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Though I don't hear from them too often, I have a couple of friends over in Europe that I occasionally hit up for new music from the other side of the Atlantic to see what the state of hip hop is in countries outside of North America. Every few months I get a package of cds filled with European (primarily French) rap, and though there have been a handful of gems discovered, most of it hasn't been the type of music that I felt would generate much interest among the readership of this site. The latest batch of overseas albums, however, included an album from a Belgian rapper named King Lee, titled Les 400 Blowz, which was perhaps the most creative effort that I had heard from any rapper out of Europe in years.
Originally performing under the name L'Enfant Pave, King Lee began his career as an emcee with one of the first Belgian hip hop groups, Starflam, in the late '90s. I am, admittedly, no expert on the Belgian hip hop scene, but the fact that the group's bio page includes the comment that, "Record firms still look at Belgian [hip hop] bands often as a good tax deduction," suggests that he is something of a large fish in a very small pond. His album Les 400 Blowz, named after the classic French film Les Quatre Cents Coups (literally, "The Four Hundred Blows," though it translates roughly as "killing time") about a misunderstood kid who gets caught up in the French judicial system after a series of misdemeanors, has a rather eclectic sound, with a tracklist built around everything from G-Funk inspired beats to experimental instrumentals that could have come from an RJD2 album, throwback electro sounds from the '80s to one Haitian song that I thought must have been produced by Wyclef Jean (it wasn't, but it sounded similar enough to something on the Carnival that I had to check the credits to make sure).
If King Lee were rapping along to the beats in English, rather than his native French, I have no doubt that this album would gain a fair amount of attention among the underground scene. Yet as it is, the beats, though quite good by any standard, probably aren't enough to warrant a purchase if you don't speak the language (unless you are particularly curious about foreign hip hop). And I must confess, even though my French is good enough to understand most of Lee's rhymes, it's hard for me to appreciate any emcee who doesn't use English, as the flow typically doesn't sound as connected to the beat in any other language. French-speaking emcees in particular, with a few exceptions, often sound like they're just spitting out lines with little consideration for the music behind it. My opinion is, no doubt, affected by my English language bias though, and even taking into consideration the language barrier it should be said that there are a few songs on here which will serve as a decent reward to whoever makes the effort to find a copy of the album.
One last thing worth noting about the album is the cover art, which the small image above probably does not do justice. My European friends thought nothing of it, but the artwork for the album caught me by surprise when I first saw it. Featuring a dreadlocked, borderline black-faced puppet smoking a Marley spliff, it's an image that likely would cause something of a reaction in America given our nation's history.
Here are two cuts from the album that I think have the best chance of appealing to American ears. The first cut is an instrumental, which should hold up well in any language:
King Lee - Mais Ou Est Donc La Place Gerard Lenorman?
King Lee - 400 Blowz
Given the language barrier and fiercely territorial nature of the entertainment industry, it'll probably take some effort on your part to get a (legal) copy of the cd if you reside anywhere outside of the E.U. King Lee's label, Freaksville Record, is offering it for 15 Euros, though one can only guess what it might cost to ship it out to the States. You can also buy mp3s of the album from e-music, though you'll miss out on the artwork from Earl and RVO that comes with the packaging.
To hear more from King Lee, and find links to purchase all of his previous albums, hit up his myspace page.
Finally, here's a video for one of the other songs off of Les 400 Blowz:
King Lee - Mr. Looser
01/05/2009 08:31:01 PM posted by Fresh