Evil Ed - The Enthusiast
FUBU, the clothes manufacturer, stands for ‘For Us, By Us’ and has close links with hip-hop. Evil Ed is a hip-hop fan, showcasing hip-hop talent for fellow hip-hop fans by featuring 20 emcees and four DJs reciting, spitting and scratching over The Enthusiast’s beats. Hip-hop for people who want hip-hop, and those that do will not be disappointed whatsoever.
This CD is a variety show of the genre with a healthy mix of styles, beats and lyrical rhythm to keep you listening right through the hour. ‘The Ed Zone’ features Jehst and sounds like a cross between The Streets and the Wu Tang Clan, it alone proves that the UK has a lot to offer the hip-hop scene and presents very strong competition to it’s American counterpart.
Evil Ed, having lived all over, Manchester, Huddersfield and Leeds and having collected rappers to join him from everywhere in Britain, demonstrates with The Enthusiast that it doesn’t all start and end in London. Hip-hop talent isn’t a regional phenomenon, it widespread over the country and its awaiting its long overdue break into the mainstream.
‘Branded’ with The Colony is a strong track, which is a lot fun as well as a serious political statement. ‘The Experts’ featuring Mr. Thing is a feat of vinyl scratching magic, with two rapped words spun back and forth in an audible delight for an unreal length of time, yet they still fall back into place perfectly. Mixmaster Mike, watch yourself!
There is very much a sense of Englishness to this record with references to such prolific characters as Debbie Magee and Paul Daniels in the Mexican-themed ‘Nico Suave feat. Yungun’ and Dot Cotton in The Colony’s ‘Branded.’ The styles sampled on this recording range from Goldie Lookin’ Chain raps to Twista-style wordplay and Busta Rhymes’ lyrical explosions.
‘Great Expectations’ which utilises Microdisiacs’ audacity is a smooth and sexy, chilled out groove, the pure cool, easy hip-hop of halcyon days. There’s a few groovy breaks in the album that cuts it into segments, there’s the dissection of the history and properties of the gramophone found in ‘The Audio Obstacle Course’ and ‘Lesson’ which is a short and sweetly sung little interlude separating the last two tracks from the preceding ones. ‘The Cavalry’ and ‘Raw Spuds’ also stand out as very strong numbers.
Evil Ed, the self-professed “hip-hop geek” has exerted himself here and accomplished producing the telephone directory of British hip-hop today. Look here for the voices of tomorrow. For hip-hop by hip-hop, but whether you’re the occasional fan or hardcore devotee, you should enjoy this one.