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DJ SERG
Golden State of Mind, Bay Area
1992-1997, Insidious Urban Mixtape (Insidious)
Reviewed by Jason Thornberry
From the chap who brought u Blastido Breaks come his reinterpretation of five years worth of (sadly) underground hip-hop. This album could be categorized as a "Various Artists" effort, but Senor Salsa (Serg) cuts up, mixes and reiterates the seventeen tracks here, fleshing out each of their better moments and making them all his own for a time. For a few of the artists here, their "better" moments are hard to find since the "average" minutes by them are usually leagues beyond the likes of that utterly preposterous bullshit that sells like hotcakes to people who think real hip-hop is about uneducated dickheads with cheesy promo videos full of "broke ho’s in swimming pools."
Serg is joined on Golden State by several very fitting sound-bites from that 80’s movie Repo Man, one of my top films of all time, just for the absurd, trashy and dumbhead aspects of it. And, of course, for the role played wonderfully by Harry Dean Stanton, who’s use of the diatribe "dildo" has become one of favorite terms of endearment now.
Serg AKA The Microwave Mexican also unearths a brilliant track by his Various Blends crew, which features (Cali Agent) Rasco, who almost dominates Golden State of Mind with his fluid rhyme skills and personality. He’s one of two of my "better/best moments" emcees. Great re-workings of the always, always, always great Blackalicious, who’s Swan Lake (from 2000’s *Nia, an essential), and tunes by DJ Shadow and Peanut Butter Wolf, Big Nous, Encore, Plan B, The Dereliks, Bored Stiff, and Hobo Junction.
DJ Shadow and Peanut Butter Wolf take cut & paste splice-a-thon music and downtempo off into uncharted, alien realms, with obsessive crate digging to find *just the right beats and textures. Like Goldilocks, they’re both picky as fuck. Get copies of Endtroducing (Shadow) or My Vinyl Weighs a Ton (Wolf) to see for yourself. They’ve each probably forgotten more about hip-hop than I’ll ever know.
A bonus track by (the other Cali Agent) Planet Asia brings Golden State of Mind to an close that will have you going "already?" even though the cd is just over an hour long. Great stuff! Asia’s another huge favorite. He’s dropping a full-length on Interscope soon. If you’re halfway cool you already probably have it on your want list, and if not, you have been forewarned!
© 2001 - Jason Thornberry