Put Ya Hands Up Or... Not - El-P

"Fantastic Damage" de El-P tiene un nivel de importancia que varía según el contexto en el que se escucha; podría ser una obra maestra para hip hoperos, una disco muy acido para el pop y una obra que avanza el género para el avant-garde. Esto funciona sobretodo para los que no quieren batallar y prefieren su música facilmente etiquetable. Aquellos que ven más allá de las etiquetas, de inmediato reconocerían el talento de El-P y su visión artística.

Pero de eso a pitchfork, que dice esto:

"If Sly Stone phoned up Stockhausen for a presidentially mandated collaboration with 10,000 hours of government-granted studio time at Abbey Road, they still couldn't have crafted a soundscraper this abrasive, complex, and primal..."

Tampoco exageremos. "Fantastic Damage" tiene ritmos pegajosos y estructuras melódicas inquetantes y futuristas, pero dudo mucho que le ganen a los ritmos cachondos de Sly Stone. Y ni hablar de igualarle a la inquietud de Stockhausen. A menos, claro, que nos olvidemos de su obra y los reduzcamos a simples estereotipos.

Comparémoslo con lo que dice Gavin Mueller de Stylus:

"It has been said (very perceptively, I might add) that hip hop was the first underground music genre that fully embraced capitalism as the music gained popularity. Now hip hop has become a cottage industry of sorts. Almost every rapper has his own label (to promote his friends, as well as make some money from their sales), and many have clothing lines. These labels churn out album after album, spending far more time and money on promotion than the actual product.
...
Underground hip hop thrives on criticizing these perceived failings. However, the attacks are anemic and pointless; often they grow incredibly tiresome. What indie rappers don’t understand is that mainstream bling-blingers are just making the system work for them. It’s not that Master P wants to make bad music. The current consumerist climate lets him make money making lazy tripe. So he does.
...
That’s probably one of the main reasons the Def Jux label is so potent: CEO El-Producto sees that the problem is bigger than hip hop: it’s systemic. His solo album is not a criticism of the state of hip hop; it’s a criticism of the state of the current American political and cultural climate.
...
El-P is a true visionary: this may be the Kid A of hip hop."

Esa conclusión me gusta más. "Fantastic Damage", al igual que "Kid A" es un reto para su audiencia meta, innovando y ampliando su valor artístico. Y aunque haya contagiado a muchos, a casi siete años de haber salido, sigue sonando fresco y atrevido.

Recomendado: "Deep Space 9mm"