The video for DJ Class’ “I’m the Shit” finally dropped and though it’s a tad too low-budget for it’s own good, it’s also sorta perfectly insular and Baltimore, full of cameos (Sean Caesar, DJ Booman, Jimmy Jones, Mullyman, Labtekwon, lots more), and within that insularity, grabs some of the equally, awesomely weird plurality of the city’s current club scene: Thugs, nerds, skateboard hipster types, old dudes, really hot girls, the whole deal. The song’s still thrilling and one can imagine it losing none of its dancefloor power in ten years when it’s still a club staple.
At the My Crew Be Unruly 2 event back in July, there was a point where Baltimore’s James Nasty got a big, sly grin on his face and dropped 2 Hyped Brothers and a Dog’s “Doo Doo Brown”–those super-identifiable, down-tuned keys on the intro rolling out to a room of shouts, screams…hands thrown in the air showing approval. The song’s from 1991.
It’s worth pointing out that the videos for “Doo Doo Brown” were directed by a then, not that well-known Baltimore video director named Chris Robinson. This Class video’s produced by Chris Robinson’s Robot Films, directed by some dude named Iren. A few people’ve mentioned a rumor that Chris Robinson wants to do a documentary on Club music, a piece of information that even as rumor floating around is enough to make me cry with excitement.
That said, there’s a sense that “I’m the Ish” has already been passed over by the main, mainstream and I doubt DJ Class or Unruly Records care all that much. This is a good thing. Club music needn’t be Crunk or Hyphy or Jerk music or whatever, a blast of popularity followed by nothing really…all the artists crawling back and doing what they do. Nothing wrong with that, but sometimes I feel like my city’s musical heart couldn’t handle it.
-Pitbull “Juice Box” (Produced by DJ Class)
Production work like this is hopefully how Baltimore’s homegrown, handmade, worker-bee, avant dance music’ll wedge its way into the mainstream. Less classicist than “I’m the Ish”–this is closer to what you’ll hear young people in a club dancing to right now–it’s all the rubbery horns of newer Club music while wrapping the sound around an aggressive template basically invented by DJ Class on his old club hit “Tear Da Club Up”. Pitbull slaps on a regrettably silly hook–in Baltimore Club, there’s no interest in euphemism–but he chant-raps around the beat enough and knows when to be quiet and let the menacing club drone takeover and a few listens in, even the hook totally destroys.
-Jay Z “Ghetto Techno” (Produced by Timbaland)
Daniel Krow already pointed out that this song is a kind of remake of Rod Lee’s “Dance My Pain Away” which is pretty fascinating. Undoubtedly, there’s some Club influence in Timbaland’s work and so, who knows when and how this song came about.
It’s basically a late 90s Club production dipped in Timbaland’s video game electronics sheen. Did Timbaland give this to Jay with an mp3 of Rod Lee’s local hit attached? Between Kanye, Pharrell, and TImbaland, some of Jay’s closest musical collaborators are/were fucking with Club music. I’d like to think this song was recorded a bunch of months ago when the success of “I’m the Ish” made it seem like maybe, just maybe, Club music would be the next production trend to jump on and so, Jay did his approximation.
And it’s a damned good one. A respectful one too. The Club aspects go beyond the production and into Jay’s hook and verses and even the working-class thematics of the whole thing. Jay’s a killer mimic, he knows how to inhabit other rappers’ flow and cadences and here, he does a fairly convincing throaty Rod Lee yell. Kinda like how Jay does this startlingly hilarious 50 Cent impression at the beginning of “Hate”.
further reading/viewing:
-”The Right Track(s)” by Daniel Krow
-DJ Class and DJ Scottie B performing “Tear Da Club Up” at MCBU2
-”Pharrell and Twista Discover Baltimore Club” by Tom Breihan
-”My Crew Be Unruly 2: Words and Photos” by Josh Sisk and ME from City Paper
-2 Hype Brothers & a Dog “Doo Doo Brown” (Version One) Video directed by Chris Robinson
-2 Hype Brothers & a Dog “Doo Doo Brown” (Version Two) Video directed by Chris Robinson
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