The Echo Chamber Blog

I’ve been waiting for this one for a while. I’ve spoken at length many times about my affinity for producer x emcee collaboration albums, so I’ll spare that diatribe for now, but Quadrofiendia fits the mold perfectly. Uncommon Records out of S.I. NY just released this 15-track gem today, which is ready for your immediate download. $8 bucks, or $7 for a hard copy, will get you Agartha Audio (Dig Dug) and Denku’s travels into prog-rap-meets-boom-bap-meets-anger-meets-bars. Denku has bars. Upon bars. He reminds me a little of Rhode Island’s Milez Grimez for the fact that they both roast cats on the freestyle and battle tip and have an in-your-face anger with their delivery on wax. Like Grimez, Denku has punchlines for days that’ll leave even the most anti-rap human with permanent gas face.

The musical prowess doesn’t start or end with Taiyamo, because he and Dig Dug feed off one another to make a cohesive album. As someone who receives at least three new Dig Dug tracks every month (hit him up, Beat of the Month Clubs will son your book club), I can hear his patented sound throughout, but never does a song sound so much like a previous track do I have to double-check my iTunes to make sure it didn’t have a seizure. The Bay Area beatmaker should be on everyone’s list of producers to check out if you’re still in the don’t-know. But if you’re in the know, then you’ve paid attention during TECB’s lesson plans.

And for that I thank you.

Back in April I posted “Road is Ruff” off of this album, which included Sadat X and Craig G. The guest list to Quadrofiendia is on some V.I.P. shit. Including those two indie rap O.G.s, a litany of emcees like Vast Aire, Shyheim the Man Child, Masai Bey, L.I.F.E. Long, Atari Blitzkrieg, Teddy Faley, Illogic, and more come through and share the spotlight with Agartha Audio and Taiyamo Denku. There’s enough guest spots to hear other cats shed some proverbial light on their songs, but it isn’t and overdose, no guest spots just for the sake of guest spots.

I don’t want to give too much away, but trust when I say it was worth the wait and well worth the $7 for the CD. But here is the first song I heard off this album, which was on Uncommon Records’ SXSW sampler, “Unhandled Crossing.”

Now get over to Amazon or Bandcamp and click the mouse on “buy.” And wait until you hear the verses from Teddy Faley and Atari Blitzkrieg on their respective tracks. I threw my laptop against the wall in utter approval.

Filed under: Album Talk/Review, Hip-Hop, Music | Tagged: Agartha Audio, Atari Blitzkrieg, Craig G, Dig Dug, L.I.F.E. Long, Masai Bey, Milwaukee Hip-Hop, New York Hip Hop, Progressive Hip-Hop, Quadrofiendia, Sadat X, Taiyamo Denku, Teddy Faley, Vast Aire | 1 Comment »