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Back in '07, I put up a review of The Wilhelm Scream, an album from a kid out of Chicago by way of Gary, Indiana, going by the name of Ill Eagle the Anti-Rapper. The review ended up generating a fair amount of feedback, with opinions split almost evenly between "Love" and "Hate." While I was a big fan of the album, the backlash wasn't entirely surprising to me; no one denied Ill Eagle's talent as an emcee, but his beat selection, which veered well into hipster territory, was another matter entirely. Now a year later, Eagle's followed up his debut with another album that I've thoroughly enjoyed, yet fully expect will lead to the same split in consensus.
The album's named The Stendhal Syndrome, which Wikipedia defines as "a psychosomatic illness that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to art, usually when the art is particularly 'beautiful' or a large amount of art is in a single place." It's a lofty title to live up to, but as with his previous album, Ill Eagle puts so much effort into experimenting with the whole concept of what constitutes "hip hop" that a case certainly could be made for this falling into the category of avant-garde. While most of the independent artists that I feature on this site tend to stick with the more traditional approach to hip hop (and I love them for that), Ill Eagle is one of the few unsigned rappers I've come across who has embraced the music's shift away from the 'boom bap' sound and managed to leverage that shift in sound to create some really good music that draws influence from several other genres.
It's a safe bet that, whatever opinion you had of Ill Eagle after listening to his first album, you will likely hold that opinion even more strongly after hearing The Stendhal Syndrome. From rapping over beats from Justice, to the borderline emo lyricism, there's plenty for the traditionalists to be unhappy with. Yet if you're able to look past that, you'll find a surprisingly capable emcee who can switch from punch lines to (mock) gangsta lyrics at a moment's notice, dropping more than a few lines that will make you laugh out loud. As for the beats, while there's a lot more club-oriented material than I would normally like, they actually work quite well with Eagle's delivery. And it's worth noting, even if Ill Eagle himself never does, that he was rapping over electronica/club beats long before Busta and Kanye ever thought of sampling Daft Punk. Whether that's a decision to be commended I'll leave up to the listener, but at the very least Eagle deserves credit for being ahead of the game.
Here are a few tracks from the album:
Ill Eagle - I Hate Mixtapes
Ill Eagle - I Still Like Grime!
Ill Eagle - He Sounds Like Eminem
For a link to download The Stendhal Syndrome for free, head on over to Ill Eagle's MySpace page.
7/22/2007 08:35:01 PM posted by Fresh