Abdominal - "Escape From The Pigeonhole" (CAN, 2007 Hip-Hop)

[TithonusSyndrome]

Abdominal - Escape From The Pigeonhole

For fans of: Jurassic 5, early Bone Thugs 'n' Harmony, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien



MC Abdominal, aka Andy Bernstein, is not totally without precedent. It's just that nowadays, there isn't much of it around him, if ever there was. The upbeat, good-natured flow and themes of rappers Positive K and Biz Markie might be your best touchstone, except that simply regurgitating classic hip-hop wouldn't suffice at this point and time in the game, and Abs is the first to acknowledge this. Therefore, he puts every effort towards distinguishing himself as he possibly can. It's not that he is without influence - at one point, namedropping Fu-Schnickers for those of us who couldn't make the connection immediately - but he may just be without peer in his own time. To wit, behold his intimidating enunciation and rate of delivery, which he isn't shy to boast about no later than the song's second track, "Breathe Later", wherein he makes an effort to break Guinness' record for the most bars rapped without breathing - a feat he probably has a strong chance of pulling off if Guinness is in the business of tracking this kind of thing. In spite of this, however, he never comes off as confrontational or like he has something to prove - this is feel-good music right down to the last syllable, with rhymes about day to day frustrations and banalities presented in a mirthful, jocular tone that will cause infectious grins if you're not bowled over by his flow and delivery.

Track three is a collaboration with Notes To Self in a bid to write an anthem for Toronto itself, and if this didn't end up winning the contest it entered, then they was robbed, I say. Starting with the proud, triumphant sounding beat from Bronze One, they go over their favorite places in the city they love with passion and attention to urban color that would soften the hardest Torontophobe. "Radio Friendly" is naturally anything but, which is fine with a beat and flow this catchy, and "Pedal Pusher" applies the old Kraftwerk trick of constructing a beat that mimics the rhythm of biking itself while Abs spits about his passion for biking in charming detail. "Big Track" has a beat that may or may not have been lifted from a McDonald's commercial, and aside from the amusing topic of McDonald's purported policy of paying rappers for saying "Big Mac", it gives Abs a chance to demonstrate the strength of his flow itself, and how it needn't rely on sheer speed of delivery.

"Abdominal Workout", however, is by far the standout track of the album. Format and Abs were made to work together, with Format's uptempo breaks providing the perfect canvas for Abs to hit with everything he's got; brilliant flow with not a single slurred word or otherwise botched enunciation. Anyone who somehow things that hip-hop is something anyone can do should be directed immediately to this song, and in particular how often Abdominal flips it in the time it takes for one verse to run it's course. Just offhand, I counted about five or six times he changed the principal underlying rhythm he phrased his rapping in before the first chorus landed, each time making more and more syllables fit into an already fast-paced beat. When just anyone can construct that many coherent rhythmic phrasings in such a small space, I'll concede that hip-hop is for anyone with marginal talents. In fact, I heard from Speech Defect that his remix of this song was made specifically to highlight each new phrasing as it occurs in progress. With the song already mixed like that, it might be clear to any other MC how to construct the song, but as is, I have to grant full credit to Abdominal for the vocal gymnastics on a song that is as fun as it is challenging.

This song is a hard act to follow, though, and the rest of the album doesn't really pull it off. "Walk Left/Stand Right" is some more amusing gripes about pet peeves, and "Sex With The Girls" is hilarious if only for how it mocks the corny euphemisms of urban "r'n'b" music via direct, unvarnished sexual descriptions, but from there it doesn't really measure up - there's two relationship songs that are a bit dour compared to the rest of the material, and some confusing track about a fantasy about being an anime demon or... something. Bonus tracks include a song done with a live band called "Flyer Antics" that probably makes a much better impression live, and the aforementioned Speech Defect remix of "Abdominal Workout".

That being said, though, there's a reason why Abdominal has left an impression on underground hip-hop across the world that has led to him being dubbed one of the unwitting founders of the "new old school", and even if you have little or no interest about hip-hop, you may find that everything you dislike about the genre is scarcely audible here. Spin this joint wherever, whenever - it's hip-hop for all seasons and all listeners.






http://www.myspace.com/mcabdominal
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Escape-Pigeon-H ... B000OMD290

[PhilosopherOfSorts]

Damn, that guy's pretty good, thanks for posting this, Tith.