Slack Jobs III

Missy Elliott, Moby, and more

by Jon Caramanica

Moby

Even in the wake of this year's Grammy ceremony -- which was touted as the most controversial in the show's history -- it was hard not to feel underwhelmed. So I decided to look not just at the Grammys themselves but at what's been out there lately on the radio, the dance floor, and in the clubs -- and to confer honors onto a few very special highlights. Here's the third installment of Slanguistics' "Slack Jobbing" commendations.

Best Accessory To Bring to the Grammy Awards: Black People. After all the hype and anticipation, the one event that was supposed to make Grammy night controversial -- the Eminem/Elton John performance -- created little in the way of angst or excitement. If you wanted subtext, you had to look past the protests and engage in a little racio-geographical investigation. Like, where were the black performers? Right behind their white patrons, thank you very much. From Paul Simon's neo-liberal head patting of his black rhythm section to Moby's continued exploitation of the black voice (not to mention the way the cameras seemed to forget Jill Scott was on stage) to Eminem's toting around his beefy protégés D-12, the race card was actually a trump card this year. And Lil Bow Wow driving Miss Madonna's limo onto the stage at the start of the show? Talk about getting served.

Best Use of Muscular Bass, Upright: Now Is the Time (Bubblecore), by the Alex Blake Quintet featuring Pharoah Sanders. Earlier this month at New York's Knitting Factory, Alex Blake helmed a trimmed-down quartet version of his roots-bop quintet. Slapping the bass with manic ferocity, he seemed lost in the spiral of his own genius. With original compositions like "On the Spot" and "Now Is the Time," Blake achieved live something only hinted at on the CD -- a fully physical form of musicking. His playing was brisk and forthright, with no pretense whatsoever. In the mellower sections, he even attempted a bridge between country and jazz, with a sidelong glance at acoustic blues. But even then he could hardly contain himself. By the show's end, he'd fully integrated the genres, and fully integrated himself into the music, achieving as much through his gesticulations as through his nimble string manipulations.

Best Use of Muscular Bass, Synthesized: "Lap Dance" by N.E.R.D./The Neptunes. Auteurs of the bass-pop revolution, the Neptunes have orchestrated enough gluteal hits -- Mystikal's "Shake Ya Ass" and Jay Z's "I Just Wanna Love U," to name two -- to earn their keep for years to come. But they're not satisfied with behind-the-scenes machinery, and on their concept project N.E.R.D., the starmakers become the objects of attention. "Lap Dance" is the first single from their upcoming In Search Of . . . (Virgin; due in June), and it's as mechanically funky as any of the shakers they've given away to Mystikal, Jay-Z, or Noreaga. Over the fat introductory two-note bass pattern, Pharrell (one half of the Neptune duo) whispers "I'm a dirty dog" before breaking into proclamation mode: "I'm an outlaw/Quick on the draw/Something you never seen before/And I dare a motherfucker to come in my face." Then, for 200 thoroughly gnarly seconds, Pharrell and his Neptune partner Chad simultaneously revel in and poke fun at the bizarre kaleidoscope of hip-hop excess they've inadvertently landed in. To add insult to injury, some white rapper named Harvey comes off like Eminem-meets-Joey-Fatone -- "You can find me drunk, whippin' and might crash/Or you can find me chilling with crackers who like thrash." And the video is so raunchy that MTV won't even look at it.

Missy Elliott

Most Unlikely Instance of Visionary A&R, Scavenging-for-Hooks Department: "Get Ur Freak On," by Missy Elliott, and "Oochie Wally," by Bravehearts featuring Nas. Run out of funk records? Vintage R&B just not doing it for you anymore? Well don't be scared to dip your toes into the exciting sphere of "world" music. That's right, plenty of people in lots of countries are making music. And no one's stolen the majority of their ideas yet! But hurry, because producers Timbaland and EZ Elpee are ahead of the curve. On "Get Ur Freak On," the first single from Missy Elliott's as yet untitled third Elektra album, Timbaland mixes what sounds like electric sitar and tabla drums into the oddest hip-hop beat this side of Company Flow. Topped off with a pair of breaks that are silent save for some snippets of devotional singing, "Get Ur Freak On" is so bizarre, it almost defies radio play.

That can't be said of "Oochie Wally," an EZ Elpee production for the ill-fated Nas-orchestrated QB's Finest (Ill Will/Columbia) compilation, which find its ethnic cues not in its beat but in the melody. Underneath traditional club-'ho shouts and thuggish-pimp rhymes dances the most delicate reed sound ever committed to hip-hop wax, the shrill South Asian shenai. Presumably it's all synthesized or looped, but it still penetrates through the urban radio haze. Better than Eric B lifting Ofra Haza! Well, not really, but it imbues this retrograde banger with a casual effervescence not seen since the hip-hop heyday of '92.