Random Impulse - Full Metal Alchemist

UK Grime artist Random Impulse released his second album on Black Unicorn records recently. Apart from the fact that Black Unicorn is a US based label, what sets this release apart is not just it’s length - it runs 17 tracks long - but the production quality of this genre hopping release.

Grime hasn’t made much of an impact in Australia yet, while other more US-centric variants of Hip Hop have managed to get a foothold. Dirty South and Crunk regularly get air play on JJJ - maybe it’s just another indication of how Australia looks to the US for cultural stimulation - surely an oxymoron.

‘Full Metal Alchemist’ samples rock, soul, funk and Sci-Fi, with Jovel’s rapid fire delivery sitting nicely over all of these genre. He plays guitar on most of the tracks, and maybe that’s what elevates this release from other ‘electronic hip hop‘ like Akala. The narrative is strong and not in the least pretentious. There’s not a single ’shory wants to freak me’ track on here. No ’slangin’ crack’ tracks. And that’s another reason why you should check out this album. A breath of fresh air from ‘ghetto-booty-tech’ soaked air waves. ’Full Metal Alchemist’ is one of the most original albums I’ve heard this year.

Jovel Walker ( Random Impulse) answers our questions after the jump - 

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31_Borrowed_Beats_September_08_Edition - Super Cool

Welcome to the Triplejaysus ‘School of Cool’. In this seminar we will cover the history of Cool, moving through different genres to further your understanding. There will be case studies, further listening suggestions and plenty of super cool examples for your entertainment and edification. Let triplejaysus turn you from Geek to Chic.
Because here at Triplejaysus, we’re cooler than you, and we know it!

Not content with a No 1 album in Amerikkka (Thanks Ice Cube) containing the track ‘Sly Fox’, Nas was on a small podium in front of Fox News headquarters in New York City protesting what he sees as racist attacks against Black Americans and presidential candidate Barack Obama. In a brief prepared statement, the multi-platinum rapper pointed out examples of what he and ColorOfChange see as a long racist smear campaign against the Obama family: The onscreen graphic that referred to Michelle Obama as the Senator’s “baby mama”; Bill O’Reilly casually using the phrase “lynching party” to refer to attacks on the Senator’s wife; referencing to the couple’s infamous fist thump as a “terrorist fist jab.” Said Nas, “Fox poisons this country every time they air racist propaganda and try to call it news. This should outrage every American that Fox uses hateful language to talk about the person that may be the first black president.”

The rapper stood next to 19 neatly stacked cardboard boxes, with the number 620,127 taped to the side of each one — over 600,000 signatures gathered by ColorOfChange demanding that network president Roger Ailes “find a solution to address racial stereotyping and hate-mongering before it hits the airwaves.” Fox rejected the petitions, but Brave New Films says that Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report will accept them instead.

ColorOfChange reached out to Nas after seeing the lyrics to “Sly Fox” posted on the Brave New Films website. “We looked at it and said, ‘This is exactly what we’re talking about,’” ColorOfChange deputy director Andre Banks tells Rolling Stone. Just two weeks later, Nas was here speaking to fans, protesters and press spilling out into 6th Avenue, some even holding homemade signs markered with lyrics from the song. When asked if there was a response to “Sly Fox,” Nas rebutted quickly with, “Nah, they’re scared of me.”

Via RollingStone

Hear what he has to say:

I know I know I know! I had made a big deal with my mission statement, saying I’d not feature ( as Amy Winehouse so delicately put while on stage at Glastonbury) ‘that c**t Kayne’.
So I throw myself at your mercy while I share my secret shame. Lil’ Wayne.

So please, for my sake, listen to the first 53 seconds, and if you still hate it by all means turn it off. Spam me with abusive emails, whatever you see fit. But for now, at this moment in time, I think this track rocks. So much so that I just had to share it. C’mon - admit it. Ya’ll like it too.

Occasionally a band comes along that is the perfect antidote to the bloated sportz metal, emo-laden, booty grinding airwaves that seem inescapable. Flobots are such a band. Although their debut full length album ‘Fight With Tools’ was recorded in ’07, I’ve just come across them.

I suppose that they are a hip hop band, with two emcees rapping over live instruments. Yawn? Violin and Trumpet, bolstered with drums and bass rhythm section, and guitar. How about now?

Forward thinking, socially conscious musicians are so often drawn to hip hop’s flexibility, where lyrics like ‘U.S. is not us, and us is not we, and we are not satisfied’ can be delivered with maximum effect.  There will be obvious RATM and Linkin Park comparisons, and it could be argued that Flobots are indeed the Rage for Gen Y. (And that is a big call, if you didn’t know)

Flobots tackle racial, environmental, social and financial issues on ‘Fight With Tools’. On the track ‘Anne Braden’ (featuring audio of the lady in question) they recount the life of the famous activist in such a way that you can’t help but question your own commitment to important issues.   

Flobots make exciting music. Intelligent and piercing lyrics are delivered over genre hopping virtuosity from the mission statement ‘There’s a war going on for your mind’ to a call for action in ‘Rise’. The world is a better place with bands like Flobots in it.

THINK: Ambassadors of informed, educated angst
READ: Flobots web comic
READ SOME MORE: Fight With Tools
WATCH: Vid for ‘Handlebars’.
BUY: Fight With Tools on iTunes.