Rap+Pop = Alt-Hip Hop
Black Eyed Peas, Jessy Moss
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There’s only so much love to go around, obviously, and the group of playful hip-hoppers collectively known as Black-Eyed Peas is still looking for it in the mainstream — the group has been tagged alternative rappers for years now. After two albums that kept them a decided alternative to the thug attitude that dominates the rap field, the Los Angeles-based trio of Will.I.Am, Apl de Ap and Taboo reconfigured its sound and its composition, adding a female to the group’s multiracial mix, Stacie “Fergie ” Ferguson.
Not to worry, though. While more mainstream and accessible than Behind the Front and Bridging the Gap, their sound on Elephunk is still a very welcome alternative to the mainstream of today’s hip-hop, and much of its pop, too. They’ve ratcheted up the live instrumentation and dabble in new, trendy styles of music, from dancehall to nu-metal to Latin pop.
A new album hasn’t provided this much fun in a long time — the party is underway after the first eight-bar phrase on “Hands Up, ” and rarely pauses for a break clear through to the last song — the group’s best — “Where Is the Love. ” Capped by a chorus from Justin Timberlake, the song also happens to be The Black Eyed Peas’ first Top Ten hit. The let-there-be-peace-on-earth message on “Where Is The Love ” is a tad trite, but the song is also achingly melodic and loaded with timely barbs. “There’s a war going on but the reasons undercover, ” Will.I.Am raps in his patented warble. Not every line succeeds, but then the Black-Eyed Peas have never stood out as models of witty wordplay. It’s all about the delivery, with lively, supple rhyming.
 Moss |
Last year the critically hyped British rapper The Streets didn’t catch on in the American streets. This year, America gets another go of less-bombastic, alter-Anglo rap, but we probably won’t go for Jessy Moss, either. Why? Like Mike “The Streets ” Skinner, Moss is white. But she’s no he and women in rap, though an increasing presence, are still rare. And there’s the accent again, this time an Australian one.
It’s all a shame, because Moss appeals even more to the ear with her dazzling delivery of both rapping and singing. She has a clear, charming singing voice that she plies in a transfixing manner more Billie Holliday than Macy Gray has ever come close to delivering.
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Moss’ Street Knuckles kicks off with a bluesy guitar riff that grows into a slow-burn hip-hop-pop song, “Build You Up, ” warming the soul as Moss mumbles, then sings, then raps, then sings again. “Telling You Now ” is what Moss calls a “murder ballad, ” but the song kills the violent lyrical metaphors with its soothing melody, which ends as a nursery rhyme. Which, if you’re in the right state of mind, could rock you right to sleep as if in your grandma’s rocking chair.
And therein lies the trouble: Moss’ mesmerizing music weighs down her lyrical and vocal dexterity. Several songs start off jarring or jerky — evoking hip-hop hits of the past few years — but too soon ease into what could contribute to the next sub-genre of hip-hop, adult contemporary. Nothing is particularly objectionable and while there is room for a hint of edginess in the lyrics and vocal delivery, syrupy, mid-tempo melodies, not raps, drive every song. Perhaps it’s where LL Cool J will end up, as hip hop’s earliest adherents gradually move into middle-adulthood. But that time is several years away at least. Moss should wait out her time to shine by working on livening up her music.
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