[by Jon Behm]
The city of Seattle lies on a hip hop fault line. Deep underground, the volatile tectonic plates of West Coast Rap and Northwestern conscious Hip Hop grind against each other, producing unpredictable geological phenomena. One of the largest eruptions of late came in the form of Cancer Rising, the intrepid trio of MC’s Judas and Gatsby, and DJ TilesOne. While their EP dropped last year, its limited availability has made it difficult to find outside of the Pacific Northwest. Luckily, I finally got my copy the other day, and I have to say, never before has anyone been so excited to get cancer.
The EP is all over the place. Sampling heavy metal riffs, old school funk, Robert Plant’s scream, film lines from Buffalo 66 to The Hulk, the source material is eclecticism at its best. And the variety extends itself in the lyrics. Rapping about everything from Seattle Supersonics fans to surviving in the music industry, Judas and Gatsby have cut their own lyrical path away from rap generalities. While a lack of lyrical continuity was precisely the reason I recently argued against Lil’ Wayne’s Tha Carter III, it sits a lot easier in this case since every track isn’t just a different variation on how great the group is. In fact the MC’s have found a great balance between boasting and self-conscious confession. “Watch Y’r Step” and “Let’s Start Some Shit,” features the confident, “I’m bad-as-fuck” attitude of guest MC Bruce Illest (By the way, possibly the best MC handle ever). However, in “Perseverance” Gatsby evens things out with rhymes like “I know that you know that the world is in a real crisis, I can’t help being too self-conscious to be self-righteous,” proving that a little humanization can go a long way.
“We Gonna Make It,” is the very definition of positive message Hip Hop, a sultry rap about struggle and perseverance in the world, all set to the violin strings, piano, and guitar. Rather than settling into a full on “kumbaya” mode though, one track later CR hits you with “Wait a Minute” a funky summer “party over here, fuck you over there,” jam best listened to while sipping on a forty ouncer at the beach. Making the mix even more eclectic are a couple of funky instrumentals. “Tokey’s Groove,” forms a sort of dance party intermission in the middle of the record while the end of “Wait a Minute” evolves into what could be safely described as the album’s disco exit music.
Overall this is some of the best hip hop I have heard all year. Judging by the reactions of the friends I have played it for (with wide musical tastes ranging from Incubus to Broadway Musicals) these guys are going to be huge among more than just hip hop heads. Look for them soon at a venue near you, or if you want to make the trek all the way to Seattle for the home court experience, I certainly wouldn’t blame you.
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