Aki Kharmicel & Robinson Wigfall “Charlie Brown”
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Beatsmith Resist “Power”
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Dabblin Souls (Kaboose & 3D) “Manuel Delgado”
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Zochi Beats “Get United”
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Dabblin Souls (Kaboose & 3D) “Richard Aoki”
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I picked up this sampler/EP at this Cinco De Mayo event called “Raptavism” thrown at the Roots Factory in Barrio Logan. Luckily for you, there are still copies of the EP available at Access and also through Beatsmith Resist’s Bandcamp page.
“Raptavism” seems to be a combination of the words “rap” and “activism”. The EP even comes with a printed excerpt from the Wikipedia entry for “ethnic studies”, which details how various student groups under the umbrella of the Third World Liberation Front protested successfully for the formation of ethnic studies departments at various colleges.
There are five songs, all featuring artists that performed at “Raptavism” that night and four of those songs are pretty dope. Only one of the songs, opener “Charlie Brown” by Aki Kharmicel and Robinson Wigfall, is overtly political, telling the too-familiar tale of black injustice and disenfranchisement.
The rest of the compilation is loosely connected by the theme of “otherness”, thinking beyond the norm. Or thinking in horror movie terms anyway. Beatsmith Resist sounds like he’s experimenting in the same psychedelic territory as the Kilowattz crew. His instrumental, “Power”, makes you wanna down some shrooms, chase someone around in the woods, and hack them to pieces. The two tracks with MC’s Kaboose and 3D as Dabblin Souls are named after a Spanish serial killer (“Manuel Delgado”) and the only Asian leader in the Black Panther Party (“Richard Aoki”). But the songs have little to do with the eponymous historical figures. Instead, true to the Dabblin Souls name, the creepy songs invoke spirits to search for some undefined truth.
The only song I didn’t like was “Get United”. It’s serviceable enough when you’re feeling under the influence but it doesn’t stick out much. Still, four out of five ain’t bad. Be sure to pick it up when you have a chance.
