What’s a fiercely independent anti-corporate snob to do when her favorite late-night cartoon is funding and commercially touting — suspiciously corporate — her best-loved underground hip-hop of old? Come on, even Ted Turner’s involved. But I say to hell with it — when slimy moneymaking schemes sound this good, Turner can pull on his Adidas sneaks and bust some white-hot capitalist moves for all I care.
This time around, Adult Swim characters don’t try to stick their weasely, shrill little noses in places they shouldn’t (as did the Aqua Teen Hunger Force on The Mouse and the Mask). Instead, Stones Throw, manned by master DJ Peanut Butter Wolf, is set theme-free to pull a cut-and-paste electro parade of artists up and out of their funhouse vault.
Turns out Throw is the label to be on right now if your raps are weird or your beats are funky — the tracklist includes Madlib with MF Doom (as Madvillain) and J Dilla, hip-hop’s dearest departed (as Jaylib); Madlib’s MC/producer little bro Oh No and Beat Junkie J.Rocc; not to mention a tail end bulging with rapless acts to wake any hophead up to the wonders of the other side.
Track 8: Georgia Anne Muldrow oozing soul sex with fresh essence of tomboy pedal pushers and ’hood basketball bounce. Track 10: Goofy crash-beat keeping time for Pink Panther loop and schmooze-rhymes by Dudley Perkins. Track 4: Koushik compu-mixing his Indian rhythms and Enya-drama chants. Add a little Bay synth, a little naked ’70s funk from Pure Essence (famously sampled by RJD2) and some clucking guitar from enigmatic Beck-inspiration Gary Wilson — I couldn’t mix a tape this genius if I tried.
