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Concert Review: El-P, Mr. Lif, and DJ Phakts One - ICA, London - Monday 11th November 2002
On Monday 11th November London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts played host to two of the hottest underground hip hop artists out
there right now.
El-P and Mr. Lif are on Definitive Jux (Def Jux), a hip hop label that has come to prominence
of late. El-P owns and runs Def Jux, and a string of strong releases during it’s short lifetime have meant
that the he and the other artists on the label, including Mr. Lif, Edan, Cannibal Ox, Rjd2, and Aesop Rock, have been
elevated by some to the status of saviours of independent hip hop. In this case, ‘independent’ is a euphemism for left-field
work with a tendency for experimentation. An aversion to materialistic ‘bling’ lyrics and an avoidance of unimaginative
sampling of yesterday’s hits are also a given. Sometimes referred to as ‘back-pack’ hip hop (have you ever seen Puff Daddy
wearing a rucksack?), it harks back to the days when, whilst most hip hop acts didn’t see enough sales to get into the
charts all that often, many were saying something of significance and trying to sound different from the next man.
Def Jux is the phoenix to the Rawkus and Tommy Boy labels' ashes, last season’s independent darlings that died a fiery
death recently. El-P was, alongside Big Jus and Mr. Len, part of the much-respected hip hop duo Company Flow, signed to Rawkus.
It was that experience which inspired El-P to set up Def Jux, and to do things the way he felt things should have been
done. The hard work is already paying off, and in recent months we’ve been treated to a slew of quality left-field
releases, including El-P’s ‘Fantastic Damage’ and Mr. Lif’s ‘I Phantom’ long-players.
So what’s so good about independent hip hop anyway? The question should actually be: ‘What’s wrong with mainstream hip hop?’.
Granted, there’s nothing actually intrinsically wrong with the music being put out by Bad Boy, Murder Inc and the like. At
least, compared to the wave of gangsta rap in the nineties, it’s relatively positive. Having a good time, celebrating one’s
good fortune, dancing, loving, even boasting about material possessions, have all been key elements of hip hop since the
beginning. Throw in some sexy female vocals and make the song a little less macho, a bit more accessible. Or guest a gruff
rapper (Ja Rule anyone?) and get the guys buying what would have been otherwise pleasant but formulaic RnB guff,
simultaneously blurring the ever-fainter boundaries between RnB and commercially successful hip hop in the process. Devise
an infectious concoction which proves to be a winning strategy when it comes to selling CDs. Sales snowball, the formula
is modified and honed until it is production-line simple. Sales avalanche – hip hop is the biggest selling genre of music on
the planet.
But at a cost. The fear amongst those that understand the tenets of hip hop culture is that the art form is becoming
diluted, commercialised, and formulaic. The emphasis is in the wrong place. What got a lot of people into hip hop in the
first place was the rebelliousness, the revolutionary ethos, the feeling that the music was exciting and innovative. The
knowledge that you were party to truths that would otherwise be obscured by a barrage mainstream cultural white noise.
‘Fight the Power’, not ‘It’s getting hot in here, I’m gonna take my clothes off’.
A note then on music, Def Jux style. Lyrical content from both artists is complex and clever, containing a myriad of
references and covering serious topics - US imperialism, corporate greed, US cultural ironies, genetic experimentation,
US societal problems, hustling to make a living. There are none of the usual paranoid macho posturings à la ‘mess with me
and I’ll buck-buck your ass’. Mr. Lif is very clear, and nasal in his delivery. El-P is a little gruffer,
and manages a more forceful feel to the lyrics he spits, but is a little less easy to follow. Both El-P and Lif have a
nice flow, playing with the spaces between verses and intertwining words over and under the rhythm.
El-P produced some of the tracks on Mr. Lif’s album (and all of the tracks on his own opus) and so there is undeniably a shared
sound aesthetic. Beats are mid- to up-tempo, urgent but funky in the way that Public Enemy and N.W.A were. More complex
than your average everyday hip hop riddim, they incorporate innovative touches and surprises, whilst managing a staccato,
pared-down feel - a 21st century version of Run DMC’s drum-machine sound. Underlying the beats, El-P builds complex
soundscapes - whirling electronic noises, guitars, children’s voices, scratching, and so on. This means that new listens
reveal aspects that you didn’t notice the last time around. Much of the music could be described as ‘dark’, but there
is an intelligent intensity and insistent confidence in the lyrics that, alongside the penetrating beats, make their work
inspiring to listen to.
So to the concert at the ICA on The Mall in London. DJ Phakts One warmed up the crowd,
and then Mr. Lif appeared, moving straight into crowd interaction, hyping them up with a play on the typical ‘say rock
rock y'all’, ‘to the beat y'all’, and ‘scream!’. El-P bounced on stage to relay his verse of the first song, and from that
point on the two shared the stage until the curtain dropped, performing each other's tracks together. The second song
in saw DJ Phakts One dropping the minimal and hyper-funky beat from Clipse’s ‘Grindin’ single, which the pair proceeded
to rap over. The third song, El-P’s ‘Squeegee Man Shooting’ saw Phakts One provide beat boxing accompaniment. Song four
was ‘Deep Space 9mm’, for me, the highlight amongst many gems on Fantastic Damage, featuring an uptempo and highly
militant-sounding beat.
‘I don’t know if you knew this, but when you bought this ticket tonight, it was a package deal – you actually get to come
with us to Disney World’, said El-P in a mock-serious tone. The crowd played along with El-P’s jest, cheering loudly. ‘You
wanna go to Disney World motherf*****s?’ The crowd roared. This was the build-up to ‘Dead Disnee’ - chorus ‘when the world
burns down I’m gonna go to Disney Land’. Next were guest appearances from label-mates Insight (who rapped a whole song
a capella) and a shirt and tie-wearing Edan, who tore the place up over a classic funk break. The two of them performed
‘Syllable Practice’, a tongue twister practice tune showcasing their considerable vocal dexterity.
‘I like to take mental snap-shots of these moments….it may sound sentimental, but I’m gonna save it in my head - so
that I remember it when we all burn in the apocalyptic flames of George Bush’s fury’, El-P told the crowd. ‘But you know,
it doesn’t matter to me, because I’m a motherf*****g patriot!’. Cue the beats. Then came Mr. Lif’s ‘Live From The
Plantation’, about working in a dead-end job earning next to nothing, and includes a hilarious twist where he fantasizes
about attacking his boss, all over a funky Quest-esque beat. El-P’s ‘Stepfather Factory’ pictures a world where one can
buy a robotic father, fuelled by booze – a reference to El-P’s childhood – boasting the kind of highly imaginative lyrics
that set Def Jux apart from the rest.
On-stage, El-P is charismatic, telling little jokes, doing impressions, coming across very relaxed, thanking the crowd for
being there, and making you feel like you’re part of the ‘Def Jukie’ family. Mr. Lif is also highly personable, but more
intense, speaking very rapidly,
and amping the crowd. Both are sure of themselves – they’ve had plenty of time to rehearse (this show is part of a tour) –
and the confidence in what they’re doing is evident. They work well together on stage, feeding off each other’s flow, and
picking up where the other left off with gusto. Long may they keep on dropping knowledge.
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RELATED LINKS:
definitivejux.net
mrlif.net
ica.org.uk
giantpeach.com Buy El-P t-shirts online
amazon.co.uk Buy El-P 'Fantastic Damage' CD - direct link to Amazon
amazon.co.uk Buy El-P 'Fandam Plus' CD - direct link to Amazon
amazon.co.uk Buy Mr. Lif 'I Phantom' CD - direct link to Amazon
amazon.co.uk Buy Mr. Lif 'Emergency Rations' CD - direct link to Amazon
amazon.co.uk Buy Mr. Lif 'Enters The Colossus' CD - direct link to Amazon
amazon.co.uk Buy Edan 'Primitive Plus' CD - direct link to Amazon
PUBLISHED: Monday 18th November 2002
More Reviews
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::: RELATED LINKS
definitivejux.net
mrlif.net
ica.org.uk
Buy El-P t-shirts
Buy El-P 'Fantastic Damage'
Buy El-P 'Fandam Plus'
Buy Mr. Lif 'I Phantom'
Buy Mr. Lif 'Emergency Rations'
Buy Mr. Lif 'Enters The Colossus'
Buy Edan 'Primitive Plus'
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