REVIEWS
Busdriver
Temporary Forever
(Temporary Whatever)
Regan Farquhar, a/k/a Busdriver, rhymes like a syncopated giggle,
sine-curve-scrambling words jockeying for position even as the
foundation they springboard from disintegrates into nothingness. On most
of the songs on the knowingly titled Temporary Forever, the center
doesn't even try to hold. Passing thoughts, complex rhymes, oddball
metaphors, and hella non sequiturs all buzz around some indeterminate
point.
But with Busdriver -- a man whose first group was called 4/29, after the
date of the L.A. uprisings -- there's always a point. Busdriver's technique
is an anti-apathy strategy, a stylistically absurd response to
politically absurd times. On "Gun Control," he spot-rushes the "white
conservatives/who form the oligarchy." On "Idle Chatter" he cautions,
"Go ahead and spend/but the dollar bill is nature's suicide notes." It's
leftist rap, but not didactically so (à la the Coup or Public Enemy).
Instead, call Busdriver a humanist, or at least humane, or at least
aware. Stints living in Sedona and rapping in a bluegrass band called
Popcorn Goddess will do that to a teen who never cared that he had
stereotypes to live down to (empathy is so much a part of his fiber that
the adult Busdriver even samples CNN doughboy Aaron Brown). "When I
improvise," he raps on "Along Came a Biter," "Showers rinse the skies
from brainstorm rainclouds/I'm Coltrane and Kurt Cobain's brainchild/and
you're soaking wet." Not all of Busdriver's routes are so Rorschach,
though. "Unplanned Parenthood" is a short-short musing on the pleasant
tribulations of seed nurturing, and "Opposable Thumbs" among the album's
best moments, is a cruel skewering of fauxhemians. Slipping into the
role, our man snickers, "I decorate my speech with Taoism and karma/but
I don't know Walt Whitman from Walt Disney." Wise stuff, but awfully
unforgiving. What was once wide-eyed optimism begins to sting after too
much exposure.
So Busdriver keeps hope alive in math-rap time. At the drive-thru window
(on "Stylin' Under Pressure"), he needles the attendant with
off-the-cuff Snagglepuss-style verse about the food that bears as much
actual relationship to the matter at hand as the average Cockneyism
does: "I'm a tall, lonely teddy bear/who occupies empty air/I'm not a
millionaire/I'm a pennyaire/Yes!"
And when he's at his best, Busdriver all but leapfrogs the utility of
words. Produced by O.D. (he of the sublime Beneath The Surface
compilation), "Jazz Fingers" is a tangled jangle of snare rolls and horn
inquiries, a thicket offering absolutely no point of entry for dissent.
Or rhyme. But Busdriver doesn't whip out a machete. Instead, the man
whose vocal hero is advanced-placement scatter Jon Hendricks (of
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross) name-drops Horace Tapscott and Billy Higgins
in a syllabic fusillade so intense, so everywhere, that he's left to
muse to his jazzbo compadre, "white people can't find your coordinates
on a laptop."
He can dream, can't he? Outside of the imagined community that is
modern-day Project Blowed, computerland is probably where Busdriver is
best known. But it's hard to rep for a cause when the audience is
virtual, and so is its collective identity. That anger pops out on "The
Truth of Spontaneous Human Combustion," as he shits on an eager young
fan of a lighter shade: "Sorry, I don't cater to the whim of every white
college student/who finds a little bit of truth in the movement/but
fails to acknowledge his or her bourgeois background/and acts like
they've been that down/for that long/just because they've been inspired
by some tired-ass underground rap song." Busdriver say you a wanksta,
and you need to stop fronting. Odds are you can't even understand him,
though. -- Jon Caramanica, The Village Voice
It's clear Busdriver loves the sound of his own voice; his ego is
sprayed all over the 18 wildly diverse tracks on Temporary Forever. It's
just as clear, however, that his talents are at least as massive as his
ego, since the album has so many incredible ideas and catchy riffs that
it trumps entire careers by some rappers out there. A bit of a human
beatbox, Busdriver is actually closer to an actor or mimic, putting on
so many different personas that the album sounds like it features
half-a-dozen Wu-Tang Clans. He races a flute loop across "Imaginary
Places," scatting his lines along with the melody virtually every time a
sample breaks through. He's even playful and humorous on the message
tracks, agonizing over his own death in "Gun Control" like Bugs Bunny
play-acting in front of Elmer Fudd (which makes sense, since he has at
least as many different voices as Mel Blanc). His constant
faux-theatrical riffs can wear on subsequent listens, but Temporary
Forever introduces one of the most imaginative talents to ever grace the
rap world. Sample lyric: "Go back to Compton you dirty n**ger, we don't
sell watermelons here, is what I yell at the white folks on the way to
the gun show once a year." -- John Bush, All Music Guide
Busdriver's style is unorthodox, marked by inventive cadences and
fluctuating tones, and the music that accompanies his rhymes is often as
neoteric as the MC's lyrical delivery. But that doesn't mean Busdriver's
style is too far over the heads of rap fans who look for something
bigger and more universal than bling and bitches in their hip-hop. With
beats by producers Paris Zax, O.D. and the amazingly talented Daddy Kev,
among others, Busdriver has armed himself with a veritable arsenal of
masterfully crafted and dynamically different tracks over which he spits
rhymes that are often fast, accurate and complicated. He doesn't stick
to one lyrical theme, and Busdriver isn't a gangsta or a pimp or any
other easy rap cliché. The weight of his artistic drive is evident in
his dense rhymes, and the caliber of his taste in rap music is evidenced
in his choice of producers and beats. -- Max Sidman, Synthesis.net
Style professional, project blowdian, pennyaire, maybe busdriver.
That's, well, that's Busdriver for you. One of the quickest, quirkiest
and quintessential stylistic. But he's also one of those that became a
victim of the latest label foldings. As this, or something similar to
this, was supposed to drop on the now defunct Celestial label. And
looking at the art design (especially the lettering), that was probably
already completed when the label went out of business. What tells you in
what progressed state the album must have been, what then allows us to
consider this a genuine release we align in the catalogue of this humble
while always envelope pushing label.
So you need to pay in mind that Busdriver is going through extra efforts
to have this album out, and we should be thankful for that, and even
more, since this record is excellent. What might however not be the
first impression you get, but maybe the fifth. That's also due to
Busdriver's rhyme style being so staccato and so fast, that it takes you
a minute to really get into it and to really understand what he's
talking about. Oftentimes he also just verses of good time flowing,
always seasoning the words with some humor and wit, like on "Driver's
Manual" or "Opposable Thumbs", where however there's still a topic of
sorts. And Busdriver is excellent when it comes to keeping his lyrics
within a circle of one identifiable thematic.
And further there's the underground emcee struggling "Post Apocalyptic
Rap Blues," that's also satirical and utilizes an according Paris Zax
beat, that incorporates the live guitar of Isaac Sprintis. Listening to
this singing flow, and then compare it to the melodic and rapid spitting
of "Imaginary Places", Busdriver also proves a versatility in his
delivery that's rarely seen and straight up ill. And Zax shows how he
can make this piece of classical music his own. Another brilliant track
is "Along Came A Biter", that does some funny labeling and that
lyrically is one of the best pieces on here.
Daddy Kev then produced "Mindcrossings," again a very good track. The
quality is also due to the dope D-Styles scratching. Busdriver declares
that "when you cross my mind, you best look both ways/cause my
personality is bigger than yours," while he fills the gaps with
freestylish 'rapping about what the thoughts carry you to' content. Also
produced by Daddy Kev is "Suing Sony," where Busdriver is putting a
fence around what truly makes his identity. Looking for the tracks with
more reflective content, there's "Somethingness" with Radioinactive and
Rhetoric, that's produced by Conartist and that still finds enough time
to not do just the one thing. There's "The Truth Of Spontaneous Human
Combustion" featuring Of Mexican Descent, as well as "Unplanned
Parenthood", with on the latter Busdriver touching upon some rarely
spoken out loud truths. Also intending to say something are "Jazz
Fingers" with Aceyalone and "Reality Sandwich", that was produced by
Hive.
On the beat tip we also need to mention the rather unregular "Idle
Chatter", where O.D. speeds up the track, to add a hard to categorize
horn to the song. While Busdriver again incredibly sing songy recites
the lyrics. As mentioned "Mindcrossings" and "Imaginary Places" are very
dope too, but these are just three of eighteen action packed beats, that
do little regular, with the oddness and otherness of their sound however
being so traditional that this is more a logical next step in the hip
hop development, than a eccentric detour.
Now as for the rating, as well as the conclusion: Busdriver got a 20 in
flow and delivery. Yes, straight up the maximum. That not because it's
just as effortless as the one of other flow masters. It's that too. But
also because it's incredibly versatile, and Busdriver is able to adopt
it to the beat in highly impressive ways. So consider this, and consider
that the odds at one time were bad that this album will ever be released
for the fans to hear. Just imagine that. And then don't go and download
this album, but go and buy it in a store. You want this Busdriver album,
just like you want your busdriver to be sober behind the wheel.
-- Tadah, Urban Smarts
From the rubble of dubbed cassettes and open mics, rises the
torch-carrier of that which is the Project Blowed sensibility. Temporary
Forever is one of the most well conceived and conceptualized albums from
the domineering L.A. collective since Aceyalone's A Book Of Human
Language. Sandwiching ideals and vocal inflections far advanced beyond
templates set by the seminal Project Blowed compilation and daringly
enough, Freestyle Fellowship's To Whom It May Concern, Bus' presence
succeeds as a dense and incomprehensible slap, yet when snagged on the
listener's ear, propels beautifully atop finer productions of Daddy Kev,
OD, Hive, and the unearthed Paris Zax. Place this album next to your
latest purchases and watch the dust settle on them. Grade: A -- Peter Agoston, Mean Street
Oh my shit! That whirring is the sound of your head spinning off after
you put Busdriver's new record on the stereo. See, on his last record,
Memoirs of the Elephant Man, it was clear that Busdriver had the
skills -- he was humorous, intelligent, and fresh, with that cranked-up,
yet impeccably enunciated delivery that rings with the same jazzy energy
as Archie Schepp. The thing was, the production was all okay, but it
couldn't quite keep up with this powerhouse of an MC. Well, thanks to
the simply batty scratching of D-Styles, and creative production by the
likes of Daddy Kev, Cerebro, and Paris Zax, Temporary Forever fucking
BUMPS, keeping the future in mind without getting too Anti-Pop
Consortium (R.I.P.) on our asses -- aka, it's still a cohesive beat you
can dance to. It opens with Busdriver rapping in insane staccato tandem
with a classical flute sample on "Imaginary Places" -- that's when your
head starts whirring -- and never stops amazing. -- Julianne Shepherd, Portland Mercury
Hardcore underground rapper Busdriver has delivered an album of frantic
and hilarious observations on everything from burgers to the evil of
politics. With the help of D-Styles' incessant scratching and screeching
turntablism, Budsdriver takes a free-form jazzy approach that refers as
much to Mr. Bungle as to the playful and genre-crossing theatricality of
Outkast. Temporary Forever blends west-coast underground rap stylings
with Zappa's sardonic cleverness and is a confidently strutting
collection of rants and raps, arrogant and brawling, self-assured and
uncompromising. Almost cabaret-like in tone, Busdriver moves from the
Arab-tinted dancehall of "Idle Chatter" to the mph show-off rap of
"Imaginary Places," and from the political harshness of "Somethingness"
to the swampy delta mud of "Post Apocalyptic Rap Blues." Intense and
exhausting, this may be too much to take in one sitting, but there's no
denying that Busdriver has made a great and abrasive album that is as
challenging as it is entertaining. -- Ink 19
As Miles Davis' Bitches Brew album was to jazz, so is Temporary Forever
to hip-hop. The album is a completely revolutionary reworking of the
genre, and has resulted in a frenzy of criticism and praise. Sounding
like a hyped up, rapping James Earl Jones in fast forward, Busdriver is
a ball of lunatic energy, frenetically rhyming over melodic fast tempo
beats, expertly produced by Daddy Kev, Paris Zax, OD and Hive. Guest
vocalists include fellow Los Angeles cohorts Aceyalone, 2Mex,
Xololanxinxo, and Radioinactive. This album definitely makes my top 10
list. -- The Mole, MauiTime Weekly
Instead of writing a review about this record, I'm just going to write
whatever I want. I'm not really in the mood to talk about this awesome
new record from Busdriver. I mean, what am I supposed to say about it?
The raps are great, the scratching (by the legendary D-Styles) is
amazing, and the production is silly and fun.
The guest appearance by Aceyalone (of Freestyle Fellowship) on
"Jazz Fingers" is great, better than anything on his most recent album,
Accepted Eclectic. The guest spot by 2mex on "The Truth of Spontaneous
Human Combustion" would already be amazing just based on his verse, but
the whole song is built on a John Frusciante sample, which is worth
about two hundred points of extra credit in my book.
And Bus Driver continues to prove that he's one of the most exciting
young MCs in all of hip-hop. Yeah, he can be a little preachy and wordy,
but no more so than doseone or KRS-1, and Busdriver is way funnier than
either of them. Also, I'm a total sucker for fast rapping, and the guy
rhymes like a hilarious machine gun, comically murdering thousands upon
thousands of people with murderous glee. Plus, there's a cool skit where
he raps to the lady at the drivethrough. I don't think I need to tell
you that wacky hijinks ensue.
But I don't want to talk about any of that. What I really want to talk
about is the A's. I mean, is Barry Zito awesome or what? -- Michael Baker, Daily Californian
The first track sold me. This guy can flow. Not like an average MC, not
like a good MC. This guy is gifted with abilities that few MCs display
(those few include KRS-One, Eminem, Slick Rick, Aceyalone, among a few
others). The Aceyalone reference is quite appropriate, too, as both of
them were part of the Project Blowed crew that amazed those who have
heard their recordings. But Busdriver is also well respected for his
freestyle and live performance abilities. On wax, Busdriver will
mesmerize you with his vocal skills, flipping his delivery style in
multiple ways in a single track. He can speed it up, slow it down, sing
a little, deliver spoken word -- man, this guy is diverse. But for me, I
need more than just a nimble lyricist. Luckily, this album is stacked
with amazing beats, incredible instrument samples and an eclectic
collection of musical genres, from jazz to drum and bass to head-bobbin'
hip-hop beats. Oh, and did I mention the sick scratches delivered by
D-Styles of the Invisibl Skratch Piklz? Get this CD, pop it in and let
it blow your mind. -- IMPACT Press
IN FRENCH: Après ses désormais déjà réputés - du moins dans l'underground - deux
premiers albums (Memoirs of an Elephant Man, This Machine will Kill
Fascists), Busdriver revient au sommet de son art. Fini le schéma de
distribution underground, à base de CD-R fait maison, Daddy Kev s'étant
associé à notre conducteur de bus préféré (nom qu'il n'a que parce qu'il
chillait souvent dans le bus étant teenager) afin d'exposer son réel
talent à la face du monde entier, ou tout du moins des fans de west
coast underground.
Après la révélation, la confirmation. Sur ce troisième album, Busdriver
explose littéralement, maîtrisant son fast flow à la perfection, faisant
par la même honneur à l'école Project Blowed. Force est de constater que
la partie instrumentale n'a cette fois-ci pas été laissée au hasard.
Exit les beats de ses homies de C.V.E., dont la qualité etait trop
aléatoire, la majeure partie du travail revenant à Paris Zax, producteur
sorti de nulle part, qui a su trouver les notes justes pour mettre en
valeur le flow du Busdriva. Soyons clair, Paris Zax n'est pas un génie,
mais il a au moins le don d'être en adéquation totale avec le rappeur,
et le mérite de faire du son propre et audible, ce qui n'etait pas
forcément le cas des productions de C.V.E.
Après une courte intro, les hostilités commencent d'entrée de jeu:
"Imaginary Places," ou l'un des nombreux hits qui accompagnent cet
album. C'est avec la simple et plus que connue boucle de la "badinerie"
de JS. Bach, au tempo quelque peu accéléré, que Paris Zax offre un
terrain de jeu propice aux exploits rapologiques de Busdriver. Rajoutez
à cela un D-Styles aux scratchs furieux et vous obtenez un morceau
imparable.
La suite s'annonce tout aussi intense, Busdriver changeant de flow d'un
morceau à l'autre, montrant l'étendu de ses capacités techniques, appuyé
en cela par des productions remarquables de Paris Zax donc, mais
n'oublions pas de citer O.D. qui depuis Beneath the Surface n'a de cesse
de montrer l'étendu de ses talents en servant des productions léchées à
tout ses homies de la west coast. L'executive producer qu'est Daddy Kev,
et dont on connait les qualités, met aussi la main à la pâte, notamment
sur l'autre tube qu'est "Mindcrossings."
Au niveau des featuring, aucun superflu, juste les amis, et quels amis !
L'étonnant "Somethingness" réunit Busdriver, Radioinactive et Rethoric
sur un morceau instrumental très jazzy de Conartist. Busdriver et
Radioinactive ne font pas ici l'étalage de leur rapidité de flow brut
mais posent tout en finesse, avec une technique irréprochable, et
l'inconnu qu'est Rethoric assure son couplet de voix de maître, se
hissant à leur niveau, avec qui plus est des lyrics abstraites du plus
bel effet. Permettez le jeu de mot, mais ça roule pour Busdriver. On
retrouve par ailleurs le groupe Of Mexican Descent, formé de 2Mex et
Xololanxinxo, sur "The Truth of Spontaneous Human Combustion." Si 2Mex a
toujours du talent à revendre, Xololanxinxo reste un peu à la traîne,
sans aller jusqu'à gâcher le morceau.
Enfin, dernier featuring, et pas des moindres, M. Aceyalone qui s'en
donne à coeur joie sur "Jazz Fingers," titre définissant parfaitement la
touche jazzy, pour ne pas dire free jazz qui accompagne cet album de
tout son long. Mention spéciale aux basses, dignes d'un réacteur d'un
jumbo jet au décollage, et qui assurent une jouissance sonore
supplémentaire. Seule petite faiblesse, et encore, rien
d'extraordinaire, l'unique production de Hive, celle de "Reality
Sandwich" qui n'atteint pas des sommets (on va finir par croire qu'Hive
n'a réussi qu'un seul morceau dans sa vie, à savoir le remix de "Can You
Find The Level Of Difficulty In This" des Freestyle Fellowship), mais
Busdriver sauve le morceau par sa seule présence.
L'album est constant en qualité, d'un bout à l'autre, formant un
ensemble très homogène, tout en restant varié du point de vue musical.
Le LP ne souffre d'aucun temps mort, et figurera sûrement dans le top 5
des albums de l'année. Alors n'oubliez pas, "kids if you wanna really
piss off your parents, buy real estates in an imaginary place."
-- Nemanja, HipHopSection.com
IN FRENCH: "Get on the Bus." Non messieurs dames, Busdriver n'est pas un illustre
inconnu. En effet, si vous avez squatté les transports en commun
Californiens pendant votre jeunesse, il se peut que vous ayez croisé
entre deux arrêts ce jeune homme chillant et freestylant avec brio...
Beaucoup plus sérieusement car il le faut bien, Busdriver est un mc
originaire de Los Angeles, affilié à la très productive famille "Project
Blowed" (Aceyalone et Freestyle Fellowship, Abstract Rude, CVE, Dk
ToonŠ) et représentant honorable d'une scène westcoast underground
(trop) peu affichée. Memoirs Of A Elephant Man et This Machine Kills
Fascists sortent tous deux en 2001 et nous présentent un mc bougrement
talentueux, éclectique, souvent jazzy et plutôt étonnant.
En 2002, Bus' nous revient avec Temporary Forever qui le sort un
petit peu plus de l'anonymat et qui consacre son talent occulté
jusqu'alors par un fâcheux manque d'accessibilité. S'entourant d'une
belle palette de producteurs californiens tels que Daddy Kev (compère de
l'alcoolique Awol One), Omid ou l'inconnu Paris Sax qui offrent de très
sympathiques compositions, notre "chauffeur de bus" semblant plus à son
aise que sur les travaux de CVE (présent sur la majorité des titres des
albums précédents) nous donne ce qu'il a de meilleur.
Dès la 2ème des 18 plages que propose l'album, le mal est fait.
"Imaginary Places" est sans nul doute un des morceaux de l'année; sur un
remake osé d'une symphonie de Bach, Busdriva' donne une leçon. Débit
invraisemblable, rimes ingénieuses et changements de flow destabilisants
nous mettent une claque d'entrée de jeu et révèlent les potentialités du
emcee, nombreuses, au demeurant. La suite de l'album n'est que bonheur
et surprise, le rappeur-jazzman incomparable et inclassable nous amuse
et nous surprend avec toujours plus d'éclectisme et de performances. Les
morceaux se suivent et ne se ressemblent pas, Busdriver chante, rappe, a
capella ou totalement off-beat, toutes les règles sont transgressées et
ça nous plait. L'influence du jazz et du Be-Bop se ressent sur beaucoup
de titres -- l'artiste cite a plusieurs reprises les artistes John
Hendricks et Eddie Jefferson comme mentors -- les interludes sont
remplies d'un humour décalé très appréciable. L'autre claque de l'album
est peut être "Single Cell Ego," apogée du délire de Budriver qui semble
prendre son pied avec ce flow progressif et complètement barré qui,
désormais le caractérisent.
On se remet à peine de ce "Single Cell Ego" qu'arrive dans nos oreilles
un 'Somethingness' partagé avec Radioinactive et Rhetoric -- prestigieux
invités -- autre pierre précieuse de Temporary Forever. Saxophone
en état d'ébriété et emcees hallucinants, la formule est efficace.
Remarquons par ailleurs la prestation de 2mex, qui, accompagné de son
compère de Mexican Descent épaule Busdriver sur "The Truth Of Spontaneus
Human Combustion," intéressant. Dernière apparition , celle de l'ami
Aceyalone (membre des Freestyle Fellowship) sur "Jazz Fingers" qui
n'altère en rien la qualité de l'album, bien au contraire.
L'album est donc très bon comme vous l'aurez compris et si on ajoute les
cuts remarquable de D-Styles, le tableau semble idyllique. Le dernier
album de Busdriver ne sera donc pas "temporaire" et devrait bénéficier
d'un classement tout a fait honorable dans les bilans de l'année qui
vient de se terminer. Busdriver nous livre une pièce homogène,
intéressante et difficilement étiquettable, un album rythmé, harmonieux
et ponctué par quelques gemmes qui resteront à la postérité.
-- Kreme, Hip Hop Core