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FEATURES
St. Louis rappers kick it with a Bottle Full of Bourbon
Earthworms
by Dayo Adesokan, illustration by Jason Anderson and Matt Strom
¶ In a media market so heavily saturated with one-hit blunders and ring-tone
rappers, there is hip-hop and there is hip-hop. After a month of listening to
the Earthworms’ debut CD and a two-hour interview at Riverfront Radio, I
bare testament that these mix-tape mavens are the latter.
16 · ELEVEN · elevenmusicmag.com
FEATURES
T
he group emerged from the ashes of several dismembered
punk bands, alternative groups, and rap cliques—the ultimate
culmination of the abstract. Kama, its charter member, had
been performing with six housemates in the seven-man group “Core
Project”—which toured with Nelly and the St. Lunatics in 2001— for nearly
four and a half years. Feeling creatively stymied, he and Black Patrick—
break-dancer turned MC—began conducting regular late-night basement
recording sessions. The two had privately initiated the side project—originally named, “Nightcrawlers”—before the arrival of Matthais, who joined
both groups. Within a month, the renamed Earthworms had recorded an
entire album, but faced the unfortunate setback of losing the hard drive on
which the songs were recorded. After losing their original producer as well,
the group went shopping for a new element: the live DJ. Fortunately, the
three were aware of DJ Mahf, a young turntable tyrant who was beginning
to make a name for himself on the St. Louis underground scene. Seeing
Mahf perform at the Blue Note, the group instantly offered him a spot as
producer.
On New Years Eve of 2006, the group released its premier album, “No
Arms No Legs, Just a Head and a Body.” The album is an eclectic blend of
hip-hop new and old, lined with nostalgic samples of soul, funk, and recordscratching prowess so keen as to invoke the image of a DJ with claws.
Speaking on the group’s connection to other abstract musical forms, Matthais remarks, “If you listen to punk rock or hip hop, anything that’s subversive, we’re all saying the same shit, just in a different language. It’s like
folk art. At the end of the day, we’re all a bunch of fucking pirates. We’re all
like on different fucking boats. If we all get a big ass boat and learn to ride
together, we’re all going to be more powerful.” The second album, “Bottle
Full of Bourbon,” undermines the current trend of half-assed sophomore records with a relaxed, but tasteful, vibe that gives the listener the impression
that they’re having as much fun with any track as the artists. The group’s
ongoing development, evident in the increased focus and structure of
“Bottle Full of Bourbon”, provides a suitable analogy to Tribe Called Quest’s
artistic maturation between People’s Instinctive Travels and Midnight
Marauders. Themselves wary of the consequences of success, their opinion
of mainstream rap was best summarized by Matthais: “People get a little
bit of money and they start listening to the people chirping in their ears, and
the music that results from that is just soulless.” Kama accuses the media
of saturating the market with untalented artists and begs the reader to
question, “Can I relate to this [music] or am I going to make myself relate to
this because everyone else listens to [it].” Not exempt from their judgment
are talentless unknown rappers, who Mahf claims are doing an equally good
job of flooding the underground with shit: “You gotta be an archaeologist to
find [good underground music].”
While the group is unlikely to gain international acclaim in the current
market, the country is no longer turning a deaf ear to underground talent.
The “Bottle Full of Bourbon” CD release party sold out, the group got an
editor’s pick from music mega-store CD Baby, along with rave reviews from
St. Louis publications, and performed at South by Southwest 2008. With
the Earthworms currently in talks with an undisclosed record label, one
can’t help but share Kama’s fear of over-popularity: “As far as hip-hop is
concerned, you’re not going to know the names of the groups, because it’s
all under the surface. If it was mainstream, [it’d] probably start sounding
like Chingy or Jibbs.” While the group is still in tact, its members all have
solo projects underway. DJ Mahf recently released “Homemade Junk:
Volume III,” a mix-tape featuring an array of artists including Dangerdoom,
Atmosphere, RJD2, and Pharcyde. Matthais and Kama are both recording
solo albums which promise to maintain, above all, the artistic integrity of
the previous group albums. The group’s next record is also being recorded,
with a tentative release date of summer 2009. While the group swears
never to become content or complacent in their work, they all agree that
they can consider themselves successful when half their incomes are derived from music. How fitting that a group which represents the blood life
of hip-hop be found pumping relentlessly in the heartland of the nation. »
elevenmusicmag.com · ELEVEN · 17