After we‘ve scrutinized his author in our April XXL interview, it is now time to examine The Emperor’s Clothes in details to tell the world how much we care for Scalper’s music and how precious this kind of LP could be for the genre it represents. The album itself was composed over a 2 year period of time. It is its author’s third personal LP and it is out, which is a good news, on excellent French Jarring Effects from Lyon. This should be no surprise because this label had to deal in the past with artists who could be considered by Scalper as soulmates or brothers in arms such as Moodie Black or Dälek (a band for which he opened on May 1st in London). The LP was first out for the Record Store Day and is now in shops in both LP and Cd format. It is very unlikely this record finds its way to the popular charts and supermarkets, let’s be clear, though it is in itself an important album both for hip hop future perspectives and his author.
First thing it illustrates is hip hop acts can age well and turn into something different (and better) than their initial anger-driven energy. Rap is not condemned to gangsta or Mafioso rap. We already knew intelligent hip hop but Scalper is more than that: he initiates a vein or tradition through which hardcore rap turns into a mix of world, trip-hop and blues influences we had never heard up before. What ‘s the common point between this young guy frontsinging with Fun Da Mental in 1998, this man screaming like a mad man over infrabasses armada in 2nd Gen and today’s Shamanic Scalper ? That’s simply the same man and you should not think anger and fighting spirit have disappeared because the form has radically changed. The Emperor’s Clothes is full of combative, inspiring, semi mystical and hardcore wisdom and that’s why it is truly impressive. The man has lost nothing of his former vigor but fully achieved to transform it into a more constructive and abstract mode. Through that move, Nadeem Shafi helps to solve one of modern rap massive problems which is how to keep in touch with its own past (and audience!). We’ve heard the new De La Soul song and we’ve seen what’s left of the Wu. We’ve witnessed how difficult it is for famous acts like NTM or IAM to find something relevant to say (and a way to say it) when their audience has mostly vanished into family men or turned towards ridiculous “variété” because that’s what you need to survive your own life without asking too much questions. The Emperor’s Clothes is an interesting album because it shows hip hop music can still be relevant and highly radical when using other means than anger and excitation. Songs here concentrate on a major philosophical rant against our overconsuming society illusions. That’s all it is about from the Illusionary Atmospheres single to the final and amazing title song, which is probably the most intelligent and amazing hip hop song we’ve heard for the last 5 years, through the not less fantastic Puppets. Scalper talks about masks, false dreams, citizen blindness but also about legitimate anger and revolt we shoud feel to have been turned into consuming machines or puppets by our own weaknesses or tormentors. Metaphors are powerful and poetical lyrics interact perfectly with complex and primary arrangements or beats.
Scalper’s previous work, Butchers Bakers, was an amazing record but The Emperor’s Clothes is better because it digs deeper and deeper into our occidental psyche and musically needs almost nothing to produce a massive reaction. Arrangements and beats are sometime reduced to mostly nothing : a heartbeat, a pulse or traditional string instrument. It is bare to the bone, like it is on Phantom Ghost or the country blues Perfect Fix (which is not our favorite piece here), and suddenly expands into something beautiful and emotional when, for example, crossing through female haunting friendly voices. We have the remarkable Lullaby close to the end and the highly erotic and semi divine Perfume which would be perfect to illustrate a French luxury cosmetics campaign. My Blood Your Blood stands on its own as the album centerpiece. It is a song which articulates the political and intimate dimensions and somehow gives the keys to Scalper’s universe. Though he is no guru or whatever thing this term can hide, there is a sacrificial and messianic figure behind the man. The whole LP is hypnotic, terrifying and soulful. Beats are as dark and heavy as in Massive Attack ‘s Mezzanine. It reminds Tricky for the threat and Mau’s Earthling for agility and literary qualities. What strikes here is the complete commitment of the body and soul into the music and singing. As a writer, Scalper sounds as gifted and talented as, say, Anthony Joseph, but he is more precise and perpetually inspires danger and radicality when Joseph is comforting and more suitable for a popular audience. Scalper sings with a sparkle in his eyes which says he is not doing this for money or fun, nor for glory or future (re)assessment. What he sings about is a question of life and death. That’s what we can expect from hip hop and the very sense why it has emerged 30 years ago: the need to exist in present time, the need to scream and shout, the need to denounce and to stand against what is unfair or treacherous, the need to think against the evidence.
The Emperor’s Clothes is a LP difficult to escape. Between the loony Lunatics groove and the haunting title song laughing, this is music for our tormented times and one of the best hip hop records you’ll hear this year. As we hate to use too many superlatives in a row, this LP could have done with a few extra tracks. Scalper could be the future of dark reflexive hip hop. Spread the word.
Source
www.sunburnsout.com/scalper-the-emperor-s-clothes-jarring-effects/
released May 25, 2015
