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Several months ago my man Kyle, a Chicago emcee (by way of Gary, Indiana) who's been featured several times on this site under the name "Ill Eagle the Anti-Rapper," passed along a track called Monkey Business. Loosely - very loosely - based on the 1953 Marilyn Monroe film of the same name, he announced that it was the first song off of his latest project, a concept album comprised of songs inspired by the various movies that Monroe had appeared in. It is a testament to both my gullibility and Kyle's rather unorthodox approach to hip hop that it did not immediately occur to me that he was joking. Last week he finally released the album, The Reawakening, and though there was scarcely a trace of the blonde starlet, it nonetheless delivered a brand of hip hop unlike virtually anything else out.
Though he's since dropped the "Ill Eagle" moniker in favor of the name Alex Ludovico, a reference to an extreme form of psychological treatment made famous by A Clockwork Orange, fans of his previous work should know what to expect from The Reawakening. It would be easy to lump Ludovico in with the wave of hipster rappers that have dominated (internet) hip hop over the past couple of years, as he does have a tendency to jump on beats produced by the type of bands you're likely to see headlining next year's SXSW and eschews the standard hip hop dresscode in favor of a style he once described as "emo punk," but that would be a disservice to his talents as an emcee, as his music is far more substantial than the shallow offerings of the skinny jeans brigade. He's the rare emcee that can drop a series of introspective songs without having it sound like an exercise in self-indulgence. A large part of that, I think, is due to the fact that, despite the serious subject matter of much of his material, he still manages to fit in some very funny lines.
The following two songs capture the quintessential Alex Ludovico experience: Dude, Where's My Hat?, a wry tale of a night spent chasing liquor with women spit over an electro club beat, and Don't Bother to Knock, a song that deals so starkly with Alex's internal struggles it could serve as a case study in clinical depression:
Alex Ludovico - Dude, Where's My Hat??
Alex Ludovico - Don't Bother to Knock
Here's a link to download the Reawakening (zShare). The album is quite good, so please check it out!
Alternatively, you can stream it through his MySpace page.
Further Listening:
Alex Ludovico spotlight on 33Jones
Alex Ludovico on MySpace
05/27/2009 08:30:01 PM posted by Fresh