Wordburglar Vs The Grouch

Wordburglar's one of those artists who's always pinged just on the outermost edges of my radar.  For example, The Bassments of Badmen was a must-have late 90s compilation album I eagerly hunted down for its early appearances by underground Canadian artists like The Sebutones, Jorun and others.  Wordburglar was on Bassments Volume 2, which I never actually copped.  And he's done a bunch of guests spots with artists I've listened to over the years; he just somehow never quite landed on a project I bought.  He's always been a "yeah, I know who he is" guy, though I've never actually heard any of his music until now.

If you haven't heard him either, well, I've got his two latest albums on CD here and he's really dug his heels into the style of 90s punchline raps.  Personally, I'm glad we've moved beyond the constant dad joke similes and arbitrary pop culture references, but if you've been pining for that era, boy, have I found the guy for you.  So how much of that is a criticism depends on you.  For me, he's way too jokey.  Humor's always played a critical role in Hip-Hop, all the way back to DJ Hollywood rapping poon-tang before Hip-Hop had even been committed to vinyl.  It's just a question of degree.

And to Wordburglar's credit, he doesn't sacrifice his rhythm and flow just to stuff in as much superficial cleverness as possible, like some rappers I could name.  Nor does he come with that too familiar, self-satisfied tone pointing out that how he's better than conventional rappers who always rap about bling, hos, and whatever other stereotypes.  He just presents himself as an affable guy rapping about whatever nerdy content he likes, and has more of a classic B-boy sound to his music.  His bars are carefully written and he's clearly mastered all the fundamentals long ago.  Like, the thing about most of those rappers in that Nerdcore For Life documentary is that they were mostly terrible amateurs with no ear for, or interest in, music, who were just trying to sell us on the novelty of their subject matter being comic books and after school cartoons.  Wordburglar's actually a adept MC who just happens to also be rhyming about comic books and after school cartoons.

So Rhyme Your Business is the first and his sixth album, and after a silly opening skit reminiscent of De La Soul's first album, the punchlines are flying right from the very start, "saying I don't fire fully? That's like Melania claiming to stop cyberbullies."  Every line is another simile.  "The rap addict, mad rabid Cujo, we're not the same dog, like Goofy to Pluto."  Or "[i]f you're not on my page, please, make like a tree on maternity... leave!"  Oy vey.  And that's just from the first song; it goes on like that, "something's afoot, and it's not the thing on my leg, so let me mix it to this beat like an omelette egg."  For his next album, I'd like to see him tackle a few self-imposed challenges, like not to use the word "like" once.  I think it might really help.

Not that it's all Catskills Rap.  Battle and skill flexing punchlines are one thing, but we dive into real nerdcore content as well.  I grew up with the cartoon and toys, and I still had to google to understand the title "Wrong Ralph Pulaski."  Wordburglar, we learn, has a serious dedication to GI Joe raps.  He already made an entire album of it, in fact, called Welcome To Cobra Island.  But silly as it is, committing to a narrative makes the song more engaging.  The same goes for another album highlight, "Verbserker," where he dons the persona of a Conan-like berserker in a Dungeons & Dragons-style world ("in times of brawls and war, I'm the guy you send a giant falcon for.  And if dying's your wish, I got a hungry pet that's a dinosaur fish"), incorporating cinematically atmospheric production and using the humor more creatively.

There are a few noteworthy guests as well.  "Used Crate of Mind" features Peanuts & Corn's Birdapres, and about half his Backburner crew show up for the posse cut "The 2nd Last Song."  The one that'll draw the most attention is surely Esoteric on "Damage Control."  It features some killer LL Cool J samples being cut up Uncle Fes (Fes and DJ Irate's turntablism contribute to the consistently impressive production on both albums).  I just wish they didn't waste the opportunity by doing nothing but name-dropping Marvel characters.  Recognizing a string of references just isn't all that engaging on its own... I thought we all learned that from that terrible Ready Player One movie.  The last song on the album, "Barter In Nostalgia," tells us he's at least self aware.

It's easy to be put off by all this.  I was.  But I have to say, what is probably Rhyme Your Business's best song, "Make Fun Not Bore," makes a strong case for everything he's doing here: "In the discog, nothing is boring.  Never sleep, 'cause sleep is the cousin of snoring.  Buzz a beat like Kyle Lowry.  In an audio medium, you can hear me smile loudly.  Rowdy, Roddy Piper, kinda troublesome.  Styles so fresh I get ID'd buying bubblegum.  (How do you stay so young?)  Well, probably because mentally I believe I'm twenty-three and dress like I'm seventeen.  And by any means put fun number one, by (w)rapping all around you like a cummerbund."  How mad can you really be at his good natured attitude, just opening up about what he likes and trying to spread joy?

Album #7, SpaceVerse, is more singularly focused on sci-fi IP raps.  The opening cut drops endless Star Wars references over a loop of the official score, like that Walkmen record.  "From Earth" stands out as a more original concept, where he inverts the tradition of telling us extraterrestrial rhymes to instead explain our planet to space aliens.  There are Transformers and Star Trek songs... there's one about The Visionaries: Spectral Knights and I think one is Dr. Who (I recognize the term "Sonic Screwdriver," but I haven't seen the show enough to be sure that's what the whole song's about).  Star Wars comes back for songs called "The Mos Eisley Rap Show," "Remember the Hoojibs" and "Dude Where's My At-At At?"  Kool Keith appears on a song called "Space Defense Force" because of course he does.

Several of the songs on here (five, to be specific) are remixes of older songs.  For example, the original "Angels and Monsters" was on More Or Les's 2013 album Bigger On the Inside, which the liner notes helpfully point out each time.  I guess one goal of this album is for Wordburglar to collect a bunch of guest spots he's done in recent years, though also giving them a new spin for the completists who'd already had them all.

Speaking of the liner notes, this album also gives you a helpful statement about each song.  Well, they're more fun than helpful, I suppose.  For "Torontaun," it says, "[g]rowing weary of the constant galactic battles being waged on his frosty homeworld, Torontaun packed up and moved to Toronto in search of life, love and warmer temperatures!"  If you don't already know that a tauntaun is the camel-like creature from The Empire Strikes Back, though, you're still left in the dark.  And tauntaun's one of the easy ones.  Like I said, I grew up on all this Transformers/ Star Trek stuff, and a number of these songs still have me feeling like I have no idea what the heck this guy is on about.  So, I'd say Rhyme Your Business is the more accessible album, and SpaceVerse is for the more dedicated fan looking for deeper cuts.

Also, fans who also respect Hip-Hop's vinyl legacy - or those who just want an easy way to add the biggest marquee guest appearances without springing for two whole albums - will want to look out for his latest 7" single, too.  It takes from both albums with his Esoteric collaboration on side A, and the song with Kool Keith and Mega Ran on the B-side.  It's on Black Buffalo Records, the same label that did Buck 65's latest LP, and comes in a colorful picture cover.