Party Theory from Philly (new Plastic Little)

Plastic Little: kill whitey (wha?)

As I've noted before, the City of Brotherly Love (and soon "the City of R&B?") has a rich musical tradition that goes far beyond Huff & Gamble Philly Soul, the mummers, and jazz giants like Coltrane and Sun Ra. In particular, Philly takes a back seat only to the Bronx (and a few other Boroughs) in the early development of hip hop (if you want some schoolin' start with Schoolly D). And for the past dozen or more years, my old stompin' grounds has been a hot bed of hip hop and neo soul (The Roots, Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild, Jazzyfatnastees, DJ King Britt, etc., etc.)

More recently Philly been bangin' out great new sounds courtesy of Mr. Lif (who recently relocated from Boston, much to our loss), Spank Rock, Diplo, and DJ Lowbudget, aka Low B (see the Hollertronix Crew). And to that growing list we add the party hearty goofs Plastic Little.

The group features rapper Jayson Musson, beat maker Michael Stern (aka SQUID), rapper Kurt Hunte, (aka No Body's Child, or NBC), and Jon Folmar. Munson, who is also an accomplished artist (see too black for BET), describes himself thus: "When Mr. Musson was in high school, he enjoyed studying the writings of Bobby Seal and Eldridge Cleaver, and he believed that Democratic Socialism would be the answer to many of society's economic ills, but he soon realized that large majority of folks suck and it's easier to laugh at them rather than to offer them your assistance. Jayson Scott Musson doesn't know shit about shit. But he can make the kiddies laugh, make old folks horny, and get stiff Christians to do the Rocaway." That should give you an idea of where Plastic Little is coming from.

Kevin over at So Much Silence, K. at Analog Giant and Call Me Mikey all posted about Plastic Little's vinyl single "The Jump Off" when it came out a couple months ago. The single features a spankin' Diplo mix ("Now I Holler") and a PJ Harvey sample. You'll hear a bit of it in the DJ Lowbudget mix, below. It's hilarious.

And speaking of hilarious, "Creative Differences" is a LOL parody of Afrocentric, radical black nationalistic rap (I love Paris in the springtime), complete with a clichéd Prof. Griff utterance, that includes the lyric: "The real jigaboo, keepin' it real, jigaboo / Like Cliff Huxtable and Easy E used to / I crip walk just to amuse you." With a fantastic Pharcydesqe tag-team rap over a sample of the Dead Prez' "I'm an African," PL intones:

Black people you ready for the remedy? A revolution, it's no mystery
Black people you're livin' in misery. Now I ask you, who's your enemy?
The Man you pay your rent to? The Man that checks your time card?
The Man who turns your power off just cause your payment's a few days off?
Yeah, I feel that. Oil prices mad high. I can't even put no fuel in my Escalade!!!

And "the solution?" You get that in the punch-line chorus: "grab a shank, pull it out, kill a cracker!" OK, some of you aren't laughing. Come on, lighten up.

She's Mature features guest spots by Spank Rock and Dipo. Oh, and as Philebrity notes, the She's Mature album art rips off pays homage to an old Smiths album cover:


And here's a taste of the party punch, courtesy of a promo 9 minute "mini-mega remix" (the full megamix will be released later) from DJ Low B, who is quick to note: "the views on this mix are solely those of Plastic Little and in no way represent Lowbudget or his associates. However, this is not to say that Low B does not secretly chuckle at most if not all of the sentiments you are about to hear." Ditto. "And now, the immaturity..."

She's Mature (DJ Lowbudget's mini-mega remix) -- Plastic Little (2006)

If you aren't feeling the first 4 minutes of this mix, um, check your pulse. She's Mature drops on September 5th. Preorder the album here from tonearm.

Philly: it's ain't just for cheesesteaks and Tastykakes no more, yo. Although damn, them Tastykakes is tasty!

p.s. r.i.p. Maynard Ferguson. Tribute post to follow, but in the mean time check out etno's great memorial piece. peace.
. . .