, so their affiliates are bound to follow. MCs such as Killah Priest, alienated by RZA’s lack of support and creative focus, are returning to the fold. Creative rebirth is at the heart of two new releases from Priest’s Black Market Militia co-hort Hell Razah. ‘Back Into The Renaissance’ is a free mixtape, with Razah rhyming over golden age beats from the likes of Public Enemy and Big Daddy Kane. He makes the purpose explicit on the first track, copping the James Brown sample that Nas used on ‘Where Are They Now?’ Razah’s thoughtful, deadpan, menacing flow fits well with such an approach. Razah is a lyricist, from the same school of thought as GZA or Killah Priest. Thematically, there’s nothing strikingly new here: violent threats, eastern mysticism, radical politics and dedication to the art. But as an MC he’s (huh) a cut above – rhymes a little more complex, themes explored a little more deeply, punchlines a little wittier than your average. (B+)

The mixtape accompanies Hell Razah’s solo debut, ‘Renaissance Child’. As the title implies, the rebirth of hip hop, of the Wu, and of Razah’s career are dominant themes. Lead single ‘Buried Alive’ seethes with bitterness at years of frustration, aiming threats at various record company executives, but it’s never as witty as GZA’s classic demolition-job: “First of all, who’s you’re A&R? A mountain climber who plays an electric guitar?” But as the album progresses, the bitterness gives way to more positive and optimistic aspects of rebirth. ‘Renaissance’ finds Black Market Militia members Timbo King and Tragedy Khadafi, along with RA The Rugged Man, embodying the high points of four decades of black culture: “If I’m not BIG then I’m the closest / I’m Richard Pryor before multiple sclerosis”, tastefully. ‘Project Jazz’, with Kweli and MF Doom is a much more rewarding tale of upbringing in the ghetto than Kweli’s own ‘Happy Home’. Wu affiliation can be seen as a mark of mediocrity, particularly when the group flooded the market with rush-jobs in the late 90s. ‘Renaissance Child’ is a measured, impressive debut that shouldn’t suffer by association with lesser efforts from lesser MCs. (A-)

The same can’t really be said for ‘Mathematics Presents: Wu-Tang and Friends Unreleased’. A hodge-podge compilation reminiscent of ‘The Swarm Volume 1’, this collects so-so remixes from the Wu (‘The W’, ‘Wu Banga’) and its major players (yet more Ghostface, on ‘Maxine’ and ‘Wise’), along with lesser-knowns such as M-Speed, Eyeslow and Hot Flames. Like ‘The Swarm’, there are a couple of standouts – ‘King Toast Queen’ has Theodore Unit soul man Solomon Childs leading an Al Green-style tribute to the ladeez. Shyheim’s two appearances sound impressively menacing, a reminder of his above-average skills. But there’s a lot here that’s pointless or worse: ‘Eggs Hash and Grits’ is the low-point, a misogynistic rant that sets new levels of ignorance. Avoid. (C)

More fun:
Hell Razah – ‘Young, Right & Exact’
Download ‘Back Into The Renaissance’
Buy ‘Renaissance Child’
Buy ‘Unreleased’