The Yah Mos Def “Major Taylor Goes AWOL”

its almost too perfect that this start off with the phrase “yo, we’re talkin’ shit”, as half of yah mos def was responsible for hosting the trackstar records messageboard, which is the alpha and the omega of philadelphia’s internet hipster scene. [trackstar records was, for a while, an excellent local label that put out releases by the clocks, s process, bill ricchini and more.] that board was so much fun but inexplicably spawned other messageboards, places where bad attitudes and shit talking reigned supreme; the last thing America’s Most Depressed City needs and why we should be so happy the yah mos def is here, to remind us that we have a sense of humor and of kinder, gentler times — like when we made fanzines, ran distros [life before insound!], went to basement shows [and didnt complain about the PA] and believed in things like being straight edge and whatnot. i feel kind of bad for mentioning the messageboard association, especially since the yah mos def are such awesome people but failing to mention it is like talking about the revolutionary war and omitting the part about the boston tea party; whether they want to admit it or not, its just as much part of their history as their 7″ collection is. on “major taylor goes awol”, the lyrics switch between 90’s hardcore references faster than a crossfader and crafts beats from hardcore and screamo records [the band’s name is a combination of san diego punk’s the yah mos and hip hop artist mos def’s], this particular song a philly double-whammy, as it samples franklin [one of the best local punk bands, imho]. the end result is roughly hewn yet completely infectious, especially for what many might tag as being a gimmick. if you managed to snag a copy of their demo at recent shows, you’re a lucky one!

(Check out Yah Mos Def here)

This entry was posted on Monday, March 28th, 2005 at 10:17 am and is filed under mp3blog.