Shuffled! Chee Malabar
Watch for Shuffled! every Thursday. Check out the Shuffled! archive for past shufflers.
Today’s Shuffler: Chee Malabar
Chee Malabar is one half of the hip hop outfit Himalayan Project. Unafraid to dispense social commentary that ranges from satirical to inflammatory, Chee Malabar represents the evolving voice of true-school hip hop. Firmly entrenched in the American experience, his music speaks on numerous issues such as the immigrant experience, love, relationships, politics, and art. Having released “Wince At The Sun” in 2003 and “Broken World” in 2007 to underground acclaim, Chee most recently released “Oblique Brown” with long time collaborator and producer Zeeb.
You can find out more about Chee and his two hip hop groups at www.himalayanproject.com and www.myspace.com/obliquebrown.
On to the shuffle…
River Man [video]
Nick Drake
I first heard of Nick Drake’s music a few years back, and fell into his catalog pretty hard. He died in his twenties, having released three albums. All garnered nominal notoriety. His albums had a revival of sorts in the 80’s and a few years back I believe there was a documentary about his life on BBC. I love the haunting quality of the orchestration and the vague lyrical meditations on life, death, and the change.
Kon Karne [video]
MF Doom
Doom’s dedication to his brother Subroc; over a Sade sample no less. This is a rare song where Doom actually has 3 verses that are spaced out in the traditional Rap format of verse-hook-verse-hook-verse-hook. Granted, there is actually no hook on this song (he don’t need no hooks), Doom does what he does, third person narratives chockful of late 80’s NY slang and cultural references (Barney, Smothers Brothers, BB King).
Doom displays incredible multi-syllabic, intricate rhymes:
Darker than the east river
Larger than the Empire State
Where the beasts who guard the barbed wire gate
Is on the job not my fate
Tired of the wait to the villain bring deliverance from the dire straits
Fire at a higher rate
Why’d they make the liars
Fliers scatter
Buy a plate
Isolate the wires
Try the straight pliers if not the vise grips
A real price saver way to acquire nice whips
What a steal for real on wheels of steel
Stunner a funner summer number one meal deal bummer
Paperchase [video]
The Mountain Brothers
Just a tightly crafted song about what else but one of Hip Hop’s oldest and truest ambitions; Get Money. The trio put themselves on the map with this one, and I still bump this joint to this day. Solid production, lyrics, and something you don’t see too often anymore, the ability of rappers to stay focused on a topic.
Mercy [video]
Duffy
This sounds like the kind of retro styled music that Hip Hop samples today. Except, this song came out in the last few months. Don’t know what’s going on with the other side of the pond and their love of 60’s style American R&B music, but first Amy Winehouse and now Duffy.
Hip Hop [video]
Joell Ortiz
That good ol’ New York rap. This song came out right in the midst of all the Hip Hop is dead talk, and it was refreshing to hear a voice that still expressed the passion of why I love Rap so much. Joell’s honesty and grit is on full display on this song, and peep the opening line dedicated to the recent transplants to his Williamsburg neighborhood.
Last 5 posts by shuffled
- Shuffled! Giles Li - August 7th, 2008
- Shuffled! Alexander Chee - July 31st, 2008
- Shuffled! Terry Park - July 24th, 2008
- Shuffled! Theresa Vu of Magnetic North - July 17th, 2008
- Shuffled! Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha - July 10th, 2008
Tags: Shuffled!.
So awesome to see someone name-check the Mountain Brothers. I still think that first record was great.
I’d love to ask Chee why/how the last track of “The Middle Passage” starts with the Navkar Mantra (the central Jain prayer). When I heard that for the first time, it sent a ripple down my core that I still feel when I listen to it now.