Search - Edan :: Beauty & The Beat

If The Beach Boys grew up in Compton...

Alan Pounds | Minneapolis, MN | 08/08/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Psychedelia and hip-hop. Those are two words I never thought I'd be relating when referring to one of my favorite albums of 2005. I still can't get over it. What a phenomenal idea. The Boston based rapper Edan possesses more than just an untouchable flow. He's also the producer, programmer, engineer, sampler...you name it, he does it all. The production held within is bafflingly perfect. He's successfully brought the feel of a 60s psychedelic record to the form of hip-hop, including the concept. Clocking in at roughly 34 minutes (as most 60s psychedelic records run), there is absolutely no wasted space. This is an album of epic proportions that rides the line of psychedelia and hip-hop cleaner than you can imagine. It's almost puzzling that a hip-hop record including heavy influence of The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds", The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", or Pink Floyd's "Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" would come off as such a cohesive set of gems. But it does, and Edan proves he's the man for the job.



The album's intro, "Polite Meeting Intro", starts it off with some music that could be from Sponge Bob Squarepants, then with the addition of trippy sound effects and vintage English vocal samples, we end up in The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine". It sets it off nicely. Then comes "Funky Voltro" featuring Insight, which includes a high-pitched swooping Minimoog played by Edan, and also a funky guitar sample. Then comes "I See Colours", a clear standout featuring a synthesizer played by Edan. Edan proves to have a impenetrable flow here, boasting some imaginative lyrics that work very well with the sweet atmospheric soundscapes and soothing 60s vocal and guitar samples. The next cut, "Fumbling Over Words That Rhyme", is also one of my favorites. Edan pays homage to some of the great innovators in hip-hop, including Run D.M.C., Grandmaster Flash Flash, Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee, LL Cool J, Slick Rick, Nas and Ultramagnetic MC's among others. It seems that a lot of rappers tend to make an "homage" to old-school emcees, but Edan simply does it better by explaining "why" they were true innovators, which is much better in the eyes of this reviewer. "Murder Mystery" is a sweet track with some music similar to Jimi Hendrix's "Are You Experienced" with that reverse rhythm, then cuts in with instrumentation that sounds like it could be from the old "Odd Couple" tv show. The next cut, "Torture Chamber" featuring flows by Percee P, speeds things up with a dirtier beat, orchestra string arrangements, and a background Pink Floyd sample from "Dark Side Of The Moon". Then comes the best collaborative effort on the album; "Making Planets" featuring Mr. Lif. Lif was actually the one who turned me on to Edan, as he was featuring on Lif's "Emergency Rations" EP and his critically acclaimed "I Phantom". The production is especially creepy here, as Lif jumps in towards the end at the climax of the song. "Time Out (Segue)" is a tripped out interlude that blends perfectly to the next superior cut, "Rock and Roll" featuring Dagha. Which features some cool crunching guitars in it's very memorable production. I also love this lyric - "My mental fabric / to big for Lenny Kravitz / Who imitates Jimi Hendrix in every facet". "Beauty" is up next. This song is really one of my favorites. Like it's title, the soulful production is beautiful. The addictive reverse rhythm, tight drum loops, and soaring flute makes it a huge standout. I also love this lyric - "I use pens like hallucinogens". It mixes beautifully into "The Science of the Two" featuring Insight once again. This is another one of my favorites (it just keeps getting better as it goes). "Smile" is one of the trippier tracks on the album. He couldn't have closed out the album better, than with "Promised Land", definitely a standout. It's got a very memorable production, and some sick lyrical spitting from the one, the only, Edan.



I see some people complaining about the short run time (34 minutes). I on the other hand, think it's perfect. There is so much filler in today's hip-hop (underground included), that it's nice to have 13 powerful, memorable, carefully crafted tracks to concentrate on. I've spent most of my teen years listening to 60s and 70s psychedelic records, along with a wide array of classic rock, so it may be a bit more intriguing to me than the next hip-hop head, but this stuff is truly unique. Edan may have been paying tribute to hip-hop's greatest innovators lyrically, but he's also paid tribute to 60s and 70s psychedelia in one of the most memorable ways possible; through hip-hop."

Hip Hop's "musical" anomaly

Chris Wren | Chicago, Illinois | 07/05/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Edan has taken a different stance in his interpretation of hip hop ever since his debut several years ago. This is most clearly defined in Beauty and the Beat, a record that digging heads have eagerly anticipated. His many guest appearances brought the anticipation of his irreverent, eccentric mannerisms not only in the booth but behind the decks and manning the mixer. With a wide range of influences that stem from his immense musical education, delving into this record becomes an education of the classics of contemporary music.



Edan manages to create a psychadelic brand of hip hop. Although now cliche in describing his sound, the immense echo vox coloring his voice, rock and roll to baroque pop influences, effect-laden samples makes this record at times, like a Sgt. Peppers of hip hop. This is most clearly heard in the song "Beauty," which somehow takes the listener with flute samples, screeching strings, and boom-bap bass drums. Make no mistake: this manner of sampling takes on an epic proportion that hip hop has been begging to have, yet not slapped together in studio on a keyboard. The samples shimmer all over the record. As he says himself, "I use pens like hallucinigenics," a line that can be inferred for most of this record. From "I See Colors", ridden with a overwhelming echo plex, "Rock and Roll" complete with name-dropping from Creedence to Talking Heads to Little Feet, this record truly has a hazy, lava-lamped view into the world.



Beauty and the Beat is at it's best when Edan is warping the borders of the genre and it's sonic, aural, even temporal limitations. That being said, when it becomes more explicitely tied down to a genre or falls back onto convention, the unconventional beauty of the record loses it's charm. However, this small problem can be overlooked by its many highlights. Edan managed to expand the genre effectively into a psychadelic bliss that reminisces the finest of the sixties. There's little more to ask from that."

This album is crazy and has no true comparison

Adam P Boots | Valley Village, CA United States | 07/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"So far this is one of my favorite albums of the year, though I'd have to say there is no equal when it comes to style... The best way I could explain it is if you were to take Kool G Rap and a bunch of his same era MC's and put them over beats that are straight out of either Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Pet Sounds or maybe even something Pink Floyd...



The beats are vast and sound very much like they're 60's-70's trip out music and the rapping sounds a lot like GOOD old school MCing... By GOOD I mean it flows well, it matches the beat, and it tells a story... "Fumbling over words that Rhyme" goes through and tells you just how much Edan knows about old school hip hop...



The only "complaint" I have for this album is something I also consider one of it's strengths... It's only 42 minutes long, which tends to seem like a short album, but with this album, it feels very much like a complete, cohesive package... I guess I just wanted to have something to complain about and... That's about all I can think to complain about... If anything, this could have been longer, but I think Edan was going the route of "quality over quantity" and for that aspect, he succeeded.



This is a strange but beautiful album and I recommend it to anyone who has interest in intriguing and different hip hop...

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