"Withthe*KICK*SNARE*KICK-SNARE*HI-HAT*"
Maybewe'reovertrainedintheArtoftheOldBoomBap
AndsometimesthespectrumbetweenaPreemobanger
andthat"SNAPYAFINGERS!"(drawlifnecessary)
seemslikeitoccupiesaspacebetweentwo
pointsthatareaboutthiscloseonaline.
Inotherwords,hiphopcanseem
verynarrow
some
tim
es.

But it's not as if we're necessarily stuck here. With their latest, Love Hustle Theater, Minneapolis hip-hop septet Leroy Smokes opens-up some much needed breathing room.
INHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALE!

Alright, breathe easy - there's more to this than screwy typography and Midnight Marauders references.

From any standpoint, Love Hustle Theater is far more expansive than any hip-hop album would seem to have business being. While elements of Tribe, early Slum Village, and Blazing Arrow Blackalicious appear in Love.'s words and sounds, the Smokes are clearly staking out their own territory. The clique of musicians that provide Love.'s backdrop have fused standard scratching, sampling, and 808'ing with soul vocals, jazzy keys, brassy horns, strings, and multi-part live percussion. With these elements as its foundation, Love.'s textures shift from the gritty ("Some Other Shit") to the smooth, "Bonita Applebum"-esque ("Inscent"). For their part, MCs Buss-One and B. Ruckus head-up this clique of versatile musicians with style, flipping easily from anti-radio/industry/mainstream polemics ("Kill the DJ," "John Henry," "Radio," "These Kings") to danceable party raps ("Two Step") to mellow cool-out rhymes ("Moving On"). With all of these sonic components added to the mix, Love. sounds less like hip-hop than music with a hip-hop sensibility:

Simply throwing in obscure samples and bizarre musical quotations can become boring, very, very quickly. Doubly so if this sloppy hybridization plays out over 72+ minutes (Tokyo Drift, anyone?). Beneath all the added flourishes and interpolations, lays a tightly, tightly constructed album. With its tempo shifts, breakdowns, and careful sequencing, Love. continually reaches out for the listeners ear long after many other albums would have quit.

Granted, when compared to Mos Def's New Danger or Common's Electric Circus, the Smokes' work seems unambitious, the type of project a former jam band would envision during a few late-night studio sessions. More refreshing than an attempt to expand hip-hop's musical boundaries, however, is an attempt to do so that succeeds without imploding under its own weight. A few tracks could have been axed for the sake of brevity ("Ya Llego La Hora" and "Never Scared"), but there aren't any "Electric Wire Hustle Flower" or "Rape Over" that undermine the overall feel or flow of the album. Just as the MCs always remain lyrically on point and musically on beat, the musicians keep the accompaniment ride-able and complex.

All this is couched within
a humble appreciation for MCing as hip-hop,
hip-hop as music, and music as music. In the end, the Smokes'
Love Hustle Theater isn't about blowing hip-hop apart, it's about opening up some new
P O S S I B I L I T I E S

-T.M. Wolf