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| J. Walter Negro and Loose Jointz |
We all know rap rock. For the most part, its got to be one of the lamest genres out there. You combine the laziest part of hip-hop sampling and rapping with the laziest part of rock playing to get some of the most grating kind of music out there. Artists like Rage Against the Machine, Faith No More, The Beastie Boys, have epochs where they lean too much on the aggro part of all this type of music and become more than responsible for the likes of Korn, Linkin Park or whatever the heck this pile of cowpie is. They seem to forget that rap is also meant to groove to and chill with and not solely be a rejoinder. Loose Jointz “Shoot the Pump” serves as a reminder the promise this kind of fusion can provide.
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| “Shoot the Pump” Single |
Formed in New York in 1980, this loose group of ultra talented musicians fronted by a graffiti artist J. Walter Negro, the nome de plume of one Marc Edward Almond, sought to combine the nascent art of rapping with punk and post-disco music. Using the medium of music, they wanted to show the manifesto of Zoo York how any kid from the ghetto can be use any artform (be it bombing, dancing, or performing) to transcend the negative captivation New York streets held for such kids.
Their early performances so entranced John Hammond, noted record label honcho who discovered Bob Dylan, the Boss, and Robert Johnson (to name a few), that he signed them up as quick as he could. While laying down the first tracks of their debut album, they released this visionary single which spoke about a night out tagging and almost getting shot by the police because they thought their spray can was a weapon. Its a mashup of all the groove sides in music they were growing up with, funk, latin, disco, punk and hip-hop held. Unfortunately, for them due to bad mismanagement this single became the only thing they ever officially released and its promise of a new positive groove to grow along hip-hop never came to be quite as this. Members of the group went on to record with other bands like the Contortions, and Defunkt to name a few, while lead singer eventually succomb to drug abuse, but for one shining moment damned if they didn’t shoot the pump.
//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/5hOAVqAawk8?rel=0
Bonus track, the unreleased “Ron E. Raygun” blasting the worst president ever with another brilliant banger…