Anti-Pop Consortium - Biography
Undoubtedly one of the most daring and innovative hip-hop groups in the genre’s history, Anti-Pop Consortium essentially defined the state of progressive hip-hop at the end of the 1990s. As true New York City heads the four man crew merged the worlds of street poetry, avant-garde electronica and golden age East Coast beats to create one of the most unique styles ever heard in rap. By its second album APC claimed fans from across the spectrum, from electronic music nerds to indie rockers to dedicated B-boys. Stunning wordplay, trailblazing production and passionate independence from mainstream hip-hop account for the group’s broad appeal as well as its rightful place as future-forward rap visionaries.
After meeting at a poetry slam event called Rap Meets Poetry in downtown Manhattan, the Anti-Pop Consortium formed in late 1997. Comprised of three vocalists — High Priest, Beans and M Sayyid — and producer Earl Blaize, the group began releasing cassettes and CDRs of early tracks under its own Anti-Pop Recordings label. These releases, like the excellent Shopping Carts Crashing, are the stuff of legend and eventually caught the attention of producer Dan the Automator. Dan signed APC to his label 75 Ark and released the debut APC full-length Tragic Epilogue in 2000.
Truly a classic, Tragic Epilogue is a collection of searing electro bangers, free-form synth noise, off-kilter beats and jawdropping lyrical flow. Tied together with Blaize’s detail oriented production style, the album is a perfect fusion of IDM inflected electronics and classic hip-hop. The overall tone of the record is as sprawling as the three MCs’ abstract flows. Tracks like “Lift,” “3 Digit Whiz” and the scorching “What Am I” prove APC’s chops at proper hip-hop while abstractions like “Moon Zero X-M” and “Your World Is Flat” sound like Sun Ra, Mantronix and Bernard Parmegiani fighting in an alley on the Lower East Side. While the music is blindingly progressive, it’s the rhymes of Priest, Beans and Sayyid that command the most attention. At times impossible to follow, the trio’s labyrinthine, free associative wordplay is like nothing else in rap.
After several singles and EPs for Ark 75 and Studio !K7, the Warp label, legendary home for avant-garde electronic music by the likes of Aphex Twin and Autechre, signed APC in 2001. The group immediately released an EP that same year. The Ends Against The Middle is seven tracks of livewire electro bounce and mind-melting rhymes. The EP shows a new focus in the group’s sound. 2001 also found APC gaining broader recognition through tours with heavy hitters like Radiohead and DJ Shadow.
In 2002 the group released what might be its masterpiece. Arrhythmia is the perfect distillation of the APC’s unique aesthetic. These fifteen tracks take the broad strokes of Tragic Epilogue and sharpen the sound with a razor for a dense, focused attack. Blaize’s production is key here, reigning in some of the debut’s looser moments to create an angular, neon take on classic electro and hip-hop that showcases the synth playing of all four members. The mix is perfect, with each sonic element finding its place in order to make plenty of room for the verbal contortions of Beans, Priest and Sayyid. The MCs meet the challenge with perhaps their best work to date, scripting vivid tales of life, love and utterly obtuse fantasy. Arrhythmia will forever be a standard bearer for progressive hip-hop. It’s a near perfect record that has yet to be bested.
After a few singles and many shows, the group went on indefinite hiatus in late ’02 to pursue other projects and solo work. It came as bad news to many fans as it seemed APC was just hitting its creative stride. Beans stayed with Warp to release several solo albums while High Priest and Sayyid went on to form Airborne Audio and released one record with the Ninja Tune label. None of the subsequent music equaled the brilliance the group had achieved while working together.
A collaboration with free-jazz pianist Matthew Shipp surfaced in ’03 on the Thirsty Ear label as part of a series that joined New York City’s avant-jazz and underground hip-hop artists. Titled Antipop Vs. Matthew Shipp, the record draws links between APC’s free-form tendencies and the open-ended structures of free-jazz.
Fans rejoiced in ’07 when all four APC members rejoined for shows in New York. The reformed group hinted at the possibility of a new recording. 2009 made good on the promise with a new record on the Big Dada label. Fluorescent Black picks up right where Arrhythmia left off with dense synth-led grooves and amazing, dexterous rhymes. If the production errs a bit on the clean side, that’s ultimately a minor complaint. Fluorescent Black ranks as high as anything APC has done and proves that even after seven years we can expect sonic and lyrical innovation from these avant hip-hop pioneers.
