| Mush is a label that, judging from this release, will emerge as a powerful voice in underground hip-hop. Billing themselves as "a vessel for self-respecting artists and a channel for their most challenging work," Mush has proven that credo with this fourteen track compilation that reaches deep into hip-hop's nether regions. Ropeladder 12 is so addictive, you'll find yourself playing it four or five times in a row on first listen. From production to lyricism to turntablism,Ropeladder 12 swerves all over the hip-hop map with not a concern for orthodoxy. Poetry and emceeing merge in a forceful and memorable narrative that goes beyond spoken-word into some kind of political story hour for grownup children, like on the pedestrian's "deadbeats, generation of" which name checks Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Duchamp, Buster Keaton and Woodstock. On Reaching Quiet's five-movement sound collage "113th Clean" sampling and production are taken to such a far-out level that if Salvador Dali were alive today, he would probably hail the duo as new muses. On "Knowledge and Responsibility" Labtekwon, one of the best emcees you've never heard, challenges 60's generation social activists' "we shall overcome" brand of protest. NYC based Apani blesses Nicodemus' beat on "The Spirit Within," a track about humanity in the late 20th Century and our inevitable downfall unless we "get it together." Radioinactive, representing Los Angeles, melds humor, sociology and science fiction on "Launch Padlock Smith" a track that gets lifted with a female chorus that suggests "If you find Earth boring / Just the same old same thing / Come on sign up / With Outer Space Ways Incorporated." The producers are all supremely talented and best of all, innovative. The emcees and poets tackle political and social issues with sharp tongue and even sharper eye, presenting their findings in a philosophical fashion that's narcotic to anyone who cares about writing, quality, originality and conviction. With artists representing Cincinnati, Los Angles, New York, the Bay Area and even Maine, Ropeladder 12 collects some of the best independent, original hip-hop you'll have heard in years. A must for obscure music collectors, urban prophets and hip-hop heads thirsty for new sounds. 5/5 - Alternative Press |
3XLP/Out Of Print