EASE DOWN THE ROAD

3 1/2 Stars 

When West Coast gangster rap became pop culture’s attache in the early 90s, young impressionable minds throughout the country rejoiced over the new alternate universe they’d covertly discovered behind their parents’ backs. For some reason, the counterculture seemed so accepting (and possibly tailor-made) for their paradoxical, suburban lifestyles (someone is still cashing those checks). Privately, we all want to be aliens, that is, as long as we can take the leap together. It’s one of the great human traits to love the unknown. After all, a man who has lost the art to discover has damned his need to subsist. Be it gangster rap or African drum rhythms, uncharted territory can only be good for the masses.

After a fad dissolves comes the backlash. Looking back upon the closing of the 90s, we saw “Southern rap” hit the Billboard charts, often taking up multiple spots on both the singles and album sales top 10 lists. When the airwaves became more and more saturated with mass-produced hip-hop, the resulting content became inevitably more generic. Rap/metal countered Southern rap as an even more disadvantageous offshoot, eventually leaving consumers to chose only between boy bands and Britney. That is, unless you were looking closer.

Due to the genre’s makeshift nature, the roots of hip-hop music have always been subterranean. As “alternative hip-hop’s” credo has gained increasing universal acclaim, so has the sub-genre’s willingness to keep moving forward. All of this, thanks to the gangster rap craze of the early 90s? Possibly. Ask any progressive hip-hop artist if they like The Chronic, or The Predator; this much is always uncontested. In different ways, variance always has been key. Ask Dose One.

Whether he’s psychedelic (Circles), chaotic (Greenthink), classic (Deep Puddle Dynamics), diffusive (cLOUDDEAD) or ornate (Themselves), Dose One has always injected pure elements of hip-hop into his otherwise wandering spirit. Add progressive to that list. With his latest Subtle outfit - comprised of drum-master/producer Jeffery “JEL” Logan, electric cello player Alexander Kort and multi-instrumentalists Dax Pierson, Jordan Dalrymple and Marty Kalani Dowers - Dose has assembled his finest fusion of collaborators to date. Not quite Eazy, Cube, Ren, Yella, and Dre, but, given the context, somewhat of an equivalent.

On their Lex Records debut, A New White, Subtle follow up their series of season-themed, independently released EPs with a brief, yet expansive foray into embellished, progressive music. Opening with the unthinkable “Song Meat,” Subtle have created one of the years most zestful new sounds with their copiously layered prog-rap. Like much of White‘s tracks, “Song Meat” is heavy with lush sound and constantly varying structures, often employing strings and guitars over programmed drums and Dose One’s rapid-fire, sing-song vocal style. As unfeasible as it may seem at this point of discussing progressive agglomerations, this does all still correlate back to the politically charged, gangster rap craze of the early 90s.

Many times throughout his career, Dose One has been told that “this is the one.” His stark artistry has always brought on heavy acclaim from critics, and, with the exception of the first cLOUDDEAD album, insufficient sales. A New White is the summit of Dose’s musical career to date. Where he was once dismissed as an ostentatious MC, his latest effort exposes him as a musical heavyweight, fully capable of creating rudimentary compositions that push the genre lines and test even the most equitable listener.

Eventually, it was inevitable that Dose One would settle down. With his Subtle assemblage, Adam “Dose One” Drucker finally seems adjusted and ready to par down his diverse side projects to focus his wandering nature in a more focused arena.

The sextet’s sound throughout A New White shifts from fast to slow, loud to quiet and simple to extravagant on each of the album’s 11 tracks. The first single, “F.K.O.” is a spacey, political-fest that experiments with dance rhythms as much as it does beat poetry and organic production. Through their use of elaborate production, prodigal vocals and live-band spontaneity, Subtle beg their listeners and fellow musicians to subsist beyond the circulating standards of modern music.

An album like A New White was unthinkable in 1992 and naturally under-appreciated in 2004. As Dose One repeats “six million ways to die, choose one” on “The Hook,” the impact of hip-hop culture on Generation X as a whole becomes all the more evident. Subtle’s social commentary and far-reaching musical prowess is indebted to Ice Cube and The Bomb Squad equally as much as they are to Bob Dylan and Brian Eno. If you buy one rap album from 2004, don’t mind The Streets or Dizzie Rascal (or Eminem, or the Roots); Subtle have easily put out the year’s most important and triumphant hip-hop album, and it’s gangsta.