Review
Quelle Chris
2Dirt4TV

Hot off the heels his underappreciated 2011 debut full-length Shotgun & Sleek Rifle, Detroit MC/producer Quelle Chris drops his latest EP, 2Dirt4TV. This time around Quelle steps from behind the boards, leaving the production to “Legendary underground MySpace producer” Mr. Dibia$e. The result couldn’t be more seamlessly harmonized, as Dibia$e’s laid-back boom-bap balances Quelle’s nonconformist flow in way that recalls the arty weirdness of rappers like Das Racist, fellow Detroiter Danny Brown, Devin the Dude and oddly enough, Native Tongues.

In comparison to Quelle’s previous EP The S.O.N, in which he did all the production himself, it is apparent that Dibia$e’s techniques are a bit more advanced than Quelle’s lazy, sometimes even sloppy, approach. Both are similar producers in that they craft entirely contagious head-nod-isms with simplistic ploy, but Dibia$e’s seems to be more progressive. Perhaps channeling The Pharcyde, “Whateverdoe” is a left-hand ode to the herb. Quelle and fellow Crown Nation stable mate Mosel rap over a loop of deep grooves and high claps that sounds like it could have been picked from J.Dilla’s back catalog of beats. You get the sense that not only this track, but the whole EP, was recorded under a haze of marijuana smoke.

It’s easy to forget that rap was originally just a guy talking on the mic over some beats. Sure, that style may seem amateurish and scatterbrained, considering there have been great advancements in mic skill and breath control since the inception of hip-hop. But in 2012, it has become quite apparent: dexterity matters little. I mean, Weezy, Drake and for that matter, Tyler the Creator are some of the biggest stars in the genre. Traditionally speaking, these are not what you would call good rappers. By the same token, but on a much smaller level, as an MC that’s where Quelle subsists. He applies an unfussy methodology when it comes to rapping: basically, if it rhymes, it rhymes...and if it doesn’t, it still sort of does. On the opening track, “Live Alone, Die Alone” he clumsily rhymes the word “up” three times in a row— “bills stackin’ up”, “money rackin’ up” and then “bills stackin’ up” again. However, in the very next breath he adds, “Aint gonna be no Quantum Leap, Scott Backula” and somehow makes it work.

For the most part, there’s not much on this EP that doesn’t work. However, the anti-music industry tirade near the end of the title track gets a little annoying, considering it’s contradictory to a similar rant that closes out The S.O.N. EP, where Quelle demands that if you don’t like something you should change it. Not to mention, it’s followed by three plus minutes of dead air before the next song starts. Even if that was intended to serve artistic purposes, its effect is lost on the listener.

Whereas Shotgun & Sleek Rifle drug on a bit long, 2Dirt4TV, at only six songs, is probably the perfect length for an MC of acquired taste such as Quelle Chris.