{"id":15020,"date":"2014-07-24T15:33:55","date_gmt":"2014-07-24T20:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=15020"},"modified":"2014-07-24T15:35:52","modified_gmt":"2014-07-24T20:35:52","slug":"birmingham-hip-hop-the-green-seed-live-at-proud-larrys-july-25-with-fadetoblaq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/birmingham-hip-hop-the-green-seed-live-at-proud-larrys-july-25-with-fadetoblaq\/","title":{"rendered":"Birmingham Hip-Hop: The Green Seed Live at Proud Larry’s July 25 with Fadetoblaq"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TheGreenSeed\"<\/a><\/strong><\/span>This article originally appeared in <\/em>The Local Voice #208. <\/em>
\nTo download a PDF of this issue, click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

The Green Seed<\/strong>\u2019s new release, Drapetomania<\/em><\/strong> (pronounced druh-pet-oh-may-nee-uh)<\/em>\u00a0has all the gusto and urgency of a debut. Brimming with lyrics of fury courtesy of emcees R-Tist<\/strong> and C.O.M.P.L.E.T.<\/strong>, the stabbing attacks of dynamic DJ duo FX<\/strong> and Jeff C<\/strong>, and a lush soundworld layered with rich textures and trunk-rattling beats.\u00a0Drapetomania<\/em>\u00a0is a feast for the ears\u2014a\u00a0Loveless<\/em>\u00a0for heads steeped in\u00a0Buhloone Mind State<\/em>\u00a0(and vice versa).<\/span><\/p>\n

R-Tist has long been a fantastic producer\u2014one who mixes MPC mastery with live instrumentation. Still, joining forces with the production crew at Birmingham-based label Communicating Vessels<\/strong>\u2014namely producer Jeffrey Cain<\/strong>, engineer Kyle Ginther<\/strong>, and mastering guru Paul Logus<\/strong>\u2014has taken his beats to dizzying new heights. You\u2019d be forgiven for thinking that\u00a0Drapetomania<\/em>\u00a0wasn\u2019t the product of the Dirty South rather than the blunted grit of J Dilla<\/strong>\u2019s Detroit or the otherworldly productions of Lex Records. But\u00a0Drapetomania<\/em>\u00a0is no homage\u2014it\u2019s a unique blend of heart, laughter, and guts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking of Lex Records,\u00a0Drapetomania<\/em>\u00a0is also a feast for eyes thanks to the astounding artwork of enigmatic art collective EHQuestionmark<\/strong>\u2014the design collective behind much of Lex\u2019s output, including records by Shape of Broad Minds<\/strong>, Neon Neon<\/strong>, and DOOM<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, it was EHQuestionmark who suggested the album title: Drapetomania<\/em> is a bit of 19th century pseudoscience\u2014the \u201cdisorder\u201d causing a slave\u2019s urge to flee. The idea of drapetomania inspired the eerily psychedelic minstrels that adorn the album\u2019s artwork, which looks especially striking as an LP. With that last conceptual detail in place,\u00a0Drapetomania<\/em>\u00a0gained extra heft as a work of art, though none of that matters without the strong material that lives within the grooves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vinyl was always in mind when\u00a0The Green Seed\u00a0created\u00a0Drapetomania<\/em>. Not only does\u00a0The Green Seed\u00a0want listeners to revel in the warm sonics, they want to take them on a ride. <\/span><\/p>\n

Drapetomania<\/em>\u00a0often contemplates bondage\u2014artistic, romantic, etc.\u2014but, ultimately, it\u2019s a soundtrack to Freedom\u2026 And whatever comes next. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"GreenSeedBlocks\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared in The Local Voice #208. To download a PDF of this issue, click here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":15023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-shows"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/GreenSeedFeat.jpg?fit=620%2C349&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}