REVIEW: Freestylers, We Rock Hard (Mammoth)
- Tim Mohr
Freestylers manage to throw together an extremely compelling vision of Ragga-inflected Brit-hop from a palette of samples lifted from some of the most vital American hip-hop records of yore. In the first few songs you'll pick up collages of Public Enemy (all taken from It Takes a Nation of Millions ) as well as the same Ultramagnetic MCs song that The Prodigy used for "Smack My Bitch Up."
The lead single, "B-Boy Stance" is as good as the best that Big Beat has yet mustered--taking the swaggering Jamaican style of Fatboy Slim's "Gangster Tripping" or Monkey Mafia's "Work Mi Body" to the next level. And songs like "Ruffneck," "Dancehall Vibes," and "Warning" (set afire by a speeding, full-throttle drum n' bass-style bass line) are just as infectious. "Don't Stop" sounds like the Lo Fidelity Allstars--a vocoderized voice ranting atop bass-supplemented Old School.
Though We Rock Hard is undeniably up-to-date, Freestylers obviously adore vintage hip-hop. "Breaker Beats" opens with a sampled introduction to an old break dancing performance, and Freestylers' live shows revolve around the phenomenal stage presence of neo-break dancers. The title track is an electro workout and features Soul Sonic Force in an effective combination of contemporary British beat and genuine American Old School.
Still, what makes the record really rock hard--and it does--is the hopped-up sub-bass that propels almost every track. The depth of bass is kin to that on the most speaker-torturing dubplates, but without the incessant titter of treble that can send you running from a drum n' bass club after an hour. The wide variety of breaks and hip-hop drums are much more varied than on the first Chemical Brothers or Fatboy albums. And the mixture of raggamufin and hip-hop as musical base works more effectively here than on earlier attempts to unite the styles (such as KRS-One appearing on a Shabba Ranks track nearly a decade ago). Freestylers should be one of the soundtracks to the summer, the rudeboy elements just right for dispelling the heat while the electro and hip-hop trappings keep the crowds bouncing.
