For this rapper, hip hop is electronic
Rappers like Eminem may diss techno, but hip hop and electronic music weren't always such sonic foes. Like Kraftwerk sampler Afrika Bambaataa, Beans unites the two genres on his debut Tomorrow Right Now, out from Warp in March. The album continues the former Anti-Pop Consortium frontman's tradition of hitting some of the most outré notes (the thwock of Ping-Pong balls) and lyrical references (a shout-out to DJ Larry Levan) in the B-boy universe. Wired caught up with Beans to talk about his renegade sound.
Nathan Fox
For this rapper, hip hop is electronic.
WIRED: Your music seems to bridge two worlds.
BEANS: I don't see a separation between hip hop and electronic music. Yes, my music is electronic-based, but my influences are early hip hop, which itself is electronic-based. What Autechre is doing now is just an extension of what [legendary hip hop producer] Kurtis Mantronik was doing back in the day.
Isn't Tomorrow Right Now in the black futurist tradition of Sun Ra, Miles Davis, and Underground Resistance?
I wouldn't limit what I'm doing to just black influences. I'm into everything from Jimi Hendrix to Autechre.
But do you feel like you're going to be forever relegated to the fate of most independent rappers: small audiences and ever-smaller paychecks?
I'm not sure that what I do appeals to everyone, and I don't really care. Business-wise, I've got a nifty relationship with Warp. I'm on the label that best understands my music. I don't think a hip hop label would understand what I do.
Probably not, but Tomorrow shares an old-school, minimal beat-making style with a big album of the moment, Missy Elliott's Under Construction.
Interesting that you bring that up, because my engineer works with Timbaland. I can just explain the sound this way: I'm a child of '88 who loves Boogie Down Productions and Eric B. & Rakim.
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