December 23rd, 2008 10:18am
Ambassador Of Chicness
The Knux “Parking Lot”
“Parking Lot” chugs along on a brief loop that has almost exactly the same effect as the one RZA concocted for the GZA’s “Liquid Swords,” though it’s missing that composition’s spikier, nervier treble notes and murky bass. Similarly, the Knux are not in the same lyrical league as the Genius, and wisely stick to more trivial matters such as being lewd in the street, being lewd at a club, and lewdly insulting guys in Bape gear. Krispy Kream and Rah Al Millio are nimble, melodic party rappers of the Big Boi variety, and are more than capable of spinning garden variety macho bullshitting into highly listenable verses simply by having stylish flows and amiable voices. I could do without their guest announcer, though…that guy is just a creep. If this is Entourage — and really, it is kinda like Entourage, though please don’t let that put you off too much — that guy is Turtle.
Buy it from Amazon.
12/23/08 11:18 am
Remind Me in 3 Days is one of my favorite albums of 2008. It’s a shame it only went double aluminum, but then again these guys suffered quite possibly the worst marketing ever. I wonder if the clueless Interscope A&R who presented them to his boss as the answer to the Cool Kids is still employed? How much do you wanna bet the term ‘Cool Kids-killer’ was used in the boardroom meeting?
12/23/08 11:36 am
For real. I did not really even know about the Knux until, like, a month and a half ago, which blows my mind cos I keep tabs on music press and get a bazillion promo emails/cds/whatnot shot at me nonstop. How did this one just go by me? I mean, I guess I’m not reading hip hop press closely enough, but still, it seems like this is the sorta thing I should’ve been bombarded with — a la Cool Kids — but definitely was not.
12/23/08 1:38 pm
The problem is that they were marketed exclusively towards hip-hop kids, which was probably the wrong lane to go in. Ultimately, they proved too strange and tight-jeaned for the “hip-hop heads” and the indie kids never heard them in time. Moreover, Interscope’s radio promotion department has no clue how to handle anything that isn’t in the model of 50 Cent or Eminem. When in reality, certain cuts off this album fit best on urban stations, others fit best on modern rock/indie stations, while others should’ve been aimed at strictly top 40.
You’re dead on though. The announcer is their Turtle. I’ve met him–even the physical resemblance is uncanny.
12/23/08 2:03 pm
It must be weird to be in the business of marketing hip hop now, because it seems like all the conventional wisdom is kinda out the window these days. People at labels and PR companies etc are maybe just starting to realize all the different demographics for a type of music that had previously been perceived as being somewhat monolithic, or at least divided into strict mainstream and backpacker camps. Ultimately, it’s for the best. I mean, this is as much the result of audience fragmentation as it is the maturation of the genre into something as fully heterogeneous as rock or dance, etc, and the general omnivorousness of young music fans.
12/23/08 4:15 pm
I agree. I think the popularity of Clipse and Cam’ron among the (for lack of a better umbrella term) Pitchfork acolytes muddled the prism with which label goons had looked at the genre since the emergence of the Rawkus/Quannum Def Jux/Fondle ‘Em underground of the late 90s. No longer was it, you peddle the safe backpack stuff to white liberal arts kids and the gully shit to the street/radio and you’re good.
I’ve been talking to my 21-year old cousin about identity within his social sphere. Specifically, are there wiggers (again, terrible word, for lack of a better phrase) of the ilk lamely satirized in Can’t Hardly Wait, Jamie Kennedy, etc? And I don’t think they exist at the same numbers they did 10 years ago. Of course, kids will always gravitate towards hip-hop, but it’s become so fully submerged into mass culture that it’s no longer a plausible sub-culture identity to adopt. Kids are more apt to wear skinny jeans and end up on Cobrasnake. Which, ironically, is the same Cinespace/Aoki scene that spawned The Knux. I just wish radio and the labels would catch up, so acts like this have a shot.
Ultimately, I think it’s great that kids today are more eclectic taste-wise and see it as one of the few triumphs of Internet culture. I know that without such easy access to information there’s a good chance I would’ve stayed cloistered within the narrow hip-hop and classic rock I grew up on. One of the main reasons why I find The Knux so interesting is that they’re reflective of this trend. They’re as into Aphex Twin as The Gravediggaz, The Strokes as to Souls of Mischief.
By the way, I figure you didn’t catch this prior, but great minds, etc. etc.
http://www.laweekly.com/2008-11-13/music/record-reviews-the-knux-robin-thicke-gang-gang-dance/