Word: defs
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...Mutt's got absolutely no shame about being a commercial record producer," says Joe Elliot, lead singer of Def Leppard. Lange produced Def Leppard's 12 million--selling arena-rock classic, Hysteria, but his commercial sound works in almost any genre. His favorite trick is to pile layers of vocal takes--sometimes several dozen--on top of one another, giving his singers a lush, smooth sound. Then Lange uses key changes, drum fills, cowbells, chants, effects and spoken interludes to keep the listener's attention. These devices make Lange's music particularly popular with radio programmers; research shows that...
...world had better be careful. It is getting dangerously close to mainstream acceptance. Eminem's movie, 8 Mile, won raves from stuffy, middle-aged film critics and raced to the top of the box-office charts. Now Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam has barged its way onto Broadway. An evening of in-your-face street poetry by nine performers with noms de rap like Black Ice, Georgia Me and Poetri might seem to have an uphill battle in the land of Rodgers and Hammerstein. But the show, being marketed to urban audiences and sporting a relatively low $65 top ticket...
...this one. Simmons and director Stan Lathan have assembled a fast-paced, highly charged evening that manages the rare feat of satisfying insiders while introducing outsiders to something revelatory. The first thing to notice about Def Poetry Jam is that the audience is engaged more directly and passionately (shouts of assent or murmurs of sympathy after each line that connects) than any other on Broadway. The second thing to notice, especially after the gangsta-posturing insult raps of 8 Mile, is how empowering, often funny and always life affirming the words...
...hail Def Jux, saviors of American hip hop. Not only have they produced a brace of rappers outrageously talented enough to redeem a near-moribund genre—in RJD2, they have proved that they don’t even need a rapper to do it. The beats and cuts on RJD2’s debut solo album, Deadringer, are as fresh as they come, neither burdened with artistic pretension nor simply catering to the dance floor...
...Def Jux CEO, produced much of the album, and his potent influence is abundantly apparent, particularly in the industrial beats and dystopic family theme of “Success,” which recalls El-P’s own “Stepfather Factory.” However, Lif is a much more elegant, talented and hard-hitting rapper than El-P, and now he finally has the album out to prove it. Hip hop may be wack these days, but if anyone can bring back the B-Boy, I’d put my money...