Since it became a petri dish of musical cross-pollination, the Valley has seen its share of bands rise to confront the challenge of the national stage. From Amherst/Westfield indie-rock to Northampton alt-country to Springfield metal, occasionally a part of the scene prospers to the point it tosses up its bravest, most willing tour warriors to face their fortunes with the fickle. From there they either spread their wings and fly, returning only rarely to play one of the bigger venues, or come limping back 10 pounds lighter with hangovers, scabies and a doughnut spare tire on the foul-smelling tour van.
The last few years have seen the gelling of a local hip-hop scene that, perhaps thanks to the unique makeup of the Valley's populations, has succeeded in spanning age groups, racial boundaries and a chunk of geography that seems to include more than just a couple of Pioneer Valley cities and towns. While the styles of this burgeoning movement range widely from straight rap to Latin- and reggae-influenced versions or even metal-edged beats and rhymes, a sense of community and commonality has been forming among MCs from Amherst to Agawam. Paving the way are a few select acts, including a fresh posse of verbalicious concept artists who call themselves The Problemaddicts.
Though The Problemaddicts are at least half made up of conspicuously Caucasian fellows, they've done an admirable job of not only assembling their own collection of respectable rhymes but, like Eminem or the Beastie Boys before them, also forging lasting, positive connections with the African-American majority of national hip-hop culture, inside and outside the band. Fortunately, music is one of the few languages that can speak coherently to all ears, and though elements of racism have plagued the music industry since its inception (the controversial exclusion of of rap videos at the advent of MTV comes to mind), the sharper share of artists and even some industry types have come to recognize that talent and message are the primary commodities in a business that purports to be about universal communication.
The Problemaddicts clearly understand this—to the point that they've penned a bordering-on-brilliant tune ("I'll be White Black") that deconstructs just about any notion of black and white differences or juxtapositions that may ever have existed, from milk in your coffee to the Chicago White Sox/"Black Sox".
Fresh off a win for best hip-hop act in the Valley Advocate's Grand Band Slam (the live performance of which comes to both the Pines Theater and The Elevens on Saturday, Sept. 8), the barely one-year-old band has just emerged from the sound-proofed chambers of Amherst's Northfire Recording Studio, where they've been putting the finishing touches on their debut full-length, The First Step. The 15-track effort is the latest release on the Mystika Music label, a local indie founded by Problemaddicts core members Tone and DJ Theory.
The label recently secured global distribution through Red Line Music Distribution, a company that already has Mystika's Western New England Hip-Hop Compilation in stores from Europe to Japan, as well as most Newbury Comics locations and web-based music hubs such as www.undergroundhiphop.com. The compilation itself seems to have done a lot to help solidify a common cause in the area's hip-hop scene—the disc contains a hearty 28 cuts and represents a cross-section of artists from Vermont to Connecticut.
The First Step is a combination of MPC (short for Music Production Center, an industry standard drum machine/sampler/sequencer)-based sampled beats, bass lines and some live instrumentation (mostly keyboard), soaked in occasional vocal melodies. The tracks are peppered with smart, keep-up-if-you-can ADD rhyme assaults, Hawaii Five-O theme bites and a stoney mock game show hosted by a character named "Jack Jackington." Tone and Theory are accompanied on the album by fellow crew members (Jason) Vorheez, Black Buddha, Force (also of local band The Alchemystics) and 1ne Man Sound, who doubles as Theory's co-conspirator in the project Lyke Minds. As is customary in the hip-hop world, the release is also chock full of guest appearances, most notably by O.D.B. homie Tash (of the Alkaholiks), old-school cred-meister and Juice Crew veteran Masta Ace, and even a track ("Check Mate") featuring the Grammy-nominated California artist Planet Asia. Ray Hendricks, of the Ray Hendricks Revival, also appears on the disc. Tone/Theory claim most of the production credits, while engineering duties on the disc are chalked up to Northfire's amply be-dreaded Garrett Sawyer.
DJ Theory (a.k.a. Jake Krauth) is a Valley mainstay whose fingers have been in many a musical pie in the area, himself a three-time Advocate Best DJ winner and a hard-working veteran of the Springfield/Northampton club scene. He's made a name through dance nights at area hotspots like Springfield's Cobalt and Northampton's Bishop's Lounge. He's also had a hand in the production of several tracks on the compilation disc, as well as the various groups and projects that he's more personally involved in. Not surprisingly, his demeanor is naturally producer-like—musical arrangement, perception of details, and an air of perfectionist control characterize not only his work but his personality, too. One might be tempted to call him the "Dr. Dre" figure in Problemaddicts lore.
Tone is an Amherst native who now makes his home in urban south Jersey, a location that has allowed him to access the more big-league hip-hop markets of New York and Philadelphia. Tone seems to represent the wilder, more playful side of the group, equally at home honing studio tracks as freestyling at a wall-to-wall after-party at 3:30 a.m. He's not quite as clownish as a Flava Flav, but neither is he as threatening as a Tupac or an Eazy E. Regardless, his lyrical gifts are considerable, and well worth the listen if you're an appreciator of mental dodgeball and complex verbal acrobatics.
Problemaddicts'/Lyke Minds' 1ne Man sound provides some of the dopest lyrical rhythms on the disc; his delivery is not only the most easy-flowing and natural-sounding, but he seems equipped with ample amounts of skill and attitude. In the meantime, guest-star Ray Hendricks even lays down some full-on Stevie Wonder-style melodic silk on the track "Keep On," which sounds undeniably professional. Vorheez (formerly of Lords of tha Fly) and Black Buddha (multiple freestyle contest winner and former WSKB DJ) trade machine-gun Eminem-style rhythms and chunky Biggie Smalls baritones that round out a five-man posse of extreme stylistic variety. This is a good thing for them—as the Problemaddicts themselves acknowledge in what sounds like a potential single, "Rappers are Repetitive." That's especially relevant if you've ever been to a live show where cloned MCs sling similarly tired urban clichés around like they just learned the word "eloquence,"and base their credibility on who they roll with and how many ounces of gold are hanging around their necks, or how many ounces of weed are back at the crib. Variety is a quality The Problemaddicts possess that will surely serve them well.
The Problemaddicts have a tour slated to bring them to Portland, Maine, Burlington, Boston, New York City and Philadelphia, but they're launching out of the starting gate right here in the 413 with a CD release party at Northampton's Iron Horse Music Hall Friday, Sept. 7. A Southern tour is also planned for November with fellow Northfire-produced artists The Alchemystics, whose ubiquitous Valley presence in the last year or two has made them something of a rallying point for like-minded musicians of every stripe who want to push local music forward, upward and outward. Check them out and wish them luck—we may not see them for a while.?
