And there it was! Kids were not just buying poetry again, getting excited over rhymes, or bragging about having met one of those poets in their local park. They were tattooing their name on their skins, wearing their symbols on their clothes, quoting their words and buying these art pieces in the form of recorded music. Tony Newbury & Charles Hamilton remember those days very well.
They also must remember what happened next. This modern poetry that had risen from the streets was popular enough that it took many of its creators all the way up to the penthouses. Desperate to stay up there, those who had the power to do so diluted the words with whatever was trendiest. The poetry was lost in the pursuit of profit.
Tony Newbury & Charles Hamilton dare to dream of classic hip-hop as a thing that is alive, kicking and waiting to play its part on the charts once more. “$OMETHING NEW” quotes the strategies of the rap masters of the 1990s, but dares to dream up a future where these sounds are, once again, given the same kind of importance as before.
Take a listen to the album opener, “WE GOOD,” where old soul hooks are dusted up and looped to create a warm, hazy ambience over which lines about family and roots spill over like Summer wine in an overfilled cup. Trace each line in your mind’s eye, and you’re likely to fall under the spell of this old-school hip-hop record.
Need more convincing? “Positive Self Destruction,” a song about moving quickly past all the temptations meant to trap you in quicksand, brings to mind one of MF DOOM’s many alter egos, King Geedorah. And, the samples and beats used on the likes of “Pre-Cooked Medicine” or “For the Moment” won’t be unfamiliar to fans of Raekwon and Ghostface Killah’s 90s collabs.
But, more than anything, “$OMETHING NEW” is a mood piece. It’s a record that gives you safe passage through rehearsals and jams of rappers who want to reach the top for the right reasons. Take, for example, “Beauty Salon,” a charming lo-fi demo that sounds like a recording a friend might play to show off their skills and that surprises you because of its potential.
Where does this all leave us? Looking for a bit of truth and poetry still, and, hopefully, being willing to reward those who’ll work hard to give that to us. On “Just Wanna Rap,” Tony Newbury assures us that chasing the art is reward in itself as the rapper describes duelling against himself in order to constantly improve. Rap hasn’t changed, really. It’s just waiting for you to ask questions and to track it down.
