CAREER MAN
"I am just here to rock the house. I have no other line of work besides that," says Busdriver. A veteran of the now-legendary Project Blowed crew, the LA-based emcee packs more verbose punch into three-minute diatribe than most rappers manage in a whole album, and his new 'Fear of a Black Tangent' drops into the underground hip-hop melee with a self-assured aplomb that does the Public Enemy album it refers to proud. Like PE's bass-bomb and explosive ideology attack, Busdriver will rattle speakers - and maybe a few heads, as long as you can keep up with his speedy flow.
"[Fear of a Black Planet] had a profound impact on me when I was a kid," Busdriver recalls. "It's a hard thing to encapsulate aggression or angst... in the production value of the song. I think that's one of [Public Enemy's] influences on hip-hop: being able to marry the two so easily, powerfully, and forcefully, and have the music kinda illustrate the gusto behind the message."
Ever the entertainer, Busdriver whimsically rhymes with an expansive range of wink-wink reference, densely spat in a voice that sounds like Aesop Rock impersonating Will Smith impersonating a white guy. His voice cruises atop backing tracks crafted by an impressive who's who of indie hip-hop beat doctors including Thavius Beck, Daedelus, Danger Mouse, Paris Zax and Prefuse 73.
Black Tangent never strays far from its theme of struggling to remain visible in the niche-obsessed world of underground hip-hop, but it first aims to please. "I'm definitely not here to be preachy or teachy or anything like that," he clarifies. Of course, converts are welcome are welcome, but they best come ready for a good time. As he'll be the first to tell you, "My office is in the hall of rocking the house."
JASON KIRK