Noah23 Neophyte Phenotype
LP
The city of Guelph in Southern Ontario as known is a place of
contradictions: conservative farmers and neo-liberal hippies, nazi
skinheads and militant lesbians, straight edge punk rockers and
drug-soaked ravers. Against this background, Noah23 rises, a
representative of a culture where guilt is built into our every
consumerist action, yet where any reaction necessarily depends upon that
said culture. The beats are the first clue that one is no longer situated
in the mainstream of hiphop, nor even the mainstream of the underground.
The Orphan, executive producer for Plague Language, takes up the bulk of
production credits and his music is a conglomeration of sounds woven into
virtual tapestries. Unafraid to sample anything, perhaps most interesting
is his unabashedly strong and repeated use of drum n' bass styles, yet
even these tracks always remain inexplicably hiphop.
Noah himself is the product of intelligent reflection on a society that
cannot possibly sustain itself in a global context, yet he uses the very
tools that were produced by this society to create art as a form of
terrorism; true "Culture-jamming" which would make any modern ad-buster
proud. Some will simply scorn the fast-paced lyrics as incomprehensible,
or worse yet, nonsense. The words are certainly abstract, still the
seeming contradictions and lack of coherence in many songs is only on
surface analysis. Underlying them is an incredible symmetry based upon
hidden wordplay and an exploitation of the evocative power of language;
the emotions and ideas that result from the grouping together of almost
random words. Take for instance the song "BANK", a desperate cry against
the current trend towards capitalist globalization that could serve as an
anthem to those militant protestors of the WBO. Many of the songs cannot
be said to be "about" anything. Instead, abandoning the linear model of
truth, and building upon the likes of Hakim Bey, he reaches into the
subconscious, letting the listener know s/he's been changed, but not
revealing just what damage he's caused. His own attempts at undermining
the current face of hiphop on a local level is reflected in lyrics like:
"Sodom and Gomorrah, fauna and flora at the bottom of the Elora Gorge with
a smorgas board of bourgeois cyborgs in the corridor at the Source awards"
Comparisons to Anticon are bound to follow, especially with Noah's
quick-paced abstract chanting, almost singing, styles. Added to this is
the abstract nature of the lyrics and a vocabulary that has hitherto been
unmatched in all of hiphop. Although it is probably true that those who
are adverse to the aforementioned may react negatively, this CD is in no
way the simple assimilation or reiteration of the current indy hiphop
scene, for it will stand out in the future as a marker in the evolution of
hiphop. Another common complaint, and one I first felt myself, was that
the CD is far too long. Yet numbering “23” songs, including guest
appearances such as the intriguing Treevortex, I realized that Noah is
once again undermining the common assumptions of what makes a good modern
hiphop record – ie. “short and to the point.” With his fast-paced style
Noah has fit more words than some emcees do in three albums, yet the
quality never drops. In my opinion "Neotype Phenotype" is the best
underground hiphop to come out of Canada in 2001, and Orphan and Noah23
both stand out as elite amongst their respective fields of production and
lyricism worldwide. You may try to ignore this work but remember ...
"Resistance is Fertile."
Submitted by Duncan A. Dionne (UKHH.com Canada)
- Smiffy | profile
Related
Links:
© ukhh.com 1999 - 2001
