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QUASIMOTO
The Unseen (Stones Throw)
Reviewed by Jason Thornberry
I slept on this release, and didn’t actually hunt for it until I read reviews calling it one of the best albums (hip-hop or otherwise) of last year.
Quasimoto is a apparently some kind of anteater looking little dude. The Stones Throw website has a photo of the chap, and he appears to be a bit like one of my old stuffed animals. But he has skills.
Madlib, of the amazalistic, super-duper Lootpack, got invited along on this twenty-four track hip-hop excursion into waters most emcees are afraid to touch. 'I like anything that turns shit green.' That’s why people think I’m into some weak-ass, watered-down piss when I wear my Hieroglyphics Imperium t-shirt on campus. Terms like ‘bizarre’, or ’odd’ don’t even get close to this layers-deep exploration into audio absurdity, and creativity that works about 93% of the time, which is a lot better than when anybody else tries to be ‘weird’. I’m actually not so sure Quasimoto is actually trying very hard. Rather than wildin’ out, or jockin’ the bitches, he’s 'a soldier in the town drinking Butterflly Snapple. I’m walking round the street handing out poison apples.'
No delusions of hardness here. Speaking of which, I know of a particular emcee who loves to spin yarns about how he’s a bad mu’fuckah from the streets of (blank). Meanwhile, he’s immensely wealthy, and lives in a mansion, in an extreeemely suburban, ivy covered, white-bread college town, where there’s a cop on almost every corner. Having lived, for a time, in both places myself (the one he ‘represents’, and the one where he gets his mail sent) I’m almost physically ill when I see his puh-thetic mug looking up at me in contrived contempt from the cover of one of his awful cd’s. Yeah! Put down the caviar, climb out of your jacuuzi, grab a gat, and smoke my ass, you dick!
I’m tempted to liken The Unseen to a hip-hop Trout Mask Replica, but Quas has to get in line behind Kool Keith first, and nearly any project he gets near (especially Dr. Octagon).
Going back to The Unseen being an expedition of sorts, one of the best songs on this album (Return of the Loop Digga) pauses while Madlib ventures into a record shop, and catches the clerk off guard when he actually appears to know what he’s talking about for a change, rather than 'You got that song that goes doot-doot-dooooot, doo, doot-doot-dooooot!?'
The production seems to have been vastly important here, and is interesting all by itself. Dr. Octagonecologyst got a nice ‘instruments only’ album, with a slight remix, as the nuances of the vocals were no longer crucial. I think an Unseen remix is justified too, now. I know I’d listen to it, and probably put even more of it on my answering machine than I have right now.
This album did peter out toward the end, but I really feel like 20 of the 24 songs were strong enough to find me with the a case of the double take’s, and replaying certain tracks, even though I knew I was hearing quotes (like: 'tryin’ to do what we do, we livin’ like ‘What?’, some niggaz can’t even keep their mouth off my nuts') correctly the first three times I played them.
You know, you may have been sleeping, too. Go straight on back to that record shop, trade in that wack, commercialized, thug bullshit you bought just because of that Hoochies in Heat video clip, and grab a copy of this before it disappears into someone else’s collection.
© 2001 - Jason Thornberry