Album Review: Qwel & Maker – So Be It (2009)

Album Review: Qwel & Maker – So Be It (2009)
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Potholes

It’s interesting. The label for this release, Galapagos4, has a rich and vibrant history of hip-hop releases in the Chicagoland area, but I feel like I’ve only just discovered them this year. The democratizing nature of the internet has made releases by artists like Rashid Hadee, Thaione Davis and now Qwel & Maker certified events in certain corners of cyberspace. So in turn I’ve finally found out about them, and learned to wonder why these artists epitomize underground, unpublicized MCing just most other people that stumble onto G4’s roster. Qwel & Maker last collaborated in 2005, so for fans of the area’s hip-hop the wait has been a long one. Luckily for them, Qwel & Maker deliver exactly what fans want. What caught my ear on the first listen was the excellent sampling and scratching going on. The first real track, “Gnosticism”, features a crazy brass sample that gets a real dope scratch treatment in the outro. This transitions into the dub reggae influences of “Back Stage Pass” that move into more of a blues rock/psychedelic rock style for “Friend or Foe”. The dub tracks (they do it again on “Paper Dolls”) are ones I really like, but all of the beats here have signature tight drums and great, mostly original samples. Some stuff might sound familiar but Maker does a good job putting them in new contexts. He is very good at creating whatever atmosphere Qwel needs for his lyrics, like the weather siren blaring behind the chorus of “Har Meggido” or the eerily aware beat of “No Joke” that giggles back at a few of the points Qwel makes before closing with another scratch session and more laughs. “Lunch Money”, meanwhile, has a lurch to it that brings to mind RZA’s work for “Can It Be All So Simple”. If you’re a beat head, this is definitely a joint to check out.

Qwel is, I don’t want to say more of a mixed bag, but he’s certainly more of an acquired taste. His social commentary and dense verbiage reminds me of San Francisco’s Grip Grand, but his multi-syllabic fumbling-over-words flow brings Nas or perhaps Big Pun to mind with the way he just keeps pumping out syllables that relate to the last few. And for that, credit is due that Qwel is able to write such intricately mapped verses and still come out of them with a point. Those points are generally where the mixed reactions will come in. While a lot of Qwel’s lyricism is relatable, understandable questions of American mass media society, there are tracks where the message is either a little vague or a little too preachy. I’m thinking most directly of “White Elephant”, a really intense and atmospheric track, as well as a somewhat indirect assault on mass media. It seems like he’s talking about a television, but I’m honestly not sure. The track before it, “Berzerker”, creates more paranoid atmosphere with a noisy sample triggered by the kicks and snares of the beat, on top of which Qwel MCs his ass off about sleepwalking citizens needing a reboot from their social programming. It’s a great track in a technical sense, so as a hip-hop lover I dig it but if you think some artists get too self-important on their soapbox it might be something to keep in mind.

Still, even if Qwel’s subject matter is both familiar to underground artists and somewhat accusatory of the same public he’s a member of himself, the music and overall vibe of the album is very entertaining. I’ve been spinning this quite a bit lately, which is really no small feat in a week that saw bootlegs of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 and Blueprint 3 fall into my hands. This album is definitely aimed at certain niche markets (“Fear as a Weapon” gets close to entertaining conspiracy theories), but I think the production is good enough and the lyricism admirable enough that this could be an equally useful entry point for people new to the Qwel & Maker collaboration, as well as Chicago-area hip-hop in general.

If I had one suggestion for Qwel it might be to reign himself in a little bit, perhaps make the music a little more personal (not that the subject matter isn’t important to him) and perhaps tone down the rhyme after rhyme feeling of his lyrics so some ideas can sink in a little more effectively. “Lunch Money” is one song that brings all of Qwel’s complaints closer to home, but it’s also at that point that some of his ideas become more rote than before. Luckily he’s a talented enough rapper to inject enough newness into the story to make the track enjoyable, which is the story of the album as a whole. Definitely cop this if you’re fiending for substance and social deconstruction.