This post is long overdue on what’s quickly becoming one of my favorite albums – hip-hop or otherwise – of the year.

And, apparently, I’m not alone in my feelings for Cadence Weapon’s Breaking Kayfabe, which is a nominee for the Polaris Prize, given to the Canadian Album of the Year without regard to genre. For perspective, other 2006 nominees: Broken Social Scene, the Deadly Snakes, Final Fantasy, Sarah Harmer, K’Naan, Malajube, Metric, the New Pornographers and Wolf Parade. (Our pal Frank at Chromewaves is among the more than 100 jurors to decide the winner.)

You could see the nomination as a way to justify checking the album out; I prefer to view it as a validation – a well-deserved nod to a record layered in complex beats and Cadence Weapon’s wicked flow. (The Edmonton son, born Rollie Pemberton, also writes a blog: Razorblade Runner.)

There’s really nothing orthodox about Breaking Kayfabe. Beats are tweaked and distorted until they sound seedy and industrial under an organized mess of keyboard blips and bleeps. So far as I can tell – I bought it digitally so I lack liner notes – the album also is devoid of guest emcees and the obligatory filler that drags down most hip-hop records.

The lead track, Oliver Square (which I picked for Chris to play on his Sirius show two weeks ago), sets up the rest of the album: diced-up electronic beats while Cadence Weapon takes us on a stroll through Edmonton. He even talks about bustin’ you up with a Stella bottle in what might be the first hip-hop name-check of Stella Artois. Stella is the new 40 oz.

What’s most impressive with each successive listen is the imaginative production. Sample-based production has encouraged a generation of dependent tendencies among beat-makers. Breaking Kayfabe deconstructs the norm, breaking down standard practices into liberal-leaning and slightly warped keyboard ingenuity.

Cadence Weapon | Sharks
Cadence Weapon | Black Hand

More mp3s at Cadence Weapon’s site.
Pick up Breaking Kayfabe at eMusic.

Rhymesayers Entertainment, the hip-hop label run by Slug of Atmosphere, is all over the place this year. Releases by Psalm One (The Death of Frequent Flyer) and Soul Position (Things Go Better With RJ and Al) rank right up there with any hip-hop albums of the year, and now Brother Ali is off to tour with none other than Rakim in September. Talk about being in the presence of greatness … although, Brother Ali joins the tour mid-month, too late for me to check him out for the Sept. 5 show in Tempe.

Anyway, perhaps as a little celebratory gesture, Rhymesayers is offering up an unrelased Brother Ali track, Original King, in which he lets off an angry flow over a funk-heavy bassline.

Brother Ali | Original King

---

Been awhile since we’ve perused the blogs here … there’s good stuff out there. Here we go:

• Brian, he of Bows + Arrows fame, is making us all look silly with his latest post on the Mountain Goats. Seriously, this post is pretty much everything I love about his blog: lots of feeling and great writing. Like there’s a real, live person there behind it.
• The Anchor Center is getting lots of love and with good reason. Dude is analyzing mp3s via video. I … I … I’m speechless. He’s making this whole “writing” shtick seem ancient.
• He’s back – tmwsiy* moved from Boston to San Fran and I thought we lost him forever. But he’s returned.

---

Looks like there’s been a change to the local concert calendar. The Jose Gonzalez date has been moved from Oct. 4 to Oct. 3 and venue has changed from Rhythm Room to the Clubhouse. Not sure what prompted the switch, but thanks to Ann for the heads up.

In what surely must be some sort of cruel joke, Oct. 4 brings to Arizona three shows all worth seeing, all at different venues: Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Marquee Theatre in Tempe; Jose Gonzalez at Rhythm Room in Phoenix; and Del the Funky Homosapien at the Clubhouse in Tempe. What city am I living in?? This never happens. (For what it’s worth, I’m leaning toward Jose Gonzalez at this point.)

Anyway, part of the support bill for Del on this tour run is Mike Relm, a DJ based out of the Bay Area. It’s been a busy year for Relm, who tackled the 20-minute Octagynaemix as a lead-up to the release of the Return of Dr. Octagon. He also went out on tour as the DJ for Peeping Tom, the latest side project of Mike Patton. Pretty nice company there.

Relm blends and mixes in the style of DJ Z-Trip – updating ’80s rock and pop with modern, danceable beats. Some may use the M-word … you know, mash-up. Ack.

Pretty sure I’ll be missing a seriously entertaining DJ set, although it is captured on a live DVD, Suit Yourself, an 88-minute video of Relm’s tour with Gift of Gab. Or check out the CD Radio Fryer.

Mike Relm | Radio Fryer preview mix
Mike Relm | Octagynaemix

My man Matt over at Los Amigos de Durutti wrote up a nice post about the new soundtrack for the NBA 2k7 video game, which is produced by Dan the Automator. The soundtrack has tracks by Rhymefest, Chali 2na and Lupe Fiasco with Evidence of Dilated Peoples … among others. (I tried to find a screen shot of Ben Wallace in a Bulls uniform to no avail. Marion will have to do.)

I had to reiterate the greatness of the Hiero track, Don’t Hate the Player (get it? It’s about basketball … yeah), especially because Casual drops the bomb: “My crossover’s sicker than the Black Eyed Peas.”

Ouch. Funny because we were just at a bar last night and someone seemed to unload their quarters on the Internet jukebox for all Black Eyed Peas material. With little choice but to listen (and drink … heavily), I was stunned (again) at what a money grab BEP went for: My Humps? Christ. Props to Cas for that line then.

Check it out … clean version. Sorry. But I’ll throw in the instrumental for you remixers.

Hieroglyphics | Don’t Hate the Player (clean)
Hieroglyphics | Don’t Hate the Player (instrumental)

---

Going to check out the Clientele with Great Lakes and local band the Threads tonight at Rhythm Room. Should have some pictures tomorrow.

For your first major album, you probably could do a lot worse than have Kanye West’s name attached to it. Now, I’m not saying Rhymefest couldn’t hang on his own, because he can. But that’s just part of the hip-hop game these days: Get a big name on the CD sleeve and reel ’em in.

At least Rhymefest, who won a Grammy for his part on Kanye’s Jesus Walks, recognizes his debt to his fellow Chicagoan throughout most of Blue Collar, almost like he’s playing Scottie Pippen to Kanye’s Michael Jordan. Like on the hot track Brand New (produced by Kanye):

“Me and ‘Ye go back like crew cuts /
He hook me up as long as I don’t ask him for too much /
But even he know ‘Fest is layin’ it down /
Cause this is just an old beat he had layin’ around”

More proof of Rhymefest playing up his inferior status to Kanye (which makes him a little more endearing, to be honest) comes in the video, when Kanye is counting a wad of crisp $100 bills then comes across a crinkled, messy bill. He promptly hands it to Rhymefest.

I’ve been diggin’ Blue Collar, if, at the very least, because it’s one of the few hip-hop records that doesn’t rely on cumbersome skits to prove its conceptual vision. Maybe in this case, Kanye could learn a thing or two from Rhymefest.

Rhymefest keeps his point of toiling in meager work and city life to his rhymes, like on Devil’s Pie, which cops a sample from Someday by the Strokes, in one of the album’s great lines: “I know I’m ahead of my time, but I’m behind on my rent.”

Despite various producers touching the album – Kanye, No I.D., Mark Ronson – Blue Collar keeps a consistent theme and flow, though I could live without a couple of the record’s stumbling blocks (namely, Stick and Bullet feat. Citizen Cope).

Rhymefest (feat. Kanye West) | Brand New

Brand New video: Windows Media | Real Player