Lewis Recording :: 2002 :: buy this record
After a few now-classic singles, like the legendary and rare "Sing It Shitface", and a whole lot of CD-Rs (including his other "debut album", the non-official one, called "Architecture") he sold on tour or just gave away to the people who wanted to check his stuff, this Boston emcee has built a rep as an "all-inclusive" artist. Indeed, not only does Edan rap, he also produces, scratches and paints with this very ease he displays in his tracks. This Primitive Plus LP is nothing but the enriched sequel to Primitive Plus EP (1999), we have already alluded to in this webzine some time ago; six new tracks have now been added to the tracklisting of a work predicted to be a certified classic even before it was out.
Highly influenced by the old school form the beginning of the 80’s to the beginning of the 90’s, the compositions Edan delivers here are so chilling a long list of adjectives wouldn’t be enough to refer to it, it’s too amazing, no, not amazing, it’s damn right astounding ! The producer/emcee makes numerous nods to his icons, like on "Ultra 88", a tribute to the producer Ced Gee, and to the whole Ultramagnetic MCs (Edan perfectly imitates Kool Keith). Each track is self sufficient, each sample has a immediate effect on the listener, everything is perfect and doesn’t sound like the digging up of old fashioned hackneyed hip-hop clichés. Edan changes his pitch up, from the moderate rhythms of "One Man Arsenal" and "Humble Magnificent" to the faster "Ultra 88" or "Migraine". There are numerous gimmicks as references to the high figures of rap such as Rakim, Marely Marl or KRS One and so many more. The most incredible aspect of this is Edan’s ability to leech all of a genre, and by merely adding his personal and really innovative touch, e.g. through the maximum overloading of the bass sounds (on ‘Rapperfection’ featuring Mr Lif), he gives a track this spellbinding dimension, just listen to this great instrumental track "A.O.E.C.".
More than in the music, you have a full blend of the emcee’s talents in the lyrics and the flow. Try and figure out a short white rapper, XXX syllables like Kool G Rap and delivering scathing and biting punchlines. Edan is actually far from the typical emcee with the "hip-hoply correct behaviour", he is no more than a shabby nerd looking like nothing else but loving hip-hop more than anything else. He holds a grudge to the internet-heads which he expresses on ‘Key.Bored’ and he doesn’t let them outlive supported by a nice cheerful classic piano melody. On "Mic Manipulator", he sharply describes his emceeing skills : Well I’m the rhyme regulator / mic manipulator / pterodactyl / there and back to terminate ya / super duper classic for the dickhead gerbil / kids roll out the red carpet / when I flip fresh verbals". He also enjoys breaking off from the mainstream rap clichés proudly claiming on ‘Sing It Shitface’ how he depicts R’n’B : ‘Instead of r n’ b bitches / I do my hooks with Japanese kids’ with the chorus actually sung by a Japanese kid. We could list the hundreds of striking rhymes, but Edan sounds like he listens to what he says rather than reading it, as his flows, efficient and varied (he changes his rhythm, his voice, and uses fantasy focus..), make it an inescapable whole.
Even if Primitive Plus has this sweet smell of the glorious hip-hop years, Edan only keeps the best of it, already creatively changing it. Most critics blame him for his lo-fi quality, his tendency to copy and paste noises or his grating humour, whatever they say, they must have mistaken him. Edan gathers around him the past and the future of rap, let it be known; he owns it on every level and in almost each discipline. A rhyme terrorist, he cuts deeply into the fleshless decomposing corpses of wack rappers, giving his own definition of the word "egotrip", with a formal "revival" aspect to conceal the deeply innovative process. Driven by his passion and not afraid to magnify it, Edan gives props to his past idols and sends them into the new millennium all this with a wonderful capacity to catch his listener’s ear while he talks about nothing. Primitive Plus is a classic album, the type you don’t encounter that often in a whole life, and thus absolutely necessary !
Translated by Gnusball