#Def Jux

[todayinhiphophistory]

Today in Hip Hop History:

Cannibal Ox released their debut album The Cold Vein May 15, 2001

[warhead]

[sound-bombing]

Aesop Rock - Labor Days (Definitive Jux, 2001) Genre: Abstract Hip Hop Artwork: Owen Brozman, Dan Ezra Lang Bandcamp

[omegaremix]

Techno Animal f. El-P & Vast Aire: "We Can Build You"

[ampd]

[2001.08.20] Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein

CD, Def Jux - DJX07-2

Cover illustrations by Tyson Jones, Art direction and design by Dan Ezra Lang.

[descepcionista]

"schools burn, the churches get boombed LIFE IS A SITCOM we get on, flip on, switch arms. spine tangle mind strangle corcazoid negro nigganoid watch back " CONCHETUMARE JAJAJA

"I live on tha second floor, Luca moved Tha names Aesop Rock but u could call me Bazooka Tooth"

DAMN

[thewaysoundtravels]

(via The 10 Best Def Jux Albums To Own On Vinyl - Vinyl Me, Please) 

“Without taking away credit from the genius assortment of minds surrounding him, El-P was at the helm of every album released on Def Jux. Below, read about the label’s 10 best”.

See also Def Jux Records from 2000 to 2004: more than El-P’s brainchild.

[beatsforbrothels]

Aesop Rock - All in All

[dustedmagazine]

Elucid — Revelator (Fat Possum)

The way muography works is similar to an X-ray in that it’s basically a noninvasive form of photography, only more intense. Muons, which are cosmic particles akin to neutrinos, are constantly moving through space and matter; captured by a muon detector, they can show an extremely detailed image of what they’ve just passed through. In practical terms, this intense imaging allows engineers to examine the integrity of stuff like the crumbling Brunelleschi’s dome or Berlin’s Kongresshalle. It also acts as a good conduit for thinking about how Elucid raps.

The Queens artist born Chaz Hall is a hip-hop veteran who at this point is probably best known as half of the attention-grabbing, truth-thumping duo Armand Hammer alongside Billy Woods. That group is a study of marked contrasts and otherworldly balance borne of the streets: In one corner, Woods simmering until he can’t help but burn fire and brimstone running roughshod over rhythms and eating up bars with an unhinged urgency as though it were his last meal; in the other, Elucid approaching his rhymes like Rafa Nadal, patiently, relentlessly chipping away with ethereal anger every bit Woods’ equal but drawn in less direct forms, webs spun so far out you’re only sure of what he’s spoken on once he’s passed through you. There’s a reason they resonate, a reason they’ve gotten so well known in less visible hip-hop circles in recent years.

But it’s no different when you go splitting atoms: Like Woods, Elucid is a persistent purveyor of the spoken word in ways that sometimes elude immediate understanding. The dude is battle-hardened and road-tested to the tune of five Armand Hammer LPs; three further collaborations as part of Cult Favorite, Nostrum Grocers and Small Bills; and now, with Revelator, three solo albums. Though all of his records are personal even when they don’t feel that way, Revelator doesn’t come from the same place as I Told Bessie, the paean to his grandmother; rather, it feels like he’s redirecting his focus to the world as he observes it.

Predictably, it ain’t pretty. “Metropolis / Inverse overlord skyscape / Fang bite, dog breath / Short leash, pit fight / From this height, at this speed / Downhill, careening” are the first words you hear to open both “The World Is Dog” and the album. Amid a swirling, industrial-strength beat, Elucid goes in on the basic viciousness of being alive. The familiar theme of survival in an uncaring system is what he — and we, by extension — are up against: Showing you where localized perceived violence didn’t come with receipts, parades of bandages, terroristic threats over crack sales … “Even rebels gotta pause / when blood spill so casually,” he offers early on “CCTV.”

But as he counters himself on “Yottabyte,” the struggle goes on. “You just gotta hold on / all that’s doing / Not an invitation to control / Can’t nobody tell me how my blood taste / My third place / complicating noun combinations over drum breaks.” Just as readily as he scythes through verses ducking and diving and weaving among the perils of living in America in 2024, so too does he point out this isn’t over, that the fight to maintain one’s dignity and morals is a daily occurrence worth the war — you go down, but you go down swinging. Some stretches are more dense, more abstract than others, but no matter the track, no matter the verbal recombinations, you feel those muons leaving a clear picture come its conclusion. The impression is always strong.

Revelator’s production aids and abets his approach. Behind the boards, there’s Michigan producer and Small Bits collaborator The Lasso, August Fanon and Child Actor; in the studio, it’s drummer John Nellen and Irreversible Entanglements bassist Luke Stewart. The result is a swirling, dissonant soundscape following in a proud lineage of New York indie rap albums that extends from JPEGMafia back to Dälek, Def Jux and Public Enemy, ultimately — a maximalist counterweight to Ka’s quiet penmanship. And not to lean too heavily on Armand Hammer references, but it also bears mentioning that “Instant Transfer” was on the group’s BLK LBL album out in March and has now been refashioned as an Elucid song featuring Woods. Pedantry aside, it slots right into one of the most abrasive (but not in a SoundCloud way), masterfully produced albums of any genre this year.

It’s also not for everybody. Even at 15 tracks, which feels slight in a year where Cowboy Carter, Cindy Lee, Mount Eerie and others have garnered so much acclaim, Revelator is an exhausting listen in the best sense of the term. Skip at your own risk: Far from hip-hop homework, Elucid’s Revelator is a port of call in this storm, a howling document from the edge, muons in which we are all tomographers.

Patrick Masterson

[todayinhiphophistory]

Today in Hip Hop History:

El-P released his third solo studio album Cancer 4 Cure May 22, 2012

[warhead]

[sound-bombing]

El-P - Fantastic Damage (Definitive Jux, 2002) Genre: Abstract Hip Hop Artwork: Dan Ezra Lang Bandcamp

[lua-stellar]

Feedback: Thank u for the reading❤ also, the cards look nice. They kinda give the same feeling as tarot cards and has a bit of a vintage style to them tbh. Anyways, jux wanted to ask, does the star card in lenormand reading represent hope? If not, what does it represent? If so, I think it would have the same meaning as the star card in tarot and i think that's interesting since lenormand cards generally don't have the same meanings as the tarot cards. But I def love the lenormand cards and prefer them because they give more direct and upfront answers.

no prob ! And well the star in lenormand imo is very similar to the tarot meaning of the star, in the lenormand is very reminiscent of the saying “wish on a star” it’s related to your hopes and dreams and ambitions and in regards to characteristics usually describes someone who is very encouraging and optimistic to others, so tbh it’s so similar. Maybe even the same idk bc I can’t think of any differences besides the vibes of the star tarot card in my personal deck vs the star in the lenormand,. 😭

and yeah I noticed too that lenormand is more direct and earthly and grounded. The way it communicates reminds me a lot of divination with the playing cards which I do a lot because it’s also suuuper earthly. Like tarot will tell u everything going on w u spiritually but playing cards would predict your car breaking down or something like that idk. Or ur toilet plugging.. tysm for the feedback❤️❤️💕

[doublelp]

this graph did more for aesop rock's career than any of his def jux underground rep and it's strictly because of redditors

[intoxicatingimmediacy]

clipping. – “Welcome Home Warrior” (Feat. Aesop Rock)

clipping. are an absolutely singular entity — a visceral, experimental Bay Area noise-rop group led by a star actor who’s really, really good at rapping. You can hear clipping.’s many influences at work in their music, but they don’t exactly have peers. Over their catalog, clipping. have released a few collaborations with other rappers — Benny The Butcher, King T, the late Gangsta Boo — and it’s always fascinating to hear familiar voices adapt to clipping.’s style. Today, the group shares a new collaboration with Aesop Rock, another singular rap presence who works on a similar deep-immersion level.

Next month, clipping. will release their cyberpunk-inspired concept album Dead Channel Sky, and I can’t wait. We’ve already posted early singles “Run It,” “Keep Pushing,” and “Change The Channel.” Today, clipping. follow those tracks with the Aesop Rock collab “Welcome Home Warrior.” It’s a densely written meditation on the reality-deadening appeal of video-game fantasy, recorded over the kind of warped, heaving electro that reminds me of the records that Aesop Rock made back in the Def Jux days. Both Aesop and Daveed Diggs contribute intricately allusive verses, delivered with straight-faced intensity.

In the Dimuccio & Miller-directed video, Diggs plays a computer hacker straight out of an ’80s B-movie. I would like to see that movie. That video is below, and so are clipping.’s tour dates, which now extend to the East Coast.

TOUR DATES: 3/14 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echoplex 3/15 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent 3/29 – Knoxville, TN @ Big Ears Festival 4/24 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge 4/26 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall 4/27 – Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge 4/29 – Portland, OR @ Holocene 4/30 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos 5/01 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw 5/03 – Sacramento, CA @ Goldfield 8/07 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club 8/08 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre 8/09 – Detroit, MI @ El Club 8/11 – Toronto, ON @ The Great Hall 8/12 – Montreal, QC @ Theatre Fairmount 8/13 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair 8/14 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere 8/15 – Philadelphia, PA @ Ukie Club 8/16 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club

Dead Channel Sky is out 3/14 on Sub Pop.

[girlsludged]

finally listened to a Meat Beat Manifesto album this morning, i get it now. makes me want to get back into Def Jux shit