#078 Digable Planets - Blowout Comb

These guys have been mentioned in the same breath as some of the other East Coast revival bands I've been hitting.

So, simply put, no. Didn't like it. Trying to figure out why. Here's what it breaks down to:
1) Quiet Rapping: its way down in the mix, like its ashamed of itself, or like its trying to remain background noise in a GAP.
2) Low-Impact Rapping: rap is all about emphasizing syllables - it creates drama, creates rhythm, provides the listener a roadmap through the lines. This is all sort of half-sung listlessly. Its a style that could work in theory, I'm not trying to be conservative here, but it doesn't work here.
3) Smugness: its a fine line between self-aggrandizement and smugness. Rappers have been extolling their own virtues since the beginning of rap, but they're never self-satisfied about it the way these guys come across.
4) Girl rapper: I don't want to be an ass, but this rarely works for me.
5) "Coolness": Whispering "funky, funky", and "cool, cool" over and over again is a bill of goods. You'd better be both funky and cool if you're going to do this. I don't think they deliver, so that's a penalty multiplier.
6) Associations: I want to judge this on its own terms, I do. But I can't help but associate this kind of music with douchey cocktail parties, coffee shops and the aforementioned GAP. It just strikes me as being for people who want rap they can tune out, or who don't like "regular" rap. Which is fine I guess, but I do like "regular" rap.

In theory, rapping over jazzy production should work. I think here the idea is that the rapper is just one of the instruments in the ensemble, jamming along. But it doesn't work here, it comes across as smooth, repetitive jazz. My take on rap is that it is a vocal style that demands attention - the rapper presents something so complex and vital that it needs to be front and center. See Busdriver's Temporary Forever for the correct way to use rapping as a jazz instrument. I barely noticed the actual rhyming on here, it was hard to pull out of the mix, and just didn't seem to be the point of the album. It was complex, but it didn't do anything with it. I really did try to give this a fair chance, but no 1.5/5