WhatzUp

Label Sampler: 1999-2004
Anticon Collective
by Greg Locke

For six years now I have been rambling on about the magnanimity of San Francisco’s Anticon Collective. I frequently wear a button that says “I heart Anticon” that I bought years ago at the Scribble Jam from DoseOne for a dollar. My Anticon T-shirt collection has become so extensive that it has earned it’s own section in my closet. No less than two rows on my CD rack. A huge hole in my credit card. Zero friends and counting.

Really, though, Anticon isn’t that prevalent-the fans they do manage to hold tend to be the obsessive types. Going to a show, you’ll see grad-school beards, Yo La Tengo T-shirts, beaten Converse All-Stars and so on. Anticon claims to be Music for the Advancement of Hip-Hop. You can laugh at that - the joke’s actually on you. Anticon is hardly hip-hop and, despite their album titles, they don’t even claim to be. Judging from their progressive rock-loving fan base, it’s obvious that Anticon isn’t your everyday hip-hop collective. Anticon is hip-hop for kids who grew up on NWA and Doggystyle before moving onto Pinkerton and eventually ( ). That’s right, Doggystyle to ( ) ... a couple of us anyhow. Count the moves.

Rumors that Anticon is “over” have been floating around since March. The label’s honcho and most outspoken artist, Sole, has supposedly married and fled to Spain. DoseOne is singing for a GYBE!-natured band. Alias is doing techno music. Buck65, Sage Francis and Atmosphere want nothing to do with Anticon and everything to do with Mtv2. Longtime hanger-on Sixtoo isn’t even piddling around the Bay anymore. Sure, things aren’t looking good. Moodswing9 has moved onto Christianity, and DJ Mayonnaise has zero confidence. All signs point to no. You can imagine my sadness. Even Anticon’s latest release, Label Sampler: 1999-2004 sadly reads like a headstone.

Composed of a continuous mix of 33 (often) shortened tracks spanning every official Anticon release, Sampler collects the most creative body of work you’ll find in hip-hop, possibly music, in the past five years. Huge words - me and five other obsessive fans are ready to spill blood.

Sampler does offer something for the completist Anticonite with it’s six unreleased tracks, which are noted as sample tracks from future albums. Pedestrian’s two new offerings from his upcoming unIndiana Songs LP are easily his best work to date. The Restiform Bodies’ “Sippy Cup,” from their future Anticon debut, is an indie rock-tinged oddity that should keep the Anticon sound alive nicely. Jel’s “Nice Last,” from his forthcoming solo album, is a huge letdown, considering his production style is often cited as the groundwork of the label. Most importantly, Sampler features the new track from Sole, “Dumb this Down,” which is slated to be on his Live From Rome LP. “Dumb this Down” is exactly what my Anticon dreams are made of, exactly.

Driven by a fuzzed-up Odd Nosdam soundscape, “Dumb this Down” isn’t live, nor from Rome. Sole is still mad at America, and while Rome (and Spain) might not be the answer, they do make for a pretty relevant joke. More than ever, Sole is sharing his radical, idealist politics, attacking American society from every angle in his always hilarious, tongue-in-cheek manner. Nosdam’s feedback-driven “Dumb”-beat perfectly complements Sole’s rebel approach with manic results worthy of it’s “best of” company on Sampler.

If you’ve never listened to Anticon but consider yourself open-minded, Sampler could very well be a revelation. If you once loved rap but now hunt down Can 45’s, Sampler is seriously calling your name. Anticon fans, please pick up the Sampler just to help keep hope alive.