#213 Dibiase - Up the Joystick

Another one from the lo-fi glitch hop thread, which seems to have a lot of stuff on it that I'm in the mood for lately.

This is a hip hop album that is built almost entirely on nintendo game samples. I didn't actually know that going in (though the song titles were an early tip), but that tells you most of what you need to know. Well, I guess the question is, is it any good? It doesn't start off promisingly, the instrumental opener's a little too "Lol this stuff's from nintendo", and track two is in the same vein, but starts mixing in hip hop shouts and samples from the Super Mario Brothers tv show (double lol). But then comes the actual rapping over the tinkling arpeggios of the Final Fantasy load screen, and you realize that those first two tracks were just an intro, not a declaration of purpose. This is a rap album, not an electronica album; its just taking its nintendo-themed gimmick really, really far.

Code of Life is the other highlight, thoroughly working dozens of NES-era references into a legitimate rap package.

I swear I didn't set this up in the last review just to use it here, but lets return to that checklist:

- Leverages pop culture familiarity to create emotional impact? Yep.
- Combines the best hooks of rock with the rhythms and impact of hip hop? Its video game music hooks, but yep.
- Expertly controls pace and flow on a record-long scale? Kinda.

2 and a half out of three aint bad; on paper, this is actually a lot more Girl Talk than Ample Mammal. That said, it doesn't quite blow up; its a little too slow paced, not quite ambitious enough, and its actually sort of boring at times. Still, its a gimmick done well, and totally worth hearing once 3.5/5