"La música es sinónimo de libertad, de tocar lo que quieras y como quieras, siempre que sea bueno y tenga pasión. Que la música sea el alimento del amor."
"Music is synonym of freedom, of playing what you want and how you want, as long as it's good and made with passion. Let music be love's food."
Kurt Cobain (1967-1994)

sábado, 10 de julio de 2010

Of Amnesia And Magnets (Dessa - Matches To Paper Dolls)

XLIV
"...We've been lovers and strangers and friends who get angry,
Made mistakes and amends and brief moments of magic..."

MATCHES TO PAPER DOLLS
Dessa
A Badly Broken Code
Doomtree Records
2010

(ESPAÑOL ADELANTE) I used to loathe rap. At some point it stopped being a joyful resource in danceable songs (Sugarhill Gang) and started getting on my nerves in unoriginal performances by some  American rappers showing off their masculinity and joy for luxury and excess in videos within the so-called gangsta rap culture. Furthermore,  some of these performers have so many times been accused of instigating homophobia, male chauvinism and violence in their lyrics and attitudes that put me off it right away. I soon learned that there is not only one single hip-hop culture that spreads throughout the world and in each country it's been characterized by special local features that ultimately conform a compact movement that includes the terms hip-hop, rap and breakdance. In order to shoot the documentary Ecuapop in 2008 we needed to get a few raps for the soundtrack and getting to know Puño en Boka, a Valencian hip-hop band, changed my opinion on this particular style dramatically. They seemed to feel themselves proud to represent the young independent people answering back the contradictions of welfare state society. Their opinions on immigration, banks, politics, neoliberal ideology or freedom shocked the whole crew. There were many ideas that we did not share with them, but all in all I found that, at least, there was still a small refuge for revolution in the landscape of our disenchated youth. 

It is said that rap is the poetry of our century, and the statement has fans and detractors. I personally think that it is true only for the role that it plays in culture nowadays, which is the central position in the so-called street culture, a reminiscence of the oral tradition of medieval minstrels, but it lacks the mystery and sense of soul's food that poetry is awarded with. At this point, I came across Dessa. Everything's changed again.

Dessa was artistically born within the Doomtree collective, a self-promoted hip-hop group based in Minneapolis. Her music possesses just what other hip-hop bands lack: non-obvious rhymes, mystery, modesty and she can even sing!! She has made possible for me to be able to listen to a whole rap album non-stop. And she has taught the world that quality, social awareness and good taste are compatible in any hip-hop track:



Matches To Paper Dolls tells the story of the neverending "stumbling over the same stone twice". It is not hard to identify oneself with what she sings and it does not necessarily have to deal with a big social issue in order to label it hip-hop. One can notice her songs are more intellectually-loaded and they carry a softer touch that make them much more accesible than other hip-hop songs, and that just adds towards the universalization of the style and the message. Some people might not agree with this approach, which is just fair, and I think I won't say "I loathe rap" again, but let Dessa have the last word about doing the wrong thing: "this all depends on amnesia and magnets".



Antes detestaba el rap. En un momento dado dejó de ser un gracioso recurso de canciones bailables (Sugarhill Gang) para pasar a ponerme de los nervios con actuaciones poco creativas de raperos americanos pavoneándose con su masculinidad, su amor por el lujo y el exceso en los vídeos del así llamado "gangsta rap". Además, no en poca ocasiones, muchos de estos raperos eran acusados de fomentar la homofobia, el machismo o la violencia, cosa que acabó con las pocas simpatías que tenía hacia el género. Pero pronto supe que no existe una sola cultura hip-hop monolítica, sino que en cada lugar recoge unas característica locales especiales que conforman un movimiento compacto donde englobar términos a veces tan incomprendidos como rap, hip-hop y breakdance. Con ocasión del rodaje del documental Ecuapop en 2008, conocimos a Puño en Boka, una banda de hip-hop valenciana que colaboró en la banda sonora. Mi opinión sobre este género cambió radicalmente. Ellos parecían orgullosos de representar a la gente joven independiente que es capaz de contestar a las contradicciones de la sociedad del bienestar. Sus opniones sobre la inmigración, los bancos, la política, la ideología neoliberal o la libertad nos sorprendieron a todo el equipo. Había cosas con las que no estábamos de acuerdo, pero al final me sentí satisfecho al encontrar un pequeño reducto en el panorama de nuestra juventud desencantada donde la revolución todavía era posible.

Se dice que le rap es la poesía del presente siglo, afirmación que tiene seguidores y detractores. Personalmente pienso que es cierta sólo por la función que cumple en la cultura hoy en día, como es la posición central en la llamada cultura de la calle, una reminiscencia de la tradición oral medieval de los juglares, pero le falta ese misterio y esa sensación de alimento del alma que aquella sí tiene. En este momento me topo con Dessa, y todo vuelve a cambiar.

Dessa nace artísticamente dentro del colectivo Doomtree, un grupo de hip-hop de Minneapolis que se auto-promociona. Su música posee algo de lo que otras bandas de hip-hop carecen: rimas no obvias, misterio, modestia.. y además ¡sabe cantar! Ella ha hecho que yo sea capaz de escuchar un disco entero de hi-hop sin parar. Y ha enseñado a todo el mundo que la calidad, la conciencia social y el buen gusto pueden vivir juntas en cualquier pieza de este género.

Matches To Paper Dolls es la interminable historia del "tropezar dos veces en la misma piedra". No es difícil identificarse con lo que canta y tampoco es necesario tratar una importante cuestión social para etiquetarla como hip-hop. Es evidente que sus canciones tienen una carga intelectual más grande y poseen un toque más suave que otros raps, pero eso no hace más que ayudar a la universalización del mensaje y del género en sí. Mucha gente puede estar en desacuerdo conmigo, lo cual está muy bien, y creo que no volveré a decir "Odio el rap" nunca más, pero tal y como dice Dessa "eso depende de la amnesia y de los imanes".

Enlaces/Links:
Dessa at Myspace
Dessa at Doomtree

2 comentarios:

  1. Well put. The most estute review of Dessa's work I've read. Also, you targeted my favorite track of this record.

    If you haven't heard "Profit & Loss" from the False Hopes XV EP from Doomtree, that would be my second favorite Dessa track.

    When I was a young teen, rap mainly turned me off for the same reasons you mentioned. (though Nas, Cypress Hill and Wu Tang did intrigue me, even then; and later I did become endeared to Snoop, Dre and Warren G; later, Outkast, The Roots, De La Soul, Common, Talib Kweli and Mos Def blew my mind in all directions and made me a die hard hip hop fanatic)

    When I think of "conscious" hip hop, my mind targets Arrested Development first, KRS-ONE, Public Enemy, Talib Kweli and quite often the legendary Roots crew.

    Dessa, in my mind, has done exactly as you've said, transcended "hip hop" and transmogrified it into what can very easily be labeled poetry. (the obvious roots of hip hop/rap and a well executed 360 degree swing for the art form indeed)

    Other Doomtree alumni to be watched are P.O.S., Lazerbeak, Cecil Otter and Mike Mictlan. Basically DOOMTREE'S BETTER!

    Another personal favorite enlightened hip hop artist is Asheru. (the Boondocks is a great animation show, that truly does teach about the values of hip hop/rap and breaks down the bullshit that so often spews from the mainstream of rap/hip hop culture; the theme music was created by Asheru, who also runs a couple educational organizations AsheruWorldwide.com)

    Great Article!

    Brother Rabbit =:xB
    Broadening-Horizons.com

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  2. Hi Brother Rabbit. Glad to know someone out there agrees with my view. Dessa's work really makes me feel there's hope for hip-hop. Thanks for reading. Cheers.

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