 |
     |
|
|
 |
||
|
|
|
The DJ is the backbone of hip-hop and blah blah blah. You've heard it all before. This is not that pedantic display of hip-hop's four elements (or is it five – Blaze magazine, where ya at?!). This is about going forward. Being next. Constant Elevation is a collection of hip-hop music from DJs, turntablists, rappers and producers who refuse to be confined by simple loops, standard verses and the garbled machinations of backpacker fantasies. Things have changed in the land of beats. Some of the most innovative electronic music is coming from the once-barren wasteland of mainstream hip-hop and R&B production: Timbaland, the Neptunes, Mannie Fresh. Certainly, the mus-ecology has changed and it's time to evolve.
Constant Elevation was assembled by Joseph Patel, a culture journalist and music consultant, and emerged from the ashes of another compilation, the highly-acclaimed turntable assembly, Deep Concentration, released in 1997. Compiled by Patel and Chris Kelly, that record showcased the stylistic reaches of the turntablist DJ – a revolutionary breed that had just begun to break from its underground shell despite years of brilliance. The collection was wonderfully eclectic and its subsequent tour – with Cut Chemist, Peanut Butter Wolf, Prince Paul, Kid Koala and others – was one of the first all-DJ/turntablist traveling road shows in the country. Unfortunately, the releasing label cribbed the name and concept (serving them with a cease & desist order in the process –that's gangsta!) and continued the series on its own.
Constant Elevation is a sequel only in spirit, then, (taking its title, too, from Rakim Allah). The once spectacular potential of turntablists seems to have devolved into a theater of the mundane: turntable masturbation, scratching for scratching's sake. While DJs on the competitive circuit certainly flash their talents, song trumps sport any day. All the artists on Constant Elevation understand the poetry of composition and have matriculated their skills from behind the decks to create real songs: some soul-drenched instrumentals, some nostalgic electro jams, some experimental challenges.
In addition to his turn as a music and arts journalist and co-producer of Deep Concentration, Patel was also one of the founders of SoleSides Records, the revered indie label that was home to artists like DJ Shadow, Blackalcious and Latyrx. "I was blessed to witness the creative processes of (those) artists on a near-daily basis; they were all those things DJs can be – cutters, scratchers, producers," he says, adding they were some of the most "intelligent, informed and balanced artist I've ever met. I've always cherished those traits they possessed and hoped to collect a little bit of that sentiment here with Constant Elevation." |
|
|
||
 |
||
