Wait! If you don’t like hip hop, don’t click away just yet!
The Airplane Boys mixtape, “Where’ve You Been,” is perfect for you–whether you like rap or not. Read on, below.
It’s a current trend in rap to join up with indie artists or sample new indie singles–B.O.B. did it on his (pretty damn good) major label debut, causing him to lose a little credibility in the mainstream rap world. Kanye has done it. Everyone’s doing it. But most don’t do it effectively–most don’t make full use of the indie rock ethos and sound.
Airplane Boys do. Take “Born to Be.” It’s got a long, obvious Arcade Fire vocal sample (from The Suburbs) at the beginning, but it builds off the song’s synth line throughout, and even maintains that creeping, desperate mood throughout. This is more than using a sample–this is building a mixtape tribute to the song, which is what the best mixtapes really do. That’s what makes mixtaping an art: It’s not just a showcase for a new artist, it’s a way to build a message off of existing sounds and samples that nobody would ever get clearance for in the “legal tape” world.
They even pay tribute to a great mixtape cut: Biggie Smalls’ “Party and Bullshit.”
But it’s not all samples and tributes–their original stuff is even better.
The Airplane Boys are two dudes who are also part of the Beau Monde collective. They’re highly original, and they break the stereotype that Canadian rappers generally suck.
This is easily the best mixtape I’ve heard all year.
The Airplane Boys: Where You’ve Been can be downloaded for Free on http://www.theairplaneboys.com and The Airplane Boys can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube as well. If you missed my two previous articles about The Airplane Boys, those can be viewed here: http://eclipsemagazine.com/Music/24263/ and http://eclipsemagazine.com/Music/24336/
