The Grouch

The Grouch and Eligh’s latest release, Say G&E! has all the ingredients for a mainstream breakthrough, with a venerable list of high-profile guest producers (Flying Lotus, Rick Rock, and Amp Live...but sadly, no edit) and lyricists (Slug, Pigeon John, Gift Of Gab, Mistah F.A.B., Sage Francis, Mystic, and L.A. up-and-comer Blu). If one casually listens to the album, paying no mind to the lyrics, it sounds like they hit it out of the park. Varied styles and rhythm along with the trademark, alternating-pace cadence are the two primaries.

Unfortunately, lyrics are where this album fails and in the finicky realm of underground hip-hop, you can’t just rhyme, you gotta flow. One stands out as a particular contradiction that sums up the vibe of the album: “I’d rather be a tree-hugger than a mean-mugger,” growls The Grouch on “Rivers Run Dry.” Coulda sworn he just said he’s artsier than you...

Later in the same verse, he drops “It’s a sunny December and my jacket’s off / L.A to the Bay, flights for less than it costs / to drive.” This is insider West Coasting at it’s lackadaisical worst. Check “To Protect and Entertain” to hear MURS running circles around his former colleagues in this department.

With Eligh, it’s a bit harder to pin him down. He’s clearly the better rapper of the two and because of that, lazy lyricism is harder to pin down. “I’m gonna take you back to when it was laidback / not about paychecks,” he says on the first track, “Push On (Push Up).” He later says that he’s “tempted to quit” but that he knows “the world needs our shit.” One kiss of certain death in the underground is an inflated sense of self-importance or too big of a chip on your shoulder, i.e. when you lose your playfulness. It leaves his complex cadence sounding as empty as he claims he feels.

It’s a shame as there is some truly stand-out production on this album. Flying Lotus continues his string of broken-beat perfection with “Old Souls” . Listening to Blu on the same track juxtaposes himself as a young artist on the verge of breaking through with an energy and raw thoughtfulness that makes both of his mentors seem tired in comparison, with dulled edges and nothing left to say.

“Boom” brings in Slug as a guest and with it, some eletro-twanged production that is reminiscent of the poppy sentiment that took Atmosphere’s latest album directly into the mainstream. Slug dials it in, but it’s not his album. Eligh’s stumbling on this song, if nothing else, should serve as a warning to all crossover attempts that it’s not a piece of cake to craft a pop-sounding track. “We keep the bass low, like Geico,” claims The Grouch. What he misses is that you’re supposed to only sound like you’re saying nothing, not actually do it. Slug does this masterfully in his sleep (see “Shoulda Known Better”). He should have offered a few lessons.

After “Boom,” the album goes into a dull mid-section and doesn’t really recover until Paris Hayes’ guest-spot on “No Flowers.” By that point, all you’ll be thinking to yourself is that you can “Say G&E!”, just don’t buy it.

—Chris Nelson
05.13.09