Flak Magazine: Deep Thinkers' Necks Move, 04.20.05

Hip-hop act Deep Thinkers makes it a point of pride to call Kansas City, Mo., its unlikely home base. On its debut album, Necks Move, MC Brother of Moses tells us he's "in the house all day because there's nothing to do, rent some movies, play a game, load a bowl, drink a brew." For Brother of Moses, a dialed-down home life signifies a rich interior life; he has effectively avoided the glut of consumerism available in larger metropolises, and his persona is clean of empty consumer signifiers. He tells us he doesn't drive a monster truck, he'll pass up a rack of ribs, he doesn't have any gold teeth and he doesn't roll the streets with heat.

In calling out the posturing in hip-hop, Brother of Moses is not guilty himself of posturing. He does not, on "Rock the Beat," rap "fuck Vibe, fuck Source, fuck XXL, those pretty fashion magazines are stupid as hell" to land the cover of Vibe, Source or XXL, leaning coolly against an Escalade, above the cover line "Brother of Moses Is Really Very Sorry." Necks Move, on which Brother of Moses raps and his partner, Leonard D. Stroy, is the DJ, is a hip-hop album of striking vigor and purpose. It eschews boasts about bitches, killings and bling-bling, turns away from tales of paranoia and violence, and concentrates its energies on the ravages of poverty, personal empowerment, the sickness of domestic abuse and the scourge of war. Necks Move is scored with a jeweler's precision. If it's not the best hip-hop album of 2005, then it will have been a great, great year for the genre.

It bears repeating that Brother of Moses doesn't stroll the grounds of the album like Francis of Assisi, sprinkling beneficence and canned wisdom as he angles for a bit of high-end tribute from the record industry. Necks Move considers a return of hip-hop, from its commodified perch in the white middle-class community to its beginnings, when it existed as a dialogue between creators and audiences in minority and underprivileged communities. It considers music to be provocative and dangerous because of the power and political import of its ideas, not because its lyricists craft the most disturbing, Grand Guignol thug fantasies available.

"Here We Are" pretty much sums up the artists' intentions, expressing distress over the opiate that is television, the perils of drug addiction, the folly of war, class divisions, police harassment and, conversely, the beauty of a multicultural society that rises up in resistance to these problems. "Suggestions," a heartfelt poem to women in abusive relationships, counsels them to summon the courage to leave unworthy men, even if it's not financially advisable. "I'm not the one to tell you how you should be livin'," raps Brother of Moses, "Just want you ladies with a man that's strong and giving, makes you his queen... asks you for his children." This is a necessary corrective to the usual depiction of women in rap as sex objects. Necks Move wants to agitate for change, in the country, in the music industry and in your own backyard.

Necks Move's message is probably potent enough to survive anesthetic production, up to a point. Leonard D. Stroy has, however, developed a musical landscape that exceeds the lyrics in political import. If he, too, is in the house all day because there's nothing to do, then after the game, the bowl and the brew, D. Stroy turns with Rilke-like focus to his work. He is a major talent. The sonic effectiveness of Necks Move achieves, in terms of its agenda, a sort of perfection: the music compels the listener to re-train his ear and reconsider the act of listening. (This is particularly true on "Slideshow" and "Kiss the Sky," which function as instrumental breaks, exhalations in the story of the album — they are madly caffeinated turntable tour de forces.) D. Stroy finds ample room for jazz piano and synth, and his rhythm sections are heavily articulated and expansive, but always flow. The sampling reveals the preoccupations of the world traveler — D. Stroy quotes a generous breadth of world music and lays it all beautifully in the frames of the songs. His orchestration, use of air and space in songs and his tempo shifts — songs will move from the languor of a barroom upright bass to amped-up percussive patter with keenness and dexterity — are wholly original. D. Stroy's compositions, even in the most casual listening, reveal a depth and looseness that is like jazz (not surprisingly, jazz is a predominant voice on Necks Move), and the sound of various instruments, such as a didgeridoo in "Building," issues with surprise. You hear it with shock, as though for the first time — something akin to what George Harrison must have felt when he heard the sitar for the first time.

Deep Thinkers have made a significant artistic statement their first time out of the box. And, well, not that it matters, but it bears mentioning that Dennis Kucinich never had a prayer in the 2004 elections, and if Deep Thinkers continue on their current path, their work will represent the best that popular music has to offer, but it will be criminally underplayed. The progressive point of view has been hunted down and skinned and made into handbags and coats in America, and the level of selfishness is such that people seem willing to do almost anything to avoid, oh, say for example, paying taxes. Here's hoping this talented duo stays in Kansas City, where, according to Brother of Moses, they have "Hot 103, and that's where hip-hop lives," and where, in the opinion of this reviewer, they have Deep Thinkers, and that's why hip-hop lives.

— Christopher Hickman (hickatz at mindspring dot com)