MUSIC REVIEWS
Ecks - Rebuilding/ The Framework
David Allun Jones
KRS-One has anointed him “The Future of Hip Hop”. To some, the hip hop legend is embraced with as much love as a cranky old uncle constantly reminding the youth on how things like toilet paper cost one-and-a-half pennies “back in his day”. But KRS rarely doles out much props to anything, let alone a new emcee who once went by the moniker of an X-Man, forcing one to listen to see what all the fuss is about. Ecks, formerly known as Professor Ecks, has bubbled under the radar for years, but recently re-launched his career with a brand new team, the heavily-repped indie collective New Regime, and a hunger that promises he’ll be one to reckon with if supported right.
Ecks’ double-disc mixtape offering Rebuilding/ The Framework introduces the Washington DC underground sensation with bombastic flair, pushing the “if you didn’t know, now you know” idiom. Hailing from the home of the White House (“The city where the man got coke in his nose”), his music rumbles with the tense struggle and overbearing sadness of being raised in the same violence-riddled nation capital in which the President ironically resides. With the drug trade seen as the easiest way to better oneself in DC, Ecks embraces the hustler mentality as a prime point of reference for endless dope pushing metaphors (“Chop white like OJ Simpson”). But this is not more trap-hop praise a la Clipse and Young Jeezy. On the harrowing “Water To A Whale”, another genius screw and chop of a Jay Z line, Ecks makes it clear that the metaphors are meant to describe the addictive power of his delivery and lyricism he’s unleashing to the people. And boy a power he owns.
Most of his verses predict of an on-coming war in which the underdog defeats all odds to rise to the top. This both refers to his career, to which he’s aware that others felt was over before it really began (“Close Up Shop”, the pre-pubescent tear-stains of the reflective “The Ride”), and to the hood, a subject that fuels one of his greater moments on the stand-out “Ski Mask Musik”. The song, a play off of Eminem-styled rock-rap rigidity, is a rallying cry to garner the attention of Dubya, so concerned with idiotic overseas activity while choosing to ignore what’s literally going on in his own backyard. It’s one of several tracks that successfully incorporate a heavy metal edge in betwixt the expected cut-up soul samples. “Cocaine Music” takes it a step further by slapping an Ecks verse on the entirety of alt-rock vixen Imogen Heap’s “Angry Angel” for an oddly attractive mash-up of worlds.
Ecks more than holds his own as not just a rapper, but someone with a vision and message. With time, he can free himself of the choked Jigga-Lite sound and swagger that pervades his delivery, somewhat distracting his skills. But there’s enough originality and creativity here to give KRS-One’s characteristically over-the-top forecast some sort of merit. Seems The Teacha isn’t as out-of-touch with the times as he might appear to be.
