Edan è un signorino di Boston cresciuto a pane, Beatles, Hendrix e…old school. Da piccolo ci prova pure con la chitarra eh, ma è l’hip hop la sua vera passione... strimpella le corde, ma vorrebbe essere davanti ai piatti a scratchare e campionare, studia gli accordi, ma nel frattempo inizia a collezionare i torri di vinili dei pionieri del rap. Una vera ammirazione e devozione la sua per Afrika Bambaataa e Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy e Rakim, Beasty Boys, Nwa e Big Daddy Kane. E’ bianco, è un dj, un produttore, un mc e quant’altro. Prevalentemente si nutre di musica nera, è onnivoro di tutto ciò che si possa ricondurre al rap prima maniera, al funk-blaxpoitation, al soul, ma gli piace anche, e molto il rock psichedelico e l’elettronica con cui si diverte a campionare di tutto e a sperimentare.
Dopo una gavetta nell’underground bostoniano, fatta di cd per lo più smerciati a conclusione delle sue serate, la sua carriera decolla, prima in Inghilterra, grazie alla Lewis Recordings, salvo poi fare il percorso inverso e (ri)approdare oltreoceano. “Beauty and the Beat”, non è il solito dischetto hip hop, è molto di più, è un disco di eccellente musica rap, old school, uno dei migliori che abbia sentito negli ultimi anni (già dal titolo si dovrebbe capire qualcosa del suo approccio alla musica e di che cosa aspettarsi...), fatto nel 2005, con tutto quello che comporta, ibridazione tecnologica inclusa.
Irriverente alchimista del suono, si muove con disinvoltura e naturalezza tra il funk di “Funky Voltron” e “The Science of the Two”, in entrambe è ospite Insight, altro mc della combriccola di Boston e il jazz di “Murder Mistery”.
Allucinante “Torture Chambers”, dal sapore vagamente floydiano (secondo me il campione sotto è di “Brain Damage”…) e l’ipnotica kraut-rockesca “Rock and Roll”.
Se è vero che Madlib è il deus ex-machina della “nuova scena hip hop”, l’mc illuminato, il primo della classe, se Prefuse 73 è il produttore del momento, quello che può vantare il maggior numero di collaborazioni, tra le più disparate, quello che ha ridotto ai minimi termini la distanza tra l’elettronica e l’hip-hop, penso che Edan si possa tranquillamente accomodare affianco ai suddetti per completare il fatidico podio.
Elenco tracce testi e video
04 Fumbling Over Words That Rhyme (02:55)
[Hook]
Fumbling over words that rhyme [x4]
[Verse 1]
Pure rap music ain't made under pressure
Expose a jewel, teach school at my leisure
Fumble over words that rhyme with a verse divine
I backtrack and think of the greatest of all-time
Class is in session, master this lesson
Teacher was a student, studied like a Buddhist
Reviewin' on the best to do it
So let's do this
["Do it"]
Nothin' to it
Considered the first emcee to blow the spot
and do work, was Coke La Rock spittin' for Kool Herc
Followin' the influence of Herculoid parties,
Brothers like Cowboy made you move your body
Cowboy would toast for the G.M. Flash
And the skills elevated as crews started to clash
Flash and Bam, they both sought clientele
So Flash formed the Four with the father Melle Mel
Four became Five, law became live
Routines over breaks, true kings motivate
Out the L brothers came the Five Fantastic
With Theodore they battled with the Cold Crush Four
Few had the confidence of G.M.C.
Without the C.C.B.'s there'd be no Run-DMC
The Funky and the Fearless Four, Force MC's, the suave Spoonie G
And I can't forget the ["Treacherous Three MC's..."]
[Hook]
["Come with sound... Around and 'round"]
[Verse 2]
Praise to the Kool Moe Dee, he elevated
and changed it with records like "The New Rap Language"
Before the first full length LP's
There was abstract brothers like the one Rammelzee
Run DMC broke through in '83
Outta Queens, and started rapping hard over drum machines
808's started shakin' up floors ["It's yours"]
With T La Rock's complex metaphors
["T-L-A-R-O-C-K"]
A primary influence on L.L. Cool J
T La Rock's futurism must've been respectable
'Cuz Tragedy from Queens was young but very technical
Sham was eloquent, Chris was intelligent
The 'R' was all of the above with added elements
Slick Rick the Ruler was a screenplay producer
Ultramagnetic had the vision for the future
Big Daddy Kane getting raw at The Apollo and
Kool G Rap was probably the sickest of all of 'em
Jaz from the BK, Percee and Finesse from the BX
Prince Po and Pharoah came next
Wu with the G-Z-A, G-F-K
N-A-S, one of the best out today
Any MC that's addin' on to the list
Pump your fist, but first give praise to the true scientists
[Hook]
13 Promised Land (02:24)
At the dungeon of brain pain I came
With the sell-a-lot plot from the megawatt mainframe
With a suit made of electricity...
With a suit made of electricity
I ran through the Great Wall of China, convincingly
That was after the World Tour...
That was after the World Tour
when I traveled through gravel and battled matter at the Earth's core
I did the show on a fireball...
I did the show on a fireball, a pioneer
ran into the jungle and jetted wearing a lion's ear
I fought fear with the Hammer of Thor lent me...
I fought fear with the Hammer of Thor lent me
and tangled with the Angel of Death for four centuries
Put a nameplate on a asteroid belt...
Put a nameplate on a asteroid belt
and I ran through the future with an android's help
That's when civilians were made of metal...
That's when civilians were made of metal
I received the Coronation cause I had the last flower petals
My power settled a clash between races...
My power settled a clash between races
and put good people on the magazine faces
Substituted television scandals with elephants and pandas
tell 'em it's the elegant commando
With a hand so large...
With a hand so big, I punched a sphinx in the nose
in the nose, decomposed, and so the story goes
I smacked a 40 oh out of a young man's hand...
I smacked a 40 ounce, out of a young man's hand
and fed him lesson's of life to formulate a plan
I wore the Prime Meridian as a wrist band...
I wore the Prime Meridian as a wrist band
and gave away my riches but I still remained a rich man
I thought of freedom and I jetted to the Promised Land...
Carico i commenti... con calma
