Ill Anonymity

Ill Brothers Project
-Mescaline - The Funky Dope Maneuver
-lawd - Valley of the Broken Necks
-Knowin' Bout the Ill

1994

I'd never claim to be an expert on the records and/or artists that I post here. In fact, I know shamefully little about many of them. I just post stuff that I like, that hip-hop heads have probably heard at least once in their life, and that I think people should hear if they haven't. If any of that made grammatical sense, it'd be a pretty simple idea.

There are, however, some records that next to nobody knows much of anything about. There are certainly times when people choose to forget, or bury the info on purpose as some kind of face-saving measure (Kevvy Kev, I see you sweating). Sometimes, though, there just isn't much info out there, or it was a quiet once-off release.

In the case of the Ill Brothers Project, there were two quiet releases, this being the first. The second appeared several years later on a different "label" and with all new info, further adding to the decidedly mysterious air about them. I do know that they're from the Los Angeles area, and they make funky noise. Other than that, all I could dig up using admittedly hasty web research was a guest appearance by Snizake the MC on an OMD album, over an Ill Brothers beat.

And, like so many others from the era, this record leaves the listener itching for more. IBP seems to be barely tapping some nice potential what with the gritty, low-budget sound and presentation, but man, they do work well with what they've got. The lyrics, though kinda goofy at times and far from groundbreaking, are simply effective and can be enjoyable to listen to. Plus, happily, DJ's are well represented (as they should be on most every hip-hop record, really). Mescaline lends a jazzy vibe to the proceedings with a prominent open hi-hat and nice horns in the hook, while lawd is about about as raw as it gets with some hard-hitting, neck-snapping drums and a broken trumpet sound sneaking in and out of the 'scape. Knowin Bout The Ill, the C-side, brings a more upbeat jazz to the table.

Nice stuff. And if anyone knows of any more IBP material out there... please do let me know.