Chimurenga Renaissance is a fractured hip-hop project from Baba Maraire of rap duo Shabazz Palaces, and his output is what you’d expect from one of those Pacific Northwestern poets. Sprawling, loosely structured beats valiantly explore the worlds of electronica, dub, jazz, and other rhythmic environments we’ve yet to name, all of them anchored by firm, in-the-pocket, and instructive rhymes delivered in a voice that merges KRS-One’s dancehall cadences with the chanted lyricism of the Last Poets or Watts Prophets.
On “The B.A.D Is So Good,” Maraire addresses hip-hop and street life’s attractively seedy side. Like a more wizened take on Notorious B.I.G.’s infamous lament — “You’re either slinging crack rock or you’ve got a wicked jump shot” — the track connects the often dangerous aspirational spirit of hip-hop (and the “black American dream”) to the addictions of the country at large. Hear the stunning, ambitious take from riZe vadZimu riZe, due March 25 by way of Brick Lane Records, below.
