If Hip-Hop were high school, Themselves members Doseone (MC) and Jel (producer) would be the kids that show up during third period, leave each class five minutes early to smoke cigarettes, and hit up the local house parties only to pour beer down the captain of the cheerleading team’s shirt. Followers of standards they are not. As a result, many critics and purists have denounced the members of the Anticon collective in past years, or just acted like they never existed in the first place.

And the rapper/producer duo is not happy about it. Having spent the last seven or so years progressing into music that can barely be compared to the experimental Hip-Hop which Anticon was founded upon, the group has returned with an aggressively-toned mixtape with a message: we can still make rap music.

But, with Dose’s overly-high pitched voice storming at a mile-a-minute pace over Jel’s beats that range from drum-heavy to synthy to simple (and rarely repetitive), fans of Hip-Hop may have a problem with this being defined as the same genre of art they consider to be their favorite. The ‘three 16-bar verses linked by catchy hooks over a looping beat’ formula is not experimented with here, it’s just downright ignored. And while the assortment of guests adds variety to the verbal output (theFREEhoudini plays more like a compilation for Anticon artists and friends than just a Themselves release), a lot is lost in the delivery. Often the rapping is buried under the production, and other times it’s too damn fast to comprehend, at least without many, many listens through a good set of headphones.

But the mixtape is saved by the perfectly tailored music that backs up each respective feature, as if the beats were made specifically for the guests (which, apparently, was the case). The heavy ‘Know That to Know This’ with Aesop Rock sounds like it could be an album cut off any of the Def Jux MC’s solo efforts, and the Sole-dominated ‘1 for No Money’ includes the dark production that suits him perfectly. ‘Kick the Ball,’ with Canadian rapper Buck 65, contains a boom-bap vibe that pays homage to the old school, the very topic Buck spent much of his last solo LP tackling. A set of freestyles also adds some Hip-Hop-inspired fun to the mix, as Dose condemns other rappers for just about anything he can think of off the top of the head.

Although theFREEhoudini won’t have MTV calling or cause die-hard fans of a Busta Rhymes or a Jadakiss to check Themselves out on tour, it will satisfy the duo’s following and provide a taste of what’s to come on their upcoming album, Crownsdown. And it will remind the collective’s followers that the founders of Anticon can still make rap music. No matter how you define ‘rap.’

RELATED POSTS:

No related posts.