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MH-235 Busdriver - Fear Of A Black Tangent  With the most cohesive work of his career, Busdriver turns his razor sharp wit on his place in the music industry with his new full-length release, Fear Of A Black Tangent. It is the follow-up to his career establishing release, Temporary Forever. Songs covering small club touring, independent music promotion, and the barrage of uninspired hip-hop releases on the market all contribute to the album's theme of trying to break as a emerging artist. Busdriver has taken a year's worth of material and trimmed it down to thirteen impressive tracks that range from lightning fast Project Blowed style raps to sing-song pop. The album features production by Daedelus, Danger Mouse, Thavius Beck, Omid, and Paris Zax and has guest appearances by fellow Project Blowed MCs Abstract Rude, Ellay Khule, Mikah-9, and 2Mex. |
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| Reviews Summary |
| Outstanding - Urb / Genius - BBC / Experimental and fresh - Hip-Hop Connection / Intoxicating - Straight No Chaser / Decidedly cool and deadly - XLR8R / Treads where most wouldn't dare - DJ / Busdriver straight kills it - Hour / Certainly the best I've heard in a long time - Indigo Flow |
| Busdriver doesn't cover any Public Enemy on his follow-up to last year's Cosmic Cleavage, but the album's title may hint at otherwise. Fear of a Black Tangent has a lengthy roster of guest emcees and producers, but the album generally centers on only one concept: Busdriver. The Los Angeles native writes incessantly about himself - it's a time-tested hip-hop technique - but along the way he bangs also out valuable viewpoints and makes worthy commentary on the state of the underground. Busdriver is a member of the Project Blowed crew and a busy collaborator with a cast of fellow LA underground emcees. His 2002 solo effort, Temporary Forever, garnered much critical acclaim and turned even more heads onto his unique flow. He worked alongside eccentric beat-maker Daedelus and emcee Radioinactive on 2003's The Weather. And after putting out Cosmic Cleavage on Big Dada last year, he wasted little time compiling another collection of laser-quick rhymes and star-studded production. Fear of a Black Tangent is a running concept record that takes jabs at the pitfalls of the hip-hop scene and the way way underground hip-hop scene. Busdriver is critical of all areas. In "Map Your Psyche" he and Freestyle Fellowship's Abstract Rude rail on the "warped things" emcees are willing to do to get "tour support" and "Source awards." The production creds go to Thavius Beck, Daedelus, Omid, Invisible Scratch Picklz' D-Styles, and others. There's even a Prefuse 73 remix on here. But Busdriver's style lends itself to an underground purist. He's quick and occasionally quite crass in his offerings, and only those who nod their heads to weirdness will appreciate it. But to not appreciate this man's speed, wit and pop-culture-allusion-heavy verses is shortsighted. He is unlike most others. - Prefix |
1XLP/Out Of Print