Music Banter - View Single Post - 12 For '12: Anteater's Top Albums Of 2012

Anteater · 12-30-2012, 03:48 PM

3. Marcus D - Melancholy Hopeful

Hip-hop, rap and everything else in between has had decades to solidify itself in the minds of millions across the world: the connoisseurs of the style will tell you one style or discipline is better than another, that Gucci Mane can oust Ghostface Killah at the drop of a match, and so on an so forth. But from my perspective, hip-hop is yet another genre where the real meat is not provided by who raps or by what is said...but rather by the sonic composition which underlies those surface hooks.

In that regard, Seattle's Marcus D is the sort of bedroom producer some of you probably know in real life: young, savvy, and something of a prodigy once you get him into a studio with his laptop and some good recording equipment. That being said, what makes him interesting is whom he derives his musical inclinations from -- Jun Seba, AKA Nujabes, deceased in a horrible car accident back in 2010 and the undisputed king of jazz-rap production. His solo material is at this point legendary even among people who aren't normally into hip-hop, and his collaborations with rappers like Funky DL and Substantial pretty much defines how jazz-inflected lyrical beatage sounds today.

Melancholy Hopeful is Marcus's sophomore record, funded entirely through Kickstarter, and I'm really damn happy it got made at all in all honestly. It's a record that feels and sounds, in every sense imaginable, like the kind of LP Nujabes himself would have created if he'd continued making music. Not the point of imitation exactly (less piano, more urban groove), but considering that many of the rappers featured here are people who have worked with the deceased maestro in the past (Cise Star, Shing02, Substantial, Funky DL), its hard to listen to this and not feel a bit...well, melancholic. This isn't a tribute record, but Marcus's choice in collaborators doesn't feel coincidental either.

But what can I say really that others couldn't point out immediately upon listening? The songs themselves are excellent for the most part, featuring a lot of sax, brass and the occasional violin flourish, held together by a dreamlike progression that dances from cut to cut with different tempos, atmospheres and arrangements. There's three instrumentals here, one featuring Emancipator! And whilst the overtly self-conscious lyrical nature of jazz-rap sometimes gets a tad glaring ('Streets Lament'), there are some real monsters here like the R&B flavored 'Fly' and the dazzling 'Night On The Town', where all the album's guests come together to craft the best hip-hop number of 2012, hands down.

Perhaps the first jazz-rap record to emerge in the wake of Nujabes's death that actually comes up to eye level with the best stuff he did while alive, Melancholy Hopeful is also a powerful release from a very promising young producer. One can only salivate at what the future holds in store for him if the quality displayed here is of any indication.