787 Edan - Beauty and the Beat (2005)

 787 Edan - Beauty and the Beat (2005)

Studio Album - Progressive Hip Hop



About the Act:

Edan Portnoy is from Washington DC. He started making music for a living in 1999 and he is still going, 3 studio albums later. 

About the Album:

This was his second album. It did not sell huge amounts but some critics liked it.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

Never even heard of this guy before, didn't know what to expect. Thought it was a band, to be honest. It's Hip-hop which as usual means beats, samples and rapping.

This journey I am on with these reviews has brought me to Hip Hop island several times. I'm starting to get some idea of where the lay of the land. For me, there are several qualities that combine to make my impression of a rap/hip-hop album. 1. The music, beats and samples, 2. The rapping itself and 3. The content.

1. The music beats and samples. It is dense, varied and interesting. There are bits of speech and snatches of singing, a wide variety of sources and these are combined together in an intense mixture, a bit like a hot curry spice mix. In general I liked it. There were interesting things in the mix and the grooves were not all the same. Some of the grooves are quite groovy.

2. I'm not really sure who did what, as there are guests, this is pretty normal for rap albums (or seems to have been so far). The style and "flow" seem to change quite a lot, and variety is good. It's not as bombastic as some rap, it's not as laid back as The Notorious B.I.G. There is a lot of word play, which is normal for rap, but unlike some rap this is not very strongly based in simile (which I now, in my ignorance regard as being lazy rap writing). There are some genuinely good turns of phrase and in the track where he namechecks a large number of rock bands (mostly 70s) for example, this is done skilfully and cleverly. Nicely done. 

3. The content. It scores highly be not being all about drugs, sex and violence. From the top of my head, and a limited getting of the drift, it feels like there is a bit on the drugs side (one specific mention of LSD I caught, not clear whether it was for or against), some sex stuff (and probably more that got past me) and a decided lack of violence. I couldn't work out what most of the tracks were actually about, I suspect a more flow of consciousness approach than a lot of real directed meaning, which can be OK.

All in all, little to object to, apart from the fact that it's rap, which fundamentally doesn't strike an immediate chord with me. Actually, I found some of it tolerable, and the rest actually positively enjoyable. It goes where other rap doesn't in all three areas, and is punchy and at times kind of an assault on the senses. There are cinematic elements of sci-fi and even a bit of horror, and some of the less musical/more noisy bits are actually quite good - including a sample I am sure is from Pink Floyd, used to good effect. I used the word "dense" before and that is one of its strengths - there is a lot going on, many layers and so quite a lot to dig into, especially sonically.

7/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0E5nyAi6rLhzfrsOxYedX3

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DK8TkP0DzM

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_and_the_Beat_(Edan_album)



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