cannibal ox – the cold vein
pretty much anybody who asks me what my favourite album of all time is has to sit through me rambling on about this album and how one day, when hip-hop is a legitimate field of study, it’ll be required reading. so yeah, i sort of like this album. of course, i realize that it is sort of a ridiculous thing to say about an album, but i think there is something to it. the cold vein is a groundbreaking record, an album that simultaneously acknowledges convention and transcends it.
thematically, the cold vein is not exactly subtle. the pigeon/phoenix metaphor is simply a variation on the rags-to-riches themes that have defined hip-hop culture for decades. vast aire is especially occupied with the notion of the phoenix, which for him is about the ascent of the soul rather than socio-economic status. cannibal ox aren’t interested in a new pair of shoes.
vordul mega rhymes in snapshots, each line dense with fragmented imagery and metaphor. when i hear him rap i imagine that i am looking at black and white pictures of buildings through one of those little viewfinders. the relentless staccato of vordul mega’s delivery can be overwhelming and impenetrable, yet it isn’t difficult to see how that might have been intended.
in contrast, vast aire’s rhymes are given room to breathe. he is the more showy of the two. whereas vordul mega’s verses are almost universally bleak, vast aire injects comedy and does not shy away from personal confession. vast aire defies the traditionally accepted concept of the emcee. he raps with words cut out of magazines, a delivery that sounds like the hip-hop equivalent of a collage. he is not above the typical emcee braggadocio, and yet each verse is laced with self-deprecation and irony. he lacks the raw metrical precision of his partner, yet never comes across lazy (cough mf doom). the f word, which is essentially a solo feature, turns the typically dreaded requisite “girl song” into one of the most genuine love songs i’ve ever heard. just ask my grade 12 english teacher about the analysis i handed in for a poetry assignment (i did poorly).
el-p’s production is a work unto itself – the instrumental only release is one of the few among hip-hop albums where i’ve felt it was justified. the beats fuse traditional breaks and jazz samples with synthetic flourishes, conveying the cold oppression of the streets in a way that hip-hop had never quite managed before – or since. the line between organic and synthetic is blurred. the f word hums and whirrs like a mechanical jazz trio. notice how the synth fuses with the lead guitar in the opening notes of pigeon. jaco pastorius’ rich bass sound is transformed into something otherworldly, hovering. i bought this album immediately after hearing that beat.
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