Album Review: Busdriver – Jhelli Beam (2009)

Album Review: Busdriver – Jhelli Beam (2009)
Rating: 1 out of 5 Potholes

 The album opens with the assertation that “conscious rap has failed us.” Left field, art rap is apparently still thriving though according to Busdriver, because that’s what he proceeds to deliver unrelentingly for the remainder of the album.

His flow sounds like he studied Aesop Rock’s circa Float, but then, instead of trying to be as dope, or even doper, just decided it was easier to spit really fast verses that walk the line between stream of consciousness and diarrhea of the mouth. Either this shit is too deep for my sludgy, hungover brain to comprehend, or there’s nothing going on lyrically except some unnecessarily cerebral babbling. ‘Moulin Rouge’ might rhyme with ‘Bouillon cubes’ but is that really the point of this little exercise?

“Handsful of Sky” does to hip hop what They Might Be Giants did to rock and roll—made it too nasal and too brainy for it’s own good.

“Quebec and Back” sounds like there’s an insinuated ironic hair metal influence, which I don’t really care for. Busdriver’s vocals wander up like he wants to break out and scream like Foreigner, but doesn’t have the testicular fortitude to fully ditch his nerd rap posturing long enough to fully embrace the irony or transcend it.

On “World Agape” an overly busy drum loop sets the stage for Busdriver to say ‘art rap’ a few times—I think mockingly, but his voice makes it hard to tell—which leaves me wondering what he thinks he’s making, because if he’s already to cool to be doing what everybody else is doing, and so cool that he can mock the obscure sub-genre he’s created for himself, then what is the point of making this album at all?

Is this some art-y experiment about laughing at what people will tolerate from him? And/or pay money for? If that’s the case then screw you Busdriver, because that shit is not funny. If you’re too cool to try to make palatable hip hop, or too scared to have your actual efforts critiqued (hence the armor of irony), then go invade some other genre and stop wasting my time.

There are some nice beats on the album, and it’s sort of shame he didn’t put some of them to better use. If anyone has a defense for this album—like can explain exactly how and why I’m missing the point of this—please get at me.