Reppin’ the realms of the unreal. Credit: Tyler Soverns

With Mad Rad’s debut CD, White Gold, something radically new
appears on the local hiphop scene. The trio (Terry Radjaw, Buffalo
Madonna, P Smoov) have produced a hiphop record that is as good as (but
is very different from) the great albums released this year by Common
Market, the Gigantics, and Jake One. Mad Rad’s hiphop is local in terms
of place but national in terms of content; it has more to do with the
Cool Kids (Chicago) or Spank Rock (Philadelphia) than with Seattle’s
Sabzi and Vitamin D. What distinguishes Mad Rad from their 206
contemporaries? Common Market, for example, are hiphop without a second
thought; Mad Rad, like the Cool Kids and Spank Rock, are about hiphop
with second, third, and fourth thoughts. Their music reflects and
reformulates the standards and tropes of this first-thought hiphop.
However, Mad Rad do not simply reframe hiphop, the trio also advance
the possibilities and range of those standards and tropes. In short,
Mad Rad are at once reflexive and innovative.

It’s easy to dismiss Mad Rad as “hipster hop,” but there are several
difficulties with this easy dismissal. For one, the music they make is
not bust or weak. The level of imagination that went into White
Gold is impressive. The dreamy “Sellabration,” the crunking “Donut
Truck,” the Neptunish/new wavish “Glitzerland,” the booty bumping
“Superdope”—though each references this or that beat mode or rap
style, each is a great tune on its own. One doesn’t listen to the
simulation of crunk in “Donut Truck,” one listens to the track itself,
to its accelerations and declarations, its rolling bass-deep beat, and
its space-robot effects. To denounce Mad Rad as hipsters, then, is to
ignore or duck the fact that they have a lot of talent. Also, one of
the members of Mad Rad, P Smoov, has paid his hiphop dues, producing
more traditional hiphop for rapper Rik Rude (the two are currently
finishing a project called Fresh Espresso).

Another point to make: Even though similarities exist between Mad
Rad and, say, Spank Rock, there are also significant differences. For
one, Spank Rock’s music is a full immersion into ghetto tech or booty
hop. Their reference of the real thing is so perfect that there is
little or no distinction from the simulation to the real. The only way
you can tell Spank Rock (the pure simulation) apart from Khia or 2 Live
Crew (the more real) is by name. Indeed, the place 2 Live Crew have in
an upcoming show that features Mad Rad could easily have been replaced
by Spank Rock. Who would notice the difference in sound and content?
The two are the same, with the exception that one is primary and the
other is not.

Mad Rad are not merely making crunk or ghetto tech or booty hop or
dirty disco or party rap, but instead combining and recombining these
subgenres. Mad Rad share this commitment to innovation (instead of pure
simulation) with Champagne Champagne, a local crew that also mix and
remix all sorts of beats and pieces. For example, on “Tropical Trina,”
Champagne Champagne transform the lively beats of Paul Simon’s “The
Obvious Child” into a “dusty but digital” ode to a sad but dreamy
girl.

As for their raps, Mad Rad’s boasting and dirty rhymes take us back
to a time when raps were not about real wealth or real sex. Back in the
day, it was understood that the rapper did not have “checkbooks, credit
cards/more money than a sucker could ever spend.” The rapper was
“bragging about the things [he] ain’t got” (to use the words of Roxanne
Shante). And so if boasting was really about how far the imagination
could go, what kind of life could you imagine if you had immense wealth
and fame? These days, however, if someone like Jay-Z raps: “I got
watches I ain’t seen in months/Apartment at the Trump I only slept in
it once,” we know without a doubt that he does have “more money than a
sucker could ever spend.” Or if Pharrell (leader of the superpopular
production team the Neptunes) raps, “My dick is being sucked by a bitch
called what now?” we believe what he is saying—a person as famous
and adored as Pharrell might be unable to keep track of exactly who is
sucking his dick now. Us ordinary types, on the other hand, we always
know who is sucking our dicks; we know their name and very much hope
that some day they will be kind enough to do it again.

When P Smoov of Mad Rad raps, with Jay-Z-like cadence and
expressions, “Cook it up, package it, put it on the block/They call me
poultry ’cause all these chickens on my cock,” we know that this is in
the realm of creative boasting—boasting that has no consideration
or ties to reality, boasting as play. Even underground rap has a strong
commitment to speaking the truth. RA Scion’s whole album Tobacco
Road is practically a historical document. It has real people, real
situations, real concerns. The same could be said about Grynch,
D.Black, Blak, Eyedea, and many, many others—they rhyme about
real situations, places, and people. Mad Rad and Champagne Champagne
abandon reality for the pure pleasures of play and self-exaggeration.
recommended

Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory...

17 replies on “2 Cool Crews”

  3. mad rad and champagne champagne are awesome. they put on such a great live show with tons of energy. i see both of these bands going places.

  4. I think I would appreciate it if Mad Rad would “abandon reality” less so I didn’t have to see their ugly posters everywhere in the neighborhood…. and comparing these guys to Spank Rock & the Cool Kids is an insult to the East Coast… well I guess you could compare them to the Cool Kids since the Cool Kids did make songs about bicycles waaayyy before these guys…

    It’s okay though, the Mercer/Vashon Island transplants you are playing to haven’t heard of them yet, so enjoy your 15 minutes! Just remember that sometimes the STD’s last a lifetime!!

  6. If you don’t think these kids have talent, just try sitting in the same room with them sometime. Surreal doesn’t even begin to describe it.

  9. “The only way you can tell Spank Rock (the pure simulation) apart from Khia or 2 Live Crew (the more real) is by name“ This statement is evidence you have very little knowledge of Spank Rock. Sure, the Bangers & Cash EP is interchangeable with 2 Live Crew, but that is because it is a tribute to 2 Live Crew, so much so in fact that it borders on collaboration (note the writing credits). What you need to understand is that Spank Rock is a group (Spank Rock (the MC), Armani XXXchange, Chris Rockswell, Ronnie Darkothe) where as the Bangers & Cash EP is by Spank Rock (the MC, not the group) and Benny Blanco. So, yeah, the EP that Spank Rock did with a bunch of 2 Live Crew samples with a album cover that is a parody of a 2 Live crew album cover? Totally interchangeable with 2 Live Crew. The Spank Rock album? Not so much.

    To say that Mad Rad are Hip-Hop mavericks because they buck the Hip-Hop status quo by not “keeping it real” is not a very good declaration of their originality. The fact that the term “keeping it real” was coined is evidence that there was a large majority of rappers that were not keeping it real. To denounce Mad Rad as hipsters is not to “ignore or duck the fact that they have a lot of talent” it is a simple statement that they are a part of “a youth subculture that mirrors the doomed shallowness of mainstream society.”, if want to talk about their talent, then sure, they are talented entertainers, and talented imitators. While that might make their show a fun night at the club, it doesn’t really make for an interesting album that bears repeated listens nor does it mean their live show is anything more than a weak substitute for something that is otherwise unavailable locally. If Spank Rock, or Grand Buffet, or the Cool Kids had a show on the same night as Mad Rad, their talented imitation might not hold up to the real thing.

  11. the guys from Mad Rad are far more than just entertainers. they’re talented musicians. Terry Radjaw is a dope emcee and P Smoov is an incredible producer. they completely captivate the audience and their fans are hardcore supporters. they’re quickly becoming one of the most in demand groups in the city.

  13. Something new? Have you heard of Sofcon or MC Confuz or Datz Cold or any of those clowns? We’ve already had a bunch of these artschool fucks come thru and think that they’re the only ones smart enough to have fun and do coke.

  14. This article speaks little of the true talent in Seattle- Champagne Champagne! They go above and beyond the term “hipster hop” and are redefining music as a whole. There live shows are always a great time and I recommend everyone go see them!

  15. 1.i dont know i kind of feel like mad rad might not be able to keep track of just exactly who is sucking their cock,

    2.and molly ringwald by champagn champagne kicked ass

    3.i left after 2live crew got skanky hipsters on stage to “do freaky things” and was both disgusted but strangely impressed with them that drunk chicks will still do whatever the guy on stage wants; refer to comment one.

Comments are closed.