SPOOKS
S.I.O.S.O.S. Volume One (Antra/Artemis)
Reviewed by Jason Thornberry

---

Being a white guy, can you imagine me telling a buncha people "I'm into hip-hop, guys. I like Outkast, Wu-Tang, Del, Swollen Members, Defari, Encore, Public Enemy, Gang Starr, Rasco, Dilated Peoples, Kool Keith, Zion I, and The Spooks!" Only a hip-hop crew this good can get away with a name like that. My girlfriend is into some band called The Slaves. She says they're very cool, but agrees that a mark like that will keep them far away from towns outside the Deep South. Well supposedly the name The Spooks derives from the cult novel "The Spook Who Sat By the Door." How about The Slaves? Hopefully they don't wear black hoods like The Mentors did before El Duce fought that moving train a few years ago.

Consisting of a handful of Mic Controllers (Mr. Booka T. AKA Bookaso, Water Water AKA Aqua Dinero, Hypno, J.D. AKA Vengeance), and a singer (Ming-Xia AKA Ming-Xia) with possibly the best voice I have ever heard. She makes Sade sound like a raggedy amateur at the Karoake Bloodfeast 2000. And I adore Sade. There's also a live band in there somewhere, but the smooooove production makes it all mesh together to where you'll be too busy playing songs like "Things I've Seen," "Deep Cutz," "I Got U," "The Mission," and "Something Fresh" to notice.

There are lots of hilarious, very quotable lyrics too, like "What? Which one of you manufactured rappers with the materialistic, naive, egotistical fan-base has the nerve to be offended?" Or this one from Bitch Blood (and no, there is ZERO misogyny anywhere on S.I.O.S.O.S.): "As soon as you find yourself in the company of individuals who, for the most part, got they shit together, you start tellin' stories about cool shit that other people do, and insert yourself in they shoes so we gonna think it was you, but you're not that clever, stupid! You can't slip past our radar -- not even in stealth mode. Once you cross the threshold you're slapped with a barcode; so now we all know, and you can never go incognito. Your I.D. reveals your past, and untold truth: You a Bitch Blood carrier. You're not contagious, but nobody wants to be around you!"

The Spooks don't just cite the usuals when talking about who inspired them. Anyone picture a hip-hop group listening to Bjork? Or Portishead? Earth Wind and Fire maybe, but Radiohead? S.I.O.S.O.S. is a big breath of fresh air if you listen to it straight outta the shower, before you go to sleep, or just as you're driving down the street. A debut that just made it on my short list for album of the year.

© 2000 - Jason Thornberry