SOHH LEFT COAST

SOHH LEFT COAST -

Let's Do Away With the Coastal Restrictions For a Moment: Part 2 of 2

Posted on January 25, 2007 2:55 AM

elp.jpg

As stated in Tuesday’s blog, I got two albums in the mail on Monday that I’ve been waiting on for quite some time. Today, I want to talk about El-P’s sophomore release, I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, which is finally dropping this March, four years after he dropped Fantastic Damage. If you’re looking for an explanation as to why I’m writing about a New York artist in the Left Coast blog, it’s because this album is important enough to ignore the boundaries. If you’re looking for anything more in-depth than that, go read Tuesday’s blog.

And if you’re looking to come on here to piss and moan about how I should be writing about The Game or Snoop Dogg today, you can save your breath. This one’s for all the underground heads who’ll actually buy an album even if there isn’t an ad for it in XXL.

For those of you who have been living under a rock for the last ten-plus years, El-P (or El-Producto) is the founder of Definitive Jux, a label that is home to Aesop Rock, Murs, Mr. Lif, Cage, Cannibal Ox, Hangar 18, Perceptionists and others. El started the label after leaving his former group, Company Flow, who was signed to the indie super-label Rawkus. If you’re not already familiar with Co-Flow’s groundbreaking album Funcrusher Plus, you should be hanging your head in shame, as it is a certified classic, and has been since the moment it was released. Upon the group disbanding, El made no secrets about his feelings about his former label- as was the case with many of the other artists on its roster -going so far as to drop the line “And signed to Rawkus? I’d rather be mouthfucked by nazis unconscious” on the track “Deep Space 9mm” from his solo debut.

After taking some time off to work on albums from other Def Jux artists, El is back with a vengeance, and not a moment too soon. His brand of grimy, dark production is of an even higher caliber than it was with Damage, and his lyrics and unique cadence are as potent as ever. Subject matter ranges from sci-fi love stories to politics to wack MCs, and whether it’s narration or braggadocio, there are not a lot of MCs out there who could come close to touching El on a lyrical tip. If it sounds like he’s one of those outer-space type of backpack rappers who rap all over the place about a bunch f bullshit, don’t get it twisted- EL’s a straightforward MC, and there’s never been any room to doubt it.

The bottom line is that El-P sounds hungrier than ever on I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, and he’s light years ahead of his peers when it comes to production work. Where most hip hop albums these days have a serious depletion in the substance department, ISWYD is thick in creativity, intelligence, lyrical depth and imagination; I’ve listened to the album 4 times in the past two days and I still don’t feel like I’ve had the chance to fully take everything in yet.

I know it may sound like a bold statement, but this album is hands down the best hip hop album I’ve heard in the last three years. With that said, modern day mainstream hip hop has people so fucking brainwashed that they won’t know what the fuck to think if they hear this record... which is a damn shame.

Posted by SOHH Leftist

Comments

  • fasteddie says...
  • first!! i'll have to check that out.

  • January 25, 2007 5:39 AM
  • JokkJazz says...
  • Wanna check some real music?

    www.myspace.com/jokkjazzz

    El-P is way more creative and versatile than all those "superstar rappers".

    But hey, who cares?

  • January 25, 2007 7:54 AM
  • Warranty? says...
  • WOW


    I know it may sound like a bold statement, but this album is hands down the best hip hop album I’ve heard in the last three years.

    If I cop this and it's not certified FIRE I coming to see you for my 12.99$!!!

  • January 25, 2007 10:43 AM
  • Baggy Hat says...
  • I'm glad to hear that El-P has finally dropped album two. I'm gonna rush over to the site right now and check it out. His production does wonders for my creative spark.

    While El-P is above the average "rap" listener's heads, I think if most cats tried it, they'd like it.

  • January 25, 2007 10:52 AM
  • Jaesus says...
  • I am writing and urging all readers and visitors to this site to please take time out to hear the story of Genarlow Wilson. If you don't know his story please click on the link below from ESPN.
    http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=wilson
    Two years ago when he was 17 and a senior scholar/athlete he received oral sex from a consenting 10th grader(15 year old). Everyone, including the girl and the prosecution, agreed she initiated the act. But because of an archaic Georgia law, it was a misdemeanor for teenagers less than three years apart to have sexual intercourse, but a felony for the same kids to have oral sex. He was sentenced to 10 years with no chance of parole. This happened right here in metro ATL. We have to use our voice to get this brother released. Please use the link to sign the petition to get him released. I urge SOHH, their bloggers and their readers to help move this forward. Fuck Music, This IS The MOVEMENT!!!! FREE GENARLOW WILSON!!!

    http://www.wilsonappeal.com/index.php

    And no, I've never met him before. I just heard about this, this morning. I'm a father of three boys(4,2,&1) and I would kill someone if this happened to my kids. Lets tell the powers to be that we are fed up and will not accept this bullshit!
    I can be reached at arthell2@excite.com if you need any more links or info.

  • January 25, 2007 1:33 PM
  • Mike says...
  • Yo why evertime I get on this site you are writing about somebody that is not from the est Coast. If I wanted to know about someone in New York, i would have clicked on SOHH New York. I would never get on SOHH Atlanta, Houston, or New York and see an article about Snoop or Quik or Cube, so why do write artickes about their artists? I don't give a fuck about an artist in New York. I clicked on SOHH LEFT COAST. Please adhere to your Job title. if u want to write about an New York rapper, the got to fuckin SOHH New York

  • January 25, 2007 1:35 PM
  • chris323 says...
  • hey this suppossed to be west coast thread...have not heard anything about ya-boy, bishop lamont, glasess malone CROOKED-I, no tight upcommming artist.. anywways B.O.S.S album coming soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • January 25, 2007 1:42 PM
  • La Rapper says...
  • Grimey, hood, white tee and house shoes music, digital scale, baggies, and work music, hidden clips, unregistered gats, and fitted caps music.....myspace.com/polohiphop

  • January 25, 2007 1:46 PM
  • F U LOL! says...
  • FUCK THIS SITE!!!!!!!!I DONT WANT TO HEAR THIS STANK CRAP BULLSHIT,IF IT AINT 100% CALI BIOTCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

  • January 25, 2007 2:06 PM
  • LA trapper says...
  • Grimey, hood, white tee and house shoes music, digital scale, baggies, and work music, hidden clips, unregistered gats, and fitted caps music.....myspace.com/polohiphop

    La music.

  • January 25, 2007 3:06 PM
  • DW says...
  • creativity doesn't mean shit if you don't have an underlying flow to your work. Otherwise you might have "hip" but no "hop". Thats generally what i think of EL-P.

  • January 25, 2007 3:33 PM
  • bobbito drakonious says...
  • SOHH WEAST COAST

    Damn! Eighty

    If bloggs was sports, this would be the NHL.

  • January 25, 2007 3:50 PM
  • brillyancestar says...
  • I know you listen to other artists besides west coast dudes, so do I, but you are the sohh left coast blog like dude said. I'm sure El-P is dope, but I think it's whack you spend a whole article talking about dudes from somewhere else, when I'm sure there's some west coast stuff going on. Everytime I've checked this spot out, I hear about how snoop is doing this, or game is doing this, then you wanna shine light on underground, but it's from somewhere else. I'm sure dude is dope like I said, but I think you should have hollered at SOHH NY and asked him to let you write a blog or something. Like dude said, they don't write about our artists (except for hating on them), you supposed to rep for us, your our representative. I'm not saying for you to hate on them dudes, but if they don't speak for us, somebody has to, and that somebody is supposed u. That makes us look bad. It's like we ain't got shit to talk about as far as west coast artist, you play right into the whole idea that the west coast is only Snoop, Game, E40, and Too Short. I don't mean to diss, but I just think SOHH should have got somebody more loyal to the west coast to write about the west coast. Not somebody who only knows about the west coast what everybody everywhere else knows, they could basically have gotten SOHH Atlanta to write SOHH Left Coast, cuz everybody knows about Snoop, Game, E40, and short. SOHH NYC could write about the popular hyphy artist of the week or whatever. Tell us some real shit. I went to Rock the bells, and B-real had some mexican dudes spittin some shit. WHO ARE THEY? That's what I wanna know. WHO IS DAMANI? That's what I wanna know. WHEN IS THE EVIDENCE ALBUM DROPPPING, AND WHO'S RUMORED TO BE ON IT? That's what I wanna know. WHAT'S CHACE INFINITE DOING MUSIC WISE?(if you know who that is)I'm not saying you shouldn't like and listen to EL-P, but while writing SOHH left coast, don't hop on NYC dick when you suppposed to be repping for us. When you are repping for us, don't act like Cali is all chronic, palm trees, gangbanging and low riders, we are alot more diverse than that. We're probably the most diverse, due to the fact Cali is the most diverse state. Before somebody hops on NEw Yorks dick, we have every race they have, and tongans, samoans, cambodians, and others. Everybody is in Cali, that's what makes it such a wonderful place to be. Everything we do is influenced by everybody cuz we're so liberal. Even though some may not, as a whole, the state of California excepts everybody, from Hispanics to Homosexuals. From gangsters to ex hippies, everybody is in cali. That's why we have artist like snoop, and then groups like the Hieroglyphics. Rep the West, and rep it fully.

  • January 25, 2007 3:59 PM
  • bluntblazer says...
  • YOU SQUARE WE READ MURDER DOGG FUCK XXL AND FUCK DEZ WEAK CATS U TRYNA PROMOTE TELL ME BOUT MYSTICAL GETTIN RELEASED OR MAC MINISTER OR ONE OF THA MOB FIGGAZ

  • January 25, 2007 4:30 PM
  • XL says...
  • The mexican mafia is affiliated with the Aryan Nation. Thats why latins are starting to hate blacks . and selling out their own people to White Aryans. You know its true

  • January 25, 2007 5:24 PM
  • tab says...
  • sorry...Niether of these albums are important enough to break our west coast love...let Ny Blog do these ones...as diversified as cali is we are always about catagorizing eveything..and let the east stay with the east...give us west coast underground...like babyface assasins, Ya Boy, San Quinn Glasses Malone, Clyde Carson.

  • January 25, 2007 6:03 PM
  • Essex says...
  • Fuck El-P
    He thinks he's a classic rapper or some shit. This is the same cat who be trying to give cats dap saying what's up my nigga.
    You are a fucking nigger you ignorant basterd.
    Muthaphucka think that cause he from brooklyn and did graff b4 that makes him soooooo hip hop.
    Well you suck El-P.
    Real emcee's don't listen to that shit.
    And his squad is a bunch of nerd rap weirdo's
    Stop sniffing coke and trying to be cool.

  • January 25, 2007 8:01 PM
  • JoeRipps says...
  • wow. never thought i'd hear el p's name mentioned on sohh let alone a whole blog about his new album.

    "I know it may sound like a bold statement, but this album is hands down the best hip hop album I’ve heard in the last three years. With that said, modern day mainstream hip hop has people so fucking brainwashed that they won’t know what the fuck to think if they hear this record... which is a damn shame."

    true story. this album is for true hiphop fans, not the masses, atleast not yet.

  • January 25, 2007 9:27 PM
  • erik says...
  • man , its nice to see def jux get some love. el-p and aesop rock need to go on that white rapper show and destroy every douche bag on there."And watch the white rapper show, id rather be mouthfucked by nazis unconcious"

  • January 26, 2007 7:32 PM
  • looool says...
  • looool

    there some dumb ass cats posting on this site.

    Essex, you dont know one thing about el-p, you prolly started listening to hip-hop when DMX released the ruff ryder anthem.

    youre jus some fuckin ruff ryder buttfucker.

    youre a disgrace to the underground heads and overground, and trust me the comments made on this website are respected by MANY artists who you think are leet.

    fuckin call def jux nerds?

    youre some fucktard posting up thugged out messages ona forum.

    id take a nerd over a fuckin e-thug.

    fake ass internet criminal, theyd prolly kick your ass too.

  • January 27, 2007 7:54 AM
  • Coqui 900 says...
  • Yo, I don't know why cats from the west is so quick to not give someone from the east their props! After all it's not like anybody from the west is bringin' that lyrical fire! El-P is one of the illest dudes out there holdin' it down in the underground since the late 90's. So shut the fuck up and give this man's new album a listen. Radio got everybody's head so twisted, they wouldn't know a good album if it punched them in the face!! And that's real!!!

  • January 29, 2007 1:49 AM
  • washington says...
  • Who let all the fucking kids out of school early? A lot of whining/shit posts up in here, although the last few know what's up.

  • January 31, 2007 5:58 PM
  • Chrome Feces says...
  • I thought all this costal shit went postal, and died-alongside Big and Pac.

    I understand wanting to know about your own hood, but if you have your ear to the ground, you should know all about, what your hood dropped, not just what went pop.

    Cop the crops chopped at the roots, they bare the freshest of fruits.

    If your troop only stoops for loot, you'll only recruit suits, who pursue strange routes, arranged to mame the truth....
    sometimes, you gotta keep your head up your ass, to see the new poop!

  • January 31, 2007 6:16 PM
  • Soma says...
  • You mutherfuckers that are hatin on El-P are gay, narrow minded fucks. First, so what it's a west coast blog...it's also a hip-hop blog, and there aren't many people that define REAL AUTHENTIC hip-hop better than El-P. You prolly don't really know the history of hip-hop music, and haven't really took the time to familiarize yourself with any of hip-hop's PIONEERS. El-P is one of the few that is keeping hip-hop CREATIVE, ALIVE, and AUTHENTIC. You talkin bout Mystical?? Fuck that, that shit ain't even hip -hop, it's pop, club music for brain dead MTV schmucks and CHICKS. El-P and real EAST COAT rappers is real man's music - same with real WEST COAST rappers...Spice 1, ME Eight, Too Short, Ice Cube etc...all pioneers like El-P. You just wanna hear some snap music bullshit - you don't wanna have to think about what you're hearing. WACK. I'm out forever, gumps.....!!!!!!!!!!

  • February 1, 2007 6:16 PM
  • ThAaNoNyMoUs says...
  • Sombody's on El-P's payroll...

  • February 5, 2007 1:09 PM
  • JackyMooll says...
  • Who can help me with .httpaccess ?
    where i can fined full information about .httpaccess file syntaxis?

  • February 6, 2007 8:27 AM
  • Mammy says...
  • West coast is all about buttfucking and chronic. No one in that state has enough braincells to rap about anything meaningful or relevant so go hit your bong and lay in the dirt west coast fagtardz.

    listen to EL P

    love
    ya mammy

  • February 6, 2007 10:11 PM

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