AAAAAARgh. I have been trying to figure out how I feel about this band for more than ten years. I guess I first heard about them from MTV2, back when anything associated with MTV wasn’t automatic Real Shore reruns. The song getting airplay then was Work it Out, which is a pretty awesome song. Subsequently Play Some D was featured on a Motorola ad, which got the band some buzz. But this album is really inconsistent. On the good songs they construct really fun, hip hop style dance funk, and then on other songs they just sound bored.
I’m getting ahead of myself I think. Firstly, if you’ve never heard of Brassy, you can be forgiven. The aforementioned Motorola commercial is their one claim to fame. Well that and the fact that the lead singer, Muffin Spencer, is the younger sister of a dude named Jon, whose responsibility for the detonation of some industrial grade blues got him some fame in the indie scene at one point. Anyway Brassy happened when Muffin got tired of her brother’s shadow and moved to Manchester to start and Elastica/ Smiths tribute band that gradually got more and more funky and hip-hoppy until this album happened and sounds absolutely nothing like either band. After some time they made this album, which generated a little buzz and some sales, until the Motorola commercial pushed them into moderate fame some five years after the album dropped. Taking this as a sign they made a new album, ironically named "Gettin Wise," which drove them into bankruptcy and led to the breakup of the band. Maybe not so wise. So much for Brassy.
I kind of really respect the group for making Beastie Boys style music with a full band. I kind of love that kind of thing. But the thing is, the Beastie Boys comparison only works in that they have a punk attitude and are white yet still have some “flow.” But unlike the aforementioned Boys, Brassy really isn't super interesting as a Hip-Hop act. At the time this was made it may have been less obvious, but I think we can all agree that Hip-Hop has gotten very badly stuck in a rut of brag rapping. As with any genre, Hip-Hop has a multiplicity of clichés, but when I listen to the radio all I hear are a multiplicity of tracks whose sole topic is either a) my life is awesome, b) my rapping is awesome or c) I don’t like you because you don’t recognize a) or b) and therefore must hate me because of some kind of bias or bigotry summed up as “hating.”
Not all Brassy’s songs are Hip-Hop, but the ones that are hit every fucking point in the Hip-Hop song book of cliché shame. From “I Can’t Wait,” wherein they literally discuss their “flow,” to “Who Stole The Show?” which discusses the answer to this most important of life's questions. They even embark upon the dark journey down the Lovecraftian logic hole that is c) with “Got A Beef,” a song about how the singer has a beef with you for reasons unspecified, that strongly features police sirens. God help me.
Sure, their “raps” are solid, embarking on some interesting wordplay, but we aren’t talking about Busta Rhymes here, these are white girls who kind of ramble this stuff out. Speed isn’t everything, which is good for Brassy because they don’t have any. But the basic issue is that I really just do not care. These are songs created on cliché subjects for the purpose of serving as a canvas for ego and wordplay. What’s more I do not think the musicians care either. The lyrics are delivered with this low monotone that is somehow passionless despite the fascinating subjects it is regaling us with.
On the other hand the music is kind of awesome for much of the album. Theres some really great dance funk stuff going on here, with great baselines and some great beats. This is by no means universal. Some of the tracks are as lazy with the instrumentation as they are with the lyrics. But particularly on the latter half of the album, the songs tend to consist of a monotone “rap,” by a woman who sounds bored, being backed by some outrageously crazy funk.
For songs that get this formula down Brassy are rather brilliant. The bland lyrics serve merely as the justification and tone for some very energetic dance music. Unlike most standard Hip-Hop, whose backing tracks are often a spare selection of samples whose contribution to the track is minimal, Brassy uses their musical skills to bring flesh and body to their craft. If Brassy brings anything to the genre, it is bringing musicianship to a mostly vocal genre.
Unfortunately they don’t make it easy to get to this. I understand why artists don’t want to put all the good tracks up front, but the first three tracks on this album are crap, and the fifth and sixth tracks aren’t the best either. It’s like they packed the front of the album with album tracks and saved the singles for the end. What a poor decision. So if you find this somewhere, you may want to give it a shot. There’s enough goodness here to justify a few bucks. I wouldn’t necessarily bother seeking anything out form this except maybe the singles, which as I said are excellent.
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