Spank Rock gives hip-hop a dance-infused slap upside the head
While hip-hop of late has come to epitomize modern black youth, or sometimes a caricature thereof, the truth is that innovation in rap, dance, pop, and rock has almost always come from the mixing, juxtaposition, and contrasting of black and white, alt and mainstream, inner-city and suburban. Fifties rock, '60s Motown, '70s hip-hop and disco, and '80s Detroit techno were all products of American cultural dichotomy - giving voice to those somewhere between poverty and affluenza, racism and envy. But as hip-hop has shed much of the diversity that sparked its invention, some of the freshest sounds in urban music are now coming from the British grime scene - where race, class, and subculture melt like jack in a quesadilla. Grime standouts ranging from the Streets (who's white) to Dizzee Rascal (black) to Lady Sovereign (white) defy ghettoization as much as they embrace it.
The stateside answer to grime is one of the freshest acts to shake up hip-hop since the Pharcyde. Baltimore-bred Spank Rock (re-)infuses the genre with geek-boy antics, bleep-crazed beats, and sex, sex, sex. The interracial duo's up-tempo, bass-driven rhythms roll forward with synthetic tweakery as likely to be found in electronic dance music as in the Durty South. And it's no accident: The two are heavily influenced by the digital rap-and-roll momentum of British grime as well as U.S. production heroes.
"I thought what Dizzee Rascal was doing was really cool - fast and dancey and a little electro," says Spank Rock's XXXChange, a.k.a. 27-year-old Alex Epton.
Spank Rock's debut, YoYoYoYoYo (Big Dada), hit an enthusiastic blogosphere last month like a bold pimp slap to hip-hop's dogmatic, collar-popping blingism. Of course, the release could be overshadowed by the hype storm surrounding Gnarls Barkley's well-promoted St. Elsewhere CD, out this week, but not for lack of feel-good sounds. YoYoYoYoYo kicks off with pop-locking fury on "Backyard Betty," moves on to British accents with "What It Look Like," eventually gets to the spaced-out tribute "Rick Rubin," and, finally, at the back of the disc, arrives at a virtual strip-club VIP room, where a bespectacled MC Spank Rock, a.k.a. Naeem Juwan, assumes the role of come-hither gamer. "Honey honey see me/Behind my game boy/I got game girl/It comes easy/Let go your shoulders/My popsicle is so sweet see," he raps on "Bump." (Later, Philadelphia rapper Amanda Blank joins in: "I keep it dirty/Not like Fergie/Ain't the Black Eyed Peas/This shit ain't happy/I'm a treachy boastful bitch MC.") Like the character Louis says in Revenge of the Nerds: "Jocks only think about sports, nerds only think about sex."
Well, nerds also think about beats (witness the Neptunes/N.E.R.D.). Producer Epton and 24-year-old MC Juwan knew each other since attending nearby high schools in Baltimore and always dreamed of making a record. Epton moved to New York seven years ago to study music at NYU. In 2001, he interned at a noted dance-punk label.
"I didn't really care for dance music too much until I moved to New York and started interning at DFA Records, which did the Rapture and LCD Soundsystem," Epton says. "I said, OK, there is good dance music."
Juwan moved to Philadelphia six years ago and traveled to the Big Apple often, visits that resulted in Spank Rock, the duo. He sounds a little like Q-Tip, with quick couplets and word flips that get grime-esque. Epton's musical style was inspired by the "Baltimore bass," indie rap, British hip-hop, house, and the Philly-based Plastic Little rap crew. YoYoYoYoYo was composed almost entirely with software such as Pro Tools and Logic, with intricate percussion samples taking a back seat to original, synth, and pad-based sounds, layered atmospherically and punctuated with videogame artillery.
The duo's flow really comes out in its performances, where two DJs bang out originals and other 12-inches for a live rap stream. In a recent BBC appearance, Juwan rhymed over eclectic bangers, by artists ranging from Snoop Dogg to the Beach Boys.
"It's a little confusing for people at the label," Epton says. "They're like, 'When does the show start? You guys are DJing, so when's the performance start?'"
Spank Rock meets hip-hop where the up-tempo, bass-crazed Durty South leaves off and the more scientific sounds of club culture begin. Despite the duo's schoolboy look, its sound is indie without being flavorless - backpack-free and very bottom-heavy. After all, Baltimore is below the Mason-Dixon Line.
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