Steve 'Flash' JuonCeschi defies quick easy explanations. As a co-founder of Fake Four Inc. he and his label have championed the art of hip-hop for art’s sake, but even though many of the label’s acts are pigeonholed with “underground rap” that doesn’t fit Julio Ramos nearly as well. Sometimes he raps and sometimes he sings — and by sings I mean genuine crooning and not AutoTuning. In my college radio days he would have been pigeonholed as alternative rock, which goes to show just how expansive the definition of rap music has become, but when he says “fuck the police” he’s still channeling the same energy N.W.A did in the 1980’s. He’s got personal experience to back it up.
“For every bicycle in China there’s a cryogenically frozen embryo that will/wake up in a cold sweat, run around the Veteran’s Hospital wondering what gave birth to it.” Ceschi is a storyteller but with tracks like “Bite Through It” the story is particularly dystopian, with the rough edges being sanded off by the warm production of Factor Chandelier. The producer is a fellow Fake Four Inc. artist and it’s far from their first time working together, and that level of simpatico is helpful when trying to take Ceschi’s depths and bring them to the surface. Throughout “Broken Bone Ballads” he’s being purposefully rebellious and anti-authoritarian. “Lay my head to rest on a museum bench and hope/that they properly mummify me one day so generations can learn from my broken bones/dug from under man made mountains of ATM’s and motherboards.” You could call a track like “Beauty For Bosses” stream-of-consciousness, but that non-stop babble scoffs at cops and capitalism, so it’s definitely not unconscious. “If this is FREE, somebody beat the life out of me.”
It’s not surprising when he collaborates with equally outspoken and angst-ridden artists like Sage Francis on “Barely Alive.” It may be surprising that he lets Francis completely own the rapping part of this rap song, while Ceschi sounds more like a folk singer that time traveled from the 1960’s to the 2010’s and stayed a counter-culture activist in both eras. It’s perplexing for me to say I like this when a part of me knows instantly that a large number of rap fans might not think this is “rap” for anything other than Francis’ bars. It’s purposefully diametrically opposed to all rap sub-genres. Ceschi is not East coast, West coast, Dirty South, up North, trap, G-funk, afrocentric, Miami bass, drill, or anything else you can name. He’s DIFFERENT.
Aside from getting busted by the cops for marijuana possession, there may not be any tropes that fit Ceschi at all. The closest thing to a traditional rap song I can cite for you here is “Beyond the End,” but even here there’s a density of verbiage to rival Ras Kass or Illogic. “And I’m at a loss for words/searching for a thousand more ways to say that life is cruel and absurd, that it wasn’t your turn.” Brother, the one thing you are not is at a loss for words. If you can push through the depths of his lyrics you can find his experiences are more relatable than a lot of conspicuous consumption emcees. He’s talking about real emotions, heartbreak, and the stormy seas of life we all sail.
Recommending “Broken Bone Ballads” is tricky. I just can’t shake the feeling that 90% of the readers of this review won’t get it and won’t like it. Here’s the thing — that 10% that do are going to be left with an indelible memory of everything Mr. Ramos sings and says. The advantage of running your own label is that when you want to go far left of the mainstream, nobody is going to tell you to slow down or stop. You just do whatever the fuck you want to do, and Ceschi does.