Mindless Music For The Masses Makes Ya

Think less of the one that hates ya

Atban Klann: No Sequel
from Grassroots LP (Ruthless 1992)
Atban Klann: Open Your Mind
from Grassroots LP (Ruthless 1992)
Atban Klann: Mountain Top
from Grassroots LP (Ruthless 1992)


Now I admit to having a soft spot for the Black Eyed Peas. Even though lyrically they're not that impressive (and they've gotten progressively worse in their attempt to fill up their albums with four minute sound bites instead of songs) and beat wise, Wil I Am, though competent behind the boards leaves a lot to be desired. I think my admiration stems from two reasons, 1. one of the members, like me is Filipino and 2. I bought into their whole socially conscious/jazzy/independent/backpacker sound that they had when their first album dropped. But since then the only fascination that the group held for me was the fact that apl.de.ap was dropping songs with Tagalog sprinkled in it, and like most critics I've, sometimes unfairly, dismissed them as radio pop fluff (though to be honest, they've worked hard to earn that rep).

Tracing their roots back to their days as the Atban Klann, when they were first signed to Ruthless Records by Eazy-E, you can hear in their sound a genuine love for Hip-Hop and songs like No Sequel show that they could have easily been a second tier Souls of Mischief or Pharcyde, and considering how far both of those groups have fell it's easy to imagine that the the B.E.P. nee Atban Klann could have easily surpassed them even had they continued with this sound, which makes it kind of difficult to listen to these tracks as I'm the type of person who waxes nostalgic about the days when Hip-Hop was "good". Mixing live instrumentation and samples into their beats, their music was diverse and eclectic and yet still easily accessible.

The marriage of the Atban Klann and Ruthless seems like an odd one, the former a socially conscious rap group with an east coast jazz influenced sound and the latter the hallmark of Gangsta rap, but at the time of their signing, Ruthless Records had it's fair share of conscious rap acts in the likes of Blood of Abraham and Yomo & Maulkie so Atban Klann was not exactly alone but their sound and whole persona led to label politricking and a marketing disaster so their album never saw the light of day and with the death of Eazy in 1995 the group found itself without a label. The album that they recorded for Ruthless, Grassroots, had some songs that upon listening could have easily fit into the early 90's sound. And with the satirically misogynistic song Mountain Top countered by Open Your Mind, it's a wonder that the album was never released (but then again, hindsight is 20/20) It's a shame they were never given a chance to shine as the Atban Klann because as the B.E.P.'s they seemed to forsaken music for marketing.