Listening Post

As Nas stated so well recently, "Hip-hop is dead."

My utter contempt for most of what passes for rap these days has been well-documented on this little experiment of mine. This position is something I won't apologize for -- not even when confronted with a contrary argument from one of the genre's most legendary names.

Last year, I was fortunate enough to be able to meet and interview Joseph Simmons -- better known as DJ Run of Run-DMC. After working my way through a series of softball questions which pertained only to the story I happened to putting together, I realized that I could no longer restrain the outrage that had been building inside of me for almost fifteen years.

There was a hip-hop trailblazer sitting directly in front of me; I had to ask him the obvious:

"What the fuck is up with today's hip-hop? Doesn't it piss you off when you see and hear the mindless crap that it's turned into?" I spat out, shocked at my own level of candor.

To his credit, rather than have his large bodyguard pound my insolent, white ass through the floor, Run thoughtfully explained why, in his opinion, modern hip-hop is as fresh and vital as the beloved hip-hop of old -- why, ostensibly, artists such as Young Jeezy, Pimp C, Li'l Wayne and Pall Wall were nothing more than the Darwinian progeny of acts like Public Enemy, Eric B & Rakim, A Tribe Called Quest, Ice-T and the Beastie Boys.

Regardless of whether this suggestion was borne out of true belief or simply some form of "loyalty to the game," I bit my tongue, smiled and nodded politely. Run was, is, and always will be a legend -- so what if I disagree with his assertion that rap's actually worth a shit these days?

That said, there are a tiny handful of artists making truly astonishing strides forward in the world of hip-hop -- fulfilling the promise set forth all those years ago, and creating music that's as powerful, original, furious, daring, and all-around cool as I remember from my youth.

One of these artists is El-P.

He's a maverick producer, incisive lyricist, and pissed-off rabble-rouser. His latest album, I'll Sleep When You're Dead is a seriously fearsome sonic onslaught; it plunges head-first into the kind of politically-charged mine-field where few besides P.E. and the Bomb Squad have treaded previously.

The first single from the album features a guest appearance by none other than Trent Reznor; it's called Flyentology.