There's a rich tradition of alternative hip-hop musicians who defy the blueprint of the genre in appearance, style and sound. Artists like Sir Mix-A-Lot, MC Paul Barman and, most recently, Matisyahu, both audibly and visibly do not adhere to hip-hop's narrow orthodoxy.
Many of these musicians are well-liked by the public and even achieve measures of fame and commercial success, but generally, they aren't taken seriously. They're treated like novelties, like their particular schtick precludes them from actually being legitimate musicians. Often, this is fair treatment. Goofy, danceable and entertaining, unconventional hip-hop artists tend to be little more than an amusing musical sideshow, and their contributions to the musical canon are often minimal.
Polite Meeting
Meet Edan, the Israeli-descended, Berklee School of Music drop-out and musical genius who is quickly bridging the gap between eccentric and trail-blazing hip-hop. The critical darling and Boston resident, who crafts an experimental sound from equal parts hip-hop purism, sun-and-acid-drenched '60s hard rock psychedelia, and his nuance and insight as a musical academic, is performing a free show at Hotung Caf?© tonight at 9:00 p.m.
Central to Edan's unconventional musical persona and sound is his background. Whereas standard hip-hop credibility is tied to gunshot wounds and diamond carats, Edan is a white Jewish suburbanite from Maryland with a Medusa mop of curly dark hair. The only child of two Israeli-born immigrants, he attended Boston's Berklee College of Music where he spent his free time honing his lyrical and production skills. As a Berklee student, he started releasing singles, dee-jaying, and rap battling in the city's busy underground, and, as his reputation grew, he dropped out of the school after three years.
"It was cool," Edan told The Daily of his higher learning experience. "I got tired of it. I started putting records out, and when that started happening, it coincided with me ultimately just feeling like I didn't need to go there [to the Berklee College of Music] to be where I wanted to be."
After calling it quits at Berklee, the emcee-producer released his first full-length album in 2000, "Sound of the Funky Drummer," an album that piqued friend and industry vet Michael Lewis' interest.
"I sent him [Lewis] an album I had made in 2000, and he liked [it] enough to start his own label," said Edan.
Making Planets
In 2001, Edan released his second full-length with Lewis Recordings, a collection of venerable, golden-era hip-hop tracks called "Edan the DJ: Fast Rap." Piecing together gems from hip-hop royalty like Eric B. & Rakim, Ultramagnetic MC's, and Organized Konfusion, Edan pays a humble and worthy tribute to the genre's founders, a theme central to his style.
"It's important to me not to overlook the innovation of others," Edan said. "These people gave love in their own ways, and I like to give it back sometimes. I think that's what it comes down to: It just feels good to praise people who deserve it."
He continued: "It's an easy way for me to just put that music out there and be like, 'Check this out. You don't have to, but I like this.'"
In 2002, Edan released his first record of all original material, "Primitive Plus," on the Solid Records label. If hip-hop is rooted in the showmanship and unabashed skill showcasing of b-boying and break-dancing, "Primitive Plus" is one of the purest hip-hop albums of the young decade. Edan pulled triple duty as executive producer, emcee and deejay on the record, excelling at all three in ways that are sometimes jaw-dropping. Edan's multi-tasking on "Plus" was universally critically adored, winning him lofty accolades like "trailblazer" and "genius."
Dusty '80s hip-hop samples and nostalgic imagery tie "Plus"'s 18 songs together into one, big, hour-long homage to the days of hip-hop's genesis, but underneath the obvious layers of throwback shout-outtery is a sense of contemporary rap production that keeps "Plus" from actually sounding like it was made in 1989. On "Humble Magnificent," Edan matches his scratching with samples of police sirens, and though the song's stabbing horn breaks turned stale over a decade ago, they subtly echo with reverb in this song. This minute effect simultaneously breathes life back into a classical hip-hop sound and gives the song a retro-futuristic feel.
But while the production is the album's most evident up-side, Edan's skill on the microphone is "Plus"'s most exciting revelation. Primarily known as a deejay and producer, Edan picks up the mic on "Plus" and unleashes the ferocious delivery only accessible to rappers trained as underground battlers. "My cerebellum is part of an aluminum pipe / My rap definition is a beautiful sight," he spits on "Rapperfection," outshining guest and Boston contemporary Mr. Lif, an artist without the production or deejay credibility of his host.
Technique aside, lyrically, "Plus" is at times a piece of comedic brilliance. A mere glance at the track list elicits a chuckle ("You Suck," "Sing it, S-tface"), but the witty, quirky wordplay of songs like "Emcees Smoke Crack" ("Egg yolks in the eyes / Is how I'm doin' 'em / Emcees smoke crack / I smoke aluminum!") is side-splittingly goofy.
#1 Hit Record
Then he kind of disappeared for a while. Whereas many musicians would seek to immediately capitalize on the success of an album, Edan took his sweet time.
"As you grow as an artist," he said of his hiatus, "you just become less excitable. You've done some things, and inspiration comes a little bit less frequently."
When it finally did, though, it came in visionary droves. In 2005, Edan rejoined Michael Lewis to release "Beauty and the Beat," a dizzying, colorful, nearly flawless record, and one of that year's best (it was number two on The Daily's year-end list). He still remembered his hip-hop influences (name-checking most of them in chronological order on "Fumbling Over Words that Rhyme"), but he's at least equally interested in paying tribute to his 1960s psychedelic rock influences, both in his production and songwriting.
For example, Edan samples Pink Floyd's whirling bass effects on "Torture Chamber" and does a similar influence roll call for his guitar-based inspirations on "Rock and Roll," including Black Sabbath, Credence Clearwater Revival and Talking Heads.
But again, though "Beauty and the Beat" culls stylistically from other, vintage sounds, Edan peppers the album with his own advanced, individual touches. Live Moog synthesizers bleed tracks together as consecutive songs seamlessly transition from one to the next, an effect rarely seen in hip-hop production. On "Rock and Roll," he melts crispy guitar licks together, sets them on top of watery live drums, and somehow manages to form an unmistakable hip-hop beat.
Like "Plus," the production and beats are outstanding on "Beauty," but it is Edan's development as a lyricist that is the album's most fascinating feature. Whereas Edan depicts himself as a mischievous goofball on "Plus," his rhymes are more complex and weightier on "Beauty."
"I smacked a 40-oz. out of a young man's hand / and fed him lessons of life to formulate a plan / I wore the Prime Meridian as a wrist band / and gave away my riches but still remained a rich man / I thought of freedom and I jetted to the promised land," he spits on the utopian "Promised Land," sharply and deliberately forcing each syllable out of his mouth.
"I was being playful for a while, and I felt that there's more to what I did than just being playful," Edan said of his lyrical maturation. "As an artist and someone who wants to challenge himself, I owe it to myself to try and go beyond that."
One Man Arsenal
This ambition extends to his live show. Having shared the stage with artists like Sage Francis and set to embark on a national tour with Prefuse 73 in May, he is by some standards a seasoned veteran at this point in his career, and his experience on stage has rendered him an irresistible performer.
"I just try to entertain, man," Edan said simply. "I've done a few shows, so I realize that I can't rely on some sort of nuance in the song to spark your interest, so I gotta actually do something that's going to capture somebody's attention."
Past antics include on-the-spot freestyles, leap-of-faith stage dives, and a bevy of bizarre instruments that all eventually get played. On the rider for tonight's show are a theremin (a primitive electronic instrument), an electric-acoustic guitar, 20 fresh-cut, full-blooming flowers, and steamrolling hype-man Dagha to make sure everything gets put to good use.
But the live act is just one aspect of an entire hardworking, unorthodox, innovative musician who is equal parts jocund perfectionist, meticulous producer, fiery performer, and classically-trained hip-hopper. Edan brings an entire eccentric arsenal of occasionally contradictory but never awkward influences, skills and ideas to Hotung tonight.
In his own humble words, "I'm not just playing the beat, standing there like an a-hole."
