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Prefuse 73, "Security Screenings"
Prefuse 73 follows up his last, guest-filled full length with thisstripped-back instrumental "mini album" dedicated to the rigors oftraveling to promote and perform his music. This is cut up hip hop forthe short attention span set, and should satisfy the folks who criedfoul when he littered his last hip hop record with (gasp) rapping!
Warp
Prefuse 73 is on the leading edge of a new waveof hip hop that's not strictly aiming for commercial success, but isn'tso intentionally obtuse as to escape it either. Scott Herren's productionchops and approach to songwriting make him a prime candidate to besucked into the major, hit-oriented world as a weirder version of theNeptunes, but luckily he's still working on stuff that isn'ttaylor-made for the likes of Nelly and Snoop Dogg to spit over. If hislast record frustrated a lot of folks who preferred his more abstract,instrumental work to his MC-fueled hip hop proper, this record could bethe antidote, or at least a stop gap until the next one.
Herren's career is one that's strangely straddling differentcamps of fans. The indie hip hop crowd has obviously accepted him, butit's okay to like Prefuse in strictly knob-obsessed laptop tweakercircles too, and it seems everyone wants to claim him. But when Ilisten to Security Screenings, I only hear it as a hip hoprecord, something directly related to similar outings from Cut Chemist,DJ Krush, or even DJ Shadow. While Herren's methods for attacking hissound sources are a bit more obvious about their digital constructionthan his DJ peers', he shares a spirit with producers who arrangesampled records a bit more organically. The quick edits and needledrops on obscure records with odd voice-overs are required fare inheady hip hop, and the in-jokes and interludes that tie songs on thealbum together are nearly as essential to the format as turntables andmicrophones.
All of this is probably what makes Prefuse 73's work sosuccessful. It feels genuine and fits squarely in the hip hop aestheticwhile still being adventurous in a scene plagued by stagnation. Itdoesn't ever feel like Herren is just borrowing hip hop cues and lingoto mash up into a post-modern digital soup, rather he's making hip hopin a new way, using some new tricks, but relying mostly on old ones.With all the talk of digital this and Warp records that and with Herrenplaying alongside big names in the techno world, I was expectingsomething a little less rooted and more exploitative. Plenty of peopleare taking and abusing hip hop motifs and throwing them into othergenres for flavor, but Herren seems bent on just making simple hip hoprecords. This is exactly what caused me to wonder why this was such abig deal four years ago, and exactly why I get it now and think thatmaybe Prefuse 73 is just the victim of confused expectations sometimes.
Security Screenings is, in a way, a hold over recorduntil the next full length, and as such, it feels a little b-sideysometimes. Still, it's hard to hold a grudge against tunes like"Matrimonioids" or "Creating Cyclical Headaches," which features Herrenalongside Four Tet, when they so wonderfully combine fuzzy, organicmelodies with taught beat loops. A new full length LP will be out soonenough, but for now, Security Screenings is a nice look intothe process of making hip hop with a new generation of tools. Majorlabels are no doubt listening and co-opting this sound as we speak.
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