Thursday, July 17, 2008

Swift Tracks: Strange Fruit Project and The Clever Monkeys

By Brenna Rushing

This week I’m stepping out of my element and listening to some hip hop and rap. Going through the list of groups, I had no idea where to start so I just picked what jumped out at me. Strange Fruit Project became my first victim.

Strange Fruit Project

SFP consists of three guys: Myth, Myone and Symbolyc One. They come from Waco, which really dropped my jaw since I’ve never heard of decent rap music coming from that area.

Their track “Crush On You” featuring Tone Trezure comes from the Lost Documents Vol. 1 (hopefully you know what that means), and reminds me of Lauryn Hill's music mixed with the vocals of Andre 3000 from Outkast. The range of harmonies gives the song its hip hop sound, and it helps give variety to the listener.

The song sounds a lot like other hip hop that’s out there, but not so generic. The lyrics help make it it’s own, and the higher notes in the chorus help you appreciate the vocalists’ range.

SFP's next show is at the Granada Theater on August 2.

Clever Monkeys also fell into my trap.

The group consisted of two guys, Big J and DJ Frantic of Dallas. In February, DJ Frantic passed away in a tragic car accident. Because this group was such a staple in the Dallas club scene I think they deserve this coverage and/or memorial.

Onto the lighter side of things, their songs show you their strength by tricking you into thinking there are more than two people making the music.

"Outside My Window" has a chorus sung by someone other than Big J, making for a different sound than a lot of the mainstream hip hop. Hearing the same rapper's voice throughout an entire track gets old and tired fast, at least for me.

CM's lyrics are a bit quirky; Big J goes into a little too much detail about how he gets ready in the morning. But it adds some surprise to the song, testing if you're really listening or just enjoying the music.

Clever Monkeys

Even though I'm not as familiar with this genre, the turntable aspect seems to set them apart. Their music could be played at a rap concert or at a local club on the weekends spinning tracks all night. This is a definite strength for an up and coming group.

As of now it seems that the Clever Monkeys might be on hiatus, or that's what his Myspace silently says. But Big J is playing in a jampacked show at Gezellig on July 19.

Related stories

• Pegasus News Week in View: Next Generation Edition (July 17, 2008)

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• Arts > Popular Music > Rap / Hip-Hop