Things That Go Bump in the Dark
Cincinnati's Iswhat?! has been around since the mid-1990s, with changes in shape, but orbiting around core musicians (founders/players) MC Napoleon Maddox and saxophonist Jack Walker. ''Things That Go Bump In The Dark'' also features long time collaborators: on the drums, the mythic free drummer Hamid Drake (also heard with Herbie Hancock and Pharoah Sanders); on the alto sax, the Dap-King Cocheme's Gastelum (Sharon Jones, Amy Winehouse); on the baritone sax the great Claire Daly (former member of Aretha Franklin and James Brown's bands); on violin and bass, Sam Bardfeld and Tim Kiah (Napoleon's colleagues on Roy Nathanson's ''Sotto Voce''); and mixing (engineer/ producer), the legendary Bob Power who produced the hip hop elite from D'Angelo to The Roots, to Q-Tip, Common, and De La Soul.
Iswhat?! disregards categories to cultivate a polyvalent vision of music, a new blend of music beyond boundaries. The duo inherit the traditions of Great Black Music, like their forebears Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Stetsasonic, John Coltrane, The Last Poets, Doug E Fresh, Nina Simone, Gil Scott-Heron and Boogie Down Productions. For in addition to knowing how to rap, sing, beatbox, and make futuristic beats, Napoleon Maddox is also an incredible story-teller/writer, with a pen as sharp and versatile as a Saul Williams or a Mos Def. His somber stories can also often be interpreted as metaphors for the rap game, or for humanity in its broad sense.
This album is a musical journey. You can't label this one anything but experimental, poetic hip-hop. Cincinnati's Iswhat?! is a great group. With a lot of songs being metaphor for the hip hop ''game'' and tight poetic vibes like on ''Foul'' this album is one that piqued my interests.
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