John BookBesides writing about it, I’ve done my own music for the last nine years, making beats and dropping rhymes that have been compared to “doo doo” by some members of the RMHH newsgroup. My music has yet to gain recognition, but I’m happy with that. I then get a new album by a group calling themselves Hawd Gankstuh Rappuhs MC’s Wid Ghatz. It’s a trip to hear these guys, because they are signed to a label by doing music I’ve done for the last nine years. It’s a weird mix of tight and warped beats, and voices that are regular and altered. In other words, it’s that demented hip hop that you have tapes of in your closet when you were 12 years old and got your first cassette deck.
Am I jealous? No, because this three man crew are doing something that is so far removed from today’s hip hop marketplace, it will either gain massive fans or scare a lot of people away. Sadly, it might be the latter. “2 Hype 2 Wype” is a psychotic mix that might appeal to fans of MC Paul Barman. The Hawd Gankstuh Rappuhs rap about anything and everything, sometimes pulling things out of their lyrical bag that sounds like it came from some untouched village of weirdos, as is the case with “Hello, Don’t Be Afraid”:
“I like Coca-Cola and pretty girls
now we got a date, uh… don’t be late
You got nice skin, you would make a nice coat
How about I jump down your throat?
Come out your belly button, take out all your stuffin’
Probe and unload you, and turn you into my rug
Then I’ll be loungin’ in my coat of arms
With the hands attached, waiting for Jerry Springer to come back”
Forget women in hot pants, a Hawd Gankstuh Rappuhs video might consist of elderly teachers with thongs. Their music is very raw and unpolished, almost coming off as amateurish. Yet there is a sense of maturity in their childishness, as if they are testing you to see if you get their humor or not. Just look at the cover, an obvious parody of MIDNIGHT MARAUDERS. It definitely falls along the lines of Prince Paul’s sense of humor, but “2 Hype 2 Hype” is almost too uncool to be him.
Hawd Gankstuh Rappuhs sound like they grew up listening to Beck, Big Poo Generator, Puff Tube, James Brown, the Hemmorhoids, and somehow have been reincarnated as this weird incestual hip hop hybrid. The interludes don’t even begin to offer clues on what this group about, but I wouldn’t be surprised if these “rappuhs” are simply one man’s many personalities. You probably will not hear about this on TRL, you will not have Ja-Rule dropping a cameo on their album, but you do hear some guy sounding like The RZA rapping in reverse. This album is for those who still have a sense of humor, in a genre that often takes itself too seriously.