El-P has one hell of a bullshit detector. And he just called me a liar. He says that he can tell from the sound of voice that I’m not “fine.” He’s right, a bout of insomnia had hit me the night before and I was exhausted, but as misery finds company, my sleepless night found El-P–I put his record on repeat, stared at the ceiling, and tried to drift off to sleep.
Preaching the end times
El-P has one hell of a bullshit detector. And he just called me a liar.
He says that he can tell from the sound of voice that I’m not “fine.” He’s right, a bout of insomnia had hit me the night before and I was exhausted, but as misery finds company, my sleepless night found El-P–I put his record on repeat, stared at the ceiling, and tried to drift off to sleep.
I should have known from the title of his album that El-P doesn’t make sleeping music.
I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead is the closest thing we have to a modern hip-hop masterpiece. It’s a buzzing, synth-fueled consideration of post-9/11 New York, fusing classic, bomb-heavy beats with a dense production style that leaves little room for breath. Paranoia and anger seeps through every one of El-P’s words, and tonight he will be preaching his end-time message at Berbati’s Pan.
El-P (real name: Jaime Meline) isn’t afraid to say what he thinks, and he certainly doesn’t shy away from depressing subject matter.
“I tend to always err on the darker side of things. I’m a very suspicious individual,” El-P said. “As eloquently as possible, I’m trying to capture human existence from my perspective.”
And his perspective on human existence is made of nightmares. He often raps in the guise of a future version of himself culled from the dystopian visions of sci-fi films such as Blade Runner (the film’s composer, Vangelis, is big influence on his production style).
El-P’s beats are often dense conglomerations of vintage synths and found sound samples. It’s this unnerving combination that is unique to El-P, perfectly made for him to wrap his quick-fire stream of wordplay around. It’s a distinctive sound for hip-hop.
“I just try to make shit that is simultaneously rooted in the b-boy upbringing that I had, and also at the same time, carving some spaces and bringing some elements into it that aren’t necessarily repetitive or expected,” El-P said. “I want to make great records, period.”
The rapper knows what he’s doing. He’s been creating records since the early ’90s, when he helped define the face of independent hip-hop as one-third of Company Flow. Later, after that group disbanded and he had a falling out with his label, Rawkus Records, El-P gained greater acclaim when he started his own label, Definitive Jux.
The label has defined independent hip-hop throughout the last decade, releasing groundbreaking music from the likes of Aesop Rock, RJD2 and Cannibal Ox. While his label’s music has found critical and commercial acceptance among indie-rock circles–and I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead has guest appearances from Trent Reznor, The Mars Volta and Cat Power among others–El-P maintains that he’s just making the music that he wants to make. Period.
“When you’re a hip-hop producer you have thousands of records that you listen to from all different genres and you’re constantly sampling them or listening to them for inspiration, or bringing them in. So it’s not so weird for me to bring people from other genres into my music. It’s the difference between sampling a record or actually collaborating with them,” El-P said. “Hip-hop is just a bastard convergence of different influences.”
Persona is an odd thing, and El-P’s self-construction on record is a curious mixture of personal struggles and the exploration of his life as a b-boy replicant trapped in the future. Often the two sides overlap, playing with reality at near filmic levels.
“Everyone constructs their persona–but whether or not that persona comes from their heart, or whether it’s completely made out of thin air is really the question,” El-P said, “I think that people know I’m not creating a persona out of thin air. I just am who I am.”
If there’s one thing El-P is sure of, if there’s one thing he repeats over and over again, if there’s one idea that all of his music focuses on, it’s that. He’s dead-set on being himself. Always and forever.
El-P with Dizzee Rascal
Tonight at Berbati’s Pan9:30 p.m., $20
El-P on Dizzee Rascal
On tour with El-P is label mate, and recent Definitive Jux signee, Dizzee Rascal, who’s famous for announcing the genre of “Grime” over in England. Rascal is currently one of hip-hop’s “it” kids, whose unique rough and ready garage-based sound has caught the ear of critics. Here’s what El-P had to say about his reasons for signing this U.K. import:
“I only sign shit that I think is amazing. Period. It’s a raw and it’s just, it’s a perfect fit [for Def Jux] in my mind,” El-P said. “I think it kind of raised an eyebrow for a lot of people, but once they thought about it, it sort of made sense.
“[Rascal] is just like super raw, with aggressive production. He makes honest records and he’s saying shit. He’s also got the classic hip-hop swagger. I just feel like he has a new sound that’s exciting, we’re always looking for something that perks our ears up and Dizzee’s just got that, he’s just got something. He’s a star. It just made perfect sense to me.”
