Anti-Pop Consortium "Tragic Epilogue" 75 Ark Records #75007 2000 (55:20)
Laundry
(4:13)
Nude Paper (3:15)
Your World Is Flat (3:09)
PSA 2 (:51)
9.99 (2:29)
Rinseflow (3:29)
Here They Come Now (:55)
Moon Zero X-M (1:02)
Lift
(2:23)
Eyewall w/electro foetus (4:56)
Sllab (4:20)
Monster Sex (:06)
Smores (3:09)
Driving In Circles (3:28)
3 Digit Wiz (4:15)
Antontonbarr NE-0 (:46)
Heatrays w/aceyalone (5:29)
Disorientation
(3:45)
What
Am I? w/pharoah monch/life (3:11)
Anti-Pop Consortium is the NYC based MC trio of Beans, Priest and M. Sayyid and producer/engineer Earl Blaize. "Tragic Epilogue" is their debut, 3 years in the making, and is obviously the product of learned men, serious hip hop fans and former art students who've paid their dues in the underground spoken word and writing scenes. Anti-Pop aren't concerned with the mainstream but they do expose all of it's weaknesses out of necessity ... a wake-up call to everyone who gives a shit about the current sad state of affairs in the world of hip hop. Old school influence collides with the nuances of the after-future, musically and lyrically, to create something all their own, something I've never quite heard anyone do before. Language is a tool and Anti-Pop have several well stocked sheds worth. The complicated, tongue twisting rhymes of each MC tumble out of the speakers in a mind numbing yet beat precise manner and may at times require a dictionary, thesaurus and a finger on the rewind button to decipher. Topics are by no means limited to the usual MC-isms and the occasional disses make every other dis you've ever heard sound generic in comparison. Blaize's production is a sparse foundation of sub bass and beats rich with alien atmospheres and interstellar sound bytes. Intelligence, imagination, ingenuity and oddity are in abundance on all fronts and nothing ever sounds contrived or cliched. "Tragic Epilogue" is one of the most uniquely interesting albums I've heard in a long time and likely one of the most important hip hop albums to date. Hopefully people take note. The digipack includes sharp liner notes by journalist Greg Tate and a bonus cd-rom with some software and quicktime video for "Sparadic" by 75 Ark Records label mates Encore. I've come to the conclusion I need to own everything on 75 Ark Records after hearing this cd, the Dr. Octagon albums, Automator "A Much Better Tomorrow" and the Encore video. Also available from Anti-Pop are remix singles for "Lift" and "What Am I? / Laundry" ...
Where did I get this cd? - a local Best Buy.