Description

The future of hip-hop? Who cares? Shelf-life aside, though, Baltimore club/hip-hop group Spank Rock have made some of the most original, thoroughly insane dance music of the early 2000s. As distinctly regional as Chicago house and Detroit techno in the mid '80s, Spank Rock's raunchy blend of heavily deconstructed samples and beats with club music's hands-in-the-air accessibility and hip-hop's lyrical focus is the sound of Baltimore at the turn of the century. Spank Rock's 2006 full-length, YOYOYOYOYO, is a dusted mash-up of Paisley Park funk, Miami booty beats, and explicit yet cerebral raps. Be forewarned, the future is now.

Biography

Reflecting the party rap atmosphere of Baltimores club scene Spank Rock arrived as one of the best things to happen to both underground hip-hop and dirty rap a pair of styles that rarely intermingle The group formed as a collaboration between MC Naeem Juwan aka Spank Rock and producer XXXchange Alex Epton Both grew up in Baltimore though never met until both had been making music elsewhere for several years Juwan was rapping by his middle-school years and a friendship with producer Shawn J Period Mos Def Talib Kweli helped him decide on rap as a career and Philadelphia as a starting point XXXchange studied at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore then briefly the New England Conservatory before decamping for New York and a stint drumming with the indie electronic group Zero Zero whose 2001 album AM Gold was produced by the highly sought-after DFA camp he also earned a production apprenticeship at DFA assisting James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy A mutual friend Alex Rockswell introduced Juwan and XXXchange at a Baltimore art gallery and the two soon began working together Rockswell later joined the entourage as DJ Influenced by Baltimores fertile but rarely exported club scene Spank Rock tracks were influenced by the skeletal breakbeats of electro and bass glitch and grime while Juwan proved up to the task of conjuring the hyper-sexual rhymes necessary for a genuine Baltimore flavor Signed to the seminal British label Big Dada the duo turned heads with early singles Backyard Betty and Rick Rubin Spank Rocks debut album YoYoYoYoYo appeared in April 2006 XXXchange also recorded a mix album Voila that married his bruising beats to a succession of pop songs from the 60s 70s and 80s John Bush All Music Guide