Vikings & Beekeepers

My brother-in-law and I were recently discussing the fact that we can no longer bring ourselves to listen to most of the albums from the Definitive Jux label. Back in the early part of the decade, artists like Aesop Rock, Cannibal Ox and El-P were the biggest names in underground hip hop with their complex lyrics and bleak production. Whenever a new album by any of the Def Jux crew was released, critics fell over themselves heaping praise on their albums and deriding commercial hip hop for being, well, too commercial. Nowadays, those “classics” are now collecting dust on our CD shelves, and likely on the CD shelves across the globe. The reason for the demise of the Def Jux posse? No hooks. (more…)

I’m setting up a new weekly feature to help me in what is a bit of a writer’s block at the moment. At the beginning of every week I will stream and discuss a single song. It’s a bit cheesy, seeing as how every time I make a post I both stream and discuss several songs. But this will be different in that I will focus on one single track and…well, okay, it’s just an excuse to add music and add content. (more…)