Sims - Bad Time Zoo
Rating
RIYL
FlobotsAstronautilus
Illy
Omni Anti
Release Date
02/15/2011
Label
DoomtreeTracklist
1. Future Shock2. Burn It Down
3. Bad Time Zoo
4. Too Much
5. One Dimensional Man
6. In My Sleep
7. When It Rolls In
8. Good Times
9. LMG
10. The Veldt
11. Weight
12. Radio Opaque
13. Sink or Syncopate
14. Hey You
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Like musicals, in-laws, and telemarketers, white hip hop artists are part of a select group who need to be constantly aware of how annoying they have the capacity to be. Within their own lives, these people might be perfectly decent, reasonable people, but as soon as they are active within any of these demographics, they are opening themselves up to a barrage of insults and face-value hatred. That is, until they can prove that they are rising above the rest. Like a brother-in-law that comes bearing beer, Sims comes forth bearing the mantle of white rapper and manages to do what every rapper attempts: represent.
Unfortunately he’s representing Minneapolis and that just doesn’t sound badass enough for a hip-hop album. But that is the growing trend for hip hop records, isn’t it? The most successful hip hop record of 2010 was undoubtedly Kanye West’s Fantasy, which dealt primarily with surviving as an egotist in a world trying to come to terms with selflessness. While Sims sophomore record, Bad Time Zoo, is much less self-indulgent, it nevertheless steers clear of the gangster motif that hip hop was born on in the late 80s. But what Sims does continue is the poetry of what hip hop is, adding an almost folk element to his songwriting.
First track "Future Shock" opens the album with clear intentions being made by the Minnesota street poet. From the press release Sims is said to be rapping about the “paradoxical power of technology to both connect us and drive us apart,” but the song itself is a perfectly executed paradox. With the tribal rhythm of a drumming circle electronically produced, it is clear from the outset that this is an album with purpose and motivation. But it was first single "Burn it Down" that first caught me when listening to the album. Taking horn cues from Jay Z’s "D.O.A.", this fast, heavy track about the state of the nation is nothing if not accessible. Also the Slipknot scary animal masks in the video clip are likely to make it a YouTube sensation, as well as damn entertaining.
Given the time I could run through this album track by track, commenting on the stellar production from Lazerbeak and the real instrument sampling throughout Bad Time Zoo, but that would just waste time you could be using to actually listen to the album yourself. Aside from this release I can’t say I’m real familiar with the hip hop scene in America outside of the charting albums (since I hail from Australia), but as far as hip hop in general goes the trend towards using one of the highest selling genres as a medium for observation is something I want to see more of. And horns, I always want more horns. While I’d like for Bad Time Zoo to become a commercial success in order to help make this a reality, Sims himself addresses the genre’s issues in "Radio Opaque" by stating, “How many songs clubs and bottles / drugs and murders can we take? / Watch them climb and fall ‘til their vertebrae break / take this city / it’s the takedown.”
--Sandy Powell
Comments
Minnesota
Shit talking about Minneapolis, eh? I think Sandy forgets where his editor lives...
And Sandy, just as an FYI, Minneapolis has one hell of a hip-hop scene and (hopefully this doesn't sound too biased) we've got some of best, most progressive hip-hop bubbling out of the Doomtree Collective and Rhymesayers.
Find me EVERYWHERE:
Sunshine Coast, Australia
Oh that definitely sounds biased, but no qualms because I think Australian musos shit gold. I'll take that hit though, didn't intend to dis MN (like my hip hop lingo?), but it definitely looks that way now it's out on the web. Minus 1 intahwebz for me.
"If you want something done right, get a fucking Australian band to do it" - Chris Cheney
Baton Rouge
Yeah, I gotta say, even living in the Deep South, outside of Wayne, Minneapolis owns rap right now.
Boobs
http://thenicsperiment.blogspot.com/
Minnesota
Yeah, you wouldn't think that a frigid town in the midwest would be a hotbed for cutting edge hip-hop, but there's something here that draws out hip-hop talent.
Find me EVERYWHERE:
Illinois
i've heard a few tracks from this. i like it so far, but i'll have to listen to the whole album.
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Atascadero, CA
love this record.
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