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February 23, 2005

Without Which

Rahzel - If Your Mother Only Knew

This is just insane. Rahzel (a sometimes member of the Roots) is arguably the world's best beatboxer (Bjork was smart enough to snag him for her voice-only "Medulla" album), and he proves it here. He sings a quick hook (the title of the song) and accompanies himself with deep bass hits, echoed snaps, and scratches. Fair enough, right? But he actually does both at the same time: sings over his own beats. When I heard this for the first time, I thought it was simply unbelievable (my amazement could be expressed in scientific instant message notation: wtf x 10^10). Listen to it and shriek with delight!

This little cut is live, so I don't think you can actually purchase it anywhere (update: Jamie brought this up in the comments- "i actually have the track in question as a vinyl b-side to a roots bootleg.  it's a little-known trivia piece that those kids first cooked up elvis' "little less conversation" 'boot before it was remixed again and made huge by junkie-xl--  for whatever all that's worth.  anyway, it's purchase-able, but it's gonna be f@#*ing hard to find....."), but check out some of Rahzel's other stuff here. P.S. This UK site has a CD (or something) with bonus tracks that include 'If Your Mother Only Knew', and it's available for 3 pounds (so like $10, maybe).

Posted by matt at February 23, 2005 08:00 AM

Comments

holy freakballs. i had to send this to like, five people, with the caveat "your brain will explode."

Posted by: nicki at February 23, 2005 11:31 AM

Yeah, it's definitely one of the only pieces of music I've ever heard that can really qualify as a spectacle.

Posted by: Kevin at February 23, 2005 12:41 PM

hi kevin--
i met you at porter's house a few weeks back. i actually have the track in question as a vinyl b-side to a roots bootleg. it's a little-known trivia piece that those kids first cooked up elvis' "little less conversation" 'boot before it was remixed again and made huge by junkie-xl-- for whatever all that's worth. anyway, it's purchase-able, but it's gonna be f@#*ing hard to find.....

Posted by: jamie gordon at February 24, 2005 02:03 PM

Hey Jamie,

Thanks for the info on the bootleg- I'm going to add that to the post so people know. Take it easy-

Posted by: Kevin at February 24, 2005 03:36 PM