Demos

Peanuthead

Sam Wetherell 00/00/0000

Rating: 3/5

Having watched a few episodes of Seinfeld, I feel like I know quite a bit about American culture. Well, I know that Florida is full of rich old people and incessantly warm winters at least. It's a kind of giant Bournemouth I suppose. How, then, is there enough conflict, and/or cultural capital in this southern peninsula, to give birth to one of America's most prominent unsigned hip hop duos - “Peanuthead”? You'd think rhymes about hurricanes and voter fraud can only go so far? Oh well…

No Homicide is fairly good then I suppose considering the above. Its strength lies in its catchy chorus, rapped at breakneck speed with a swirling “great gig in the sky” esque female vocal riff to back it up. Caught between a Coolio “Gangsters Paradise”ish ballad and something much faster and more arrogant by Jay Z, it carves out a nice path between the two, and manages to just about steer clear of too many hip-hop clichés.

With no chorus or coherent structure to hold it together, latest offering “Stress N” is more directionless however. A hip hop love song it smacks of trying desperately to resist (and then finally succumbing to) the temptation to drastically overuse the world “baby”. “Peanuthead” are better, however, when they stick to vocals. Bizzaire instrumental track “Funk A' Delic” is little more than a retro tinny disco sludge, that gets boring after about the first minute when you realise that nothing else is going to happen.

Unfortunately all of us indie kids desperately searching for the unique intellectual hip hop El Dorado should look elsewhere (perhaps to cLOUDEAD or Prefuse 73). However, if you are in the mood for some orthadox, slightly old-school hip hop staples then they couldn't do much harm.

http://www.unsignedbandweb.com/music/bands/491/