In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve never found rap-rock a palatable combination.
Who knows where you can trace the genesis of the genre back to, but it was probably the early prototype of Run DMC appropriating “Walk This Way.” Rap-rock was organic. It might seem obvious, but rap-rock was essentially a rock song with a guy rapping instead of singing.
While this would seem innocous enough, rap-rock would unfortunately lead to a bastard style known as rap metal, or as the cool kids say Rapcore, which would overshadow any legitimate marriage of rock and rap. Rapcore brought to our ears the musical brilliance of Limp Bizkit, the DARE friendly Kottonmouth Kings and innovation from slews of similar acts.
In case you couldn’t tell, I’m kidding. And maybe my real problem is with Rapcore. I did, although, enjoy the Workhorse Movement (there’s a prize for anyone who knows them, e-mail me) simply because they made a thugged out song called “Keep the Sabbath Dream Alive.”
But rap-rock digressed from rock and embraced the down-tuned, hard power chords of metal. But there’s new hope for the future.
El Pus (said El Poose) is a five piece out of Atlanta, the new epicenter for daring rap innovation. El Pus gives a little shout out to Crunk and the content has Dirty South roots, but the musical approach is entirely different. Dual vocalists Cufi and Cosmo twist and spit impressive rhymes over punk and funk rock melodies. It’s like Sublime meets Outkast. The lyrics aren’t violent or polluted with gangsta imagery, but are rather playful.
The track “Days of the BK’s (I Remember)” has recollections of childhood that could have been fertile ground for such imagery, but the song is kept warm and charming.
The album’s single “Suburb Thuggin'” pays homage to post punk/new wave rock and the track “Flirtin'” has a brassy, dangerous texture that would seem appropriate wafting out of a nightclub cabaret.
Give “Slot Machine” a spin and you’ll hear an STP-esque chorus and “The Place To Be” is the place to be on the album if you dig the Chili Peppers. And that’s the beauty of the album, to take things full circle. By playing rock songs and importing the cool and cocky strut of hip hop, the band is doing something fresh. The only drawback is on the peppier tracks, specifically “Thing Thing.”
All in all, the biggest complaint is that the album is short, only 35 minutes, and some of those minutes are dialogue and other forms of filler. The band is not the savior of the rap-rock genre because that would only downplay this debut, but El Pus’ union of rock and rap is blazing new territory.
Patrick McDermott can be reached at [email protected].
