J. Rocc- Some Cool Rock Stuff
Contrary to the title, there is no rock on this album, just unadulterated hip hop. It’s the work of a talented DJ stringing together samples to create some great beats. These aren’t emotional in the same way that J Dilla’s were, nor as lush as The Avalanches, but they stick closer to hip hop tradition than anything I’ve reviewed so far.
Just to give an example of what I mean by “traditional,” when DJ Kool Herc (see J Dilla review) started looping for the first time, he would loop sections of songs like James Brown’s “Funky Drummer” where all the instruments dropped out and it was just the drums, the “drum break,” from which we get “break dancing.” So the beat derived from that process has a certain sound, like the funkiness of the original was put on ice. Something is lost, but there’s something new in the mix.
Every beat on this album is that kind of beat, and I love it. I’ve always had a soft spot for a traditional break beat, ever since I was in high school, even before I started to listen to hip hop exclusively. I can still remember going through cross country practice listening to Eric B and Rakim, a golden age rap group whose beats are still revered. I wasn’t particularly concerned with the craft, but rather with that driving beat that had just that little something extra, like a high hat in a strange place or a hit on the snare at just the right time.
Comparing J Rocc’s beats to Eric B’s would be like comparing jug band jazz to big band jazz: one is stripped down, minimalist while the other is rich and layered. That’s not to say one is superior to the other, they’re just different, even if they do come from the same style of music, and one might be said to be “descended” from the other. I also have the feeling that just like those jug bands, if you gave Eric B the tools J Rocc has access to, he’d create something similar to the more modern DJ.
If J Rocc has one distinguishing feature as a DJ, it’s his willingness to explore foreign records. He loves digging for records in all the countries he visits, from Japan to Brazil. This gives him a much broader palette to work with, especially in terms of drums. In spite of all those foreign records though, the album still comes across as pure hip hop, which is amazing because he was able to pick out all these different parts and make them sing in harmony. And the result is interesting, fun and intriguing.
3/5 I like this album, but I don’t mind listening to an album that’s all beats. If you do, this isn’t the album to get you into that genre. But if you do like beats, this might be a fun album to check out.