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Underground > Radio & Music >

Kwest tha madd ladd = most underground artist ever?

10:24 / 19.11.03

This was kinda prompted by a thread started by Flux about a benefit gig. Flyboy said he was planning to play a tune called '101 Things To Do While I'm With Your Girl'. I thought that was a brilliant title, and I'd heard his name before, so I thought I should check him out.

This is the first time, and despite some people's experiences, it really is the first time, that I have not found a single match for an artist's name on Kazaa Lite. And it's been searching for nearly 20 minutes now.

I looked up his name on google and it came back with only 118 matches. Of those, only 3 were actually making a proper reference to him, the rest just listing his album in their catalogues. The only worthwhile comment I could find on him is that he is like a precursor to Eminem. His album was apparently released in 1996, and one page said that he was featured on the Lyricist Lounge 2 album, although he doesn't seem to be credited.

How does any artist manage to attain this level of obscurity? I've not heard his music, but his song titles suggest he's a pretty funny guy. And he's fairly recent relatively speaking. I was able to find over 400 matches for Rampage the Last Boy Scout, who to my knowledge has never done anything worthwhile in his life. Even Cut Monitor Milo, producer of little-known and long-forgotten LONS, topped him at 135 references. Of those, several seem to be biographical or quoting lyrics i.e. something substantial.

Forgive me if I'm going on at unnecessary length here, I just find it strange and a little unnerving to realise that there's an artist out there that I can find no music or information on the net for. Has anyone else come across an artist this obscure? Perhaps someone would like to try and beat the record for 'least matches to an artist's name on google'. You know, if you've got far too much free time.

In the meantime, can Flyboy or anyone else fill me in on this guy? Is his album any good? What kinda style is it? etc etc.

lord nuneaton savage

10:56 / 19.11.03

I do remember hearing a couple of his tracks and liking them a great deal. The main thing I remember about him is Neil Kulkarni going apeshit for him in Melody Maker around about 1996. Bit vague I know but there you are...

lord nuneaton savage

10:59 / 19.11.03

I do remember hearing a couple of his tracks and liking them a great deal. The main thing I remember about him is Neil Kulkarni going apeshit for him in Melody Maker around about 1996. Bit vague I know but there you are...

Regrettable Juvenilia

11:01 / 19.11.03

Oops, I can never remember how he spells his name exactly. There's actually only one 'd' at the end of 'Lad', but two in 'Madd', which always confuses me.

Amazon entry for This Is My First Album - which sadly was his only album, too. Here's a pretty good summary. As I remember it, Kwest was tipped by quite a few critics to be the next big thing - lord nuneaton is quite right, Kulkarni bless him thought Kwest would be the new Busta - the fact that he didn't illustrates that even if you're talented on the mic and have a tendency to be outrageous in your lyrics, you can still fail to blow up.

Basically, while he is/was pretty obscure, there are a few hip-hop heads who are familiar with '101 Things...' - it is, after all, hilariously brilliant, kinda like if Flava Flav played the role normally occupied by Robin Asquith in films such as Confessions of a Window Cleaner. It's basically a defence of the ethics of sleeping with someone's girlfriend if the guy is a jerk (which by Kwest's definition ranges from someone who hits their girlfriend to just someone who's a bit smug and needs to be brought down a peg or two), and what makes it work is Kwest's shameless disingenuousness - I know that sounds like a contradiction in terms, but it's all about the way he presents sex as something that just happens to him by accident, and then pretends to have a reasonable explanation:

"Now he's facing the floor, talking 'bout 'Kwest, you foul'
Hold up, just hear me out now, pal..."

Because just listen to Kwest, he can explain everything! And he doesn't mean it as an affront, he's not delighting in cuckolding you.... except he clearly is. The whole joke of the song is that Kwest is no great seducer, just a skinny weakling, and the guys whose girlfriends he's sleeping with are wannabe gangsters, big tough guys, ladies' men. Yeah, don't take it personal, kid...

"Don't take this personal: I'm tappin' your miss
Like this like that, like that like this."

So anyway, a great track, and you should be able to find it online, 'cos I did. Don't remember much else from the album (a guy I lived with had it at Uni, hence my discovery of Kwest), except that there's also a track that claims to be entirely freestyle, which is pretty impressive too.

11:06 / 19.11.03

I bought that album for a 'pal' back in 98 or so. It's got him in his pants, dirty white y-briefs, on the cover iirc.
I think that he's got a kind of obscene-comedy angle to most of his rhymes, fucking yr bwoi's shorty, fucking anything that moves, anything that sleeps anything with/without a backbone etc.

skit: [from memory] 'to all you fellas out there who got a girl but who never takes her out, never treats her right, buys her good gifts, gives foot rubs or listen to her opinions, I gotta say...keep it up.

cuz yo:

i'll fuck her'

beatswise i can hardly remember, i don't know even if he's east or west coast [such things were important back then]. the dubious impression in my head is of Luniz style lay-z g-funk crossed with the chilled jazziness of Premier or someone.

all in all i was annoyed with the record, bought it as a means of proving the superior articulacy of hip-hop to the 80s-english-indie which said 'pal' was in to, and what i got was a load of knob gags and loaded era sexism. being a twat, the 'pal' thought the record was brilliant.

now, obscure: if anyone can direct me to an mp3, or shop that might hold a copy of, 'bazerk bazerk bazerk' by Son Of Bazerk on hank shocklee's SOUL records then, well, i'll be very chuffed indeed.

12:16 / 19.11.03

Wow great link Flyboy. Thanks. Wonder why Google didn't pick it up. Where did you come across it?

Kwest's music is a curious blend of old skool and new, east and west. He's got the trademark NY accent with that particular brand of linguistic playfulness, but the overall vibe is generally more West coast, as it's more laidback and comes across with less urgency.

I generally prefer the NY style of hip hop, but I like the Pharcyde a lot, and I can definitely see comparisons, especially on 'Herman's Head'. However, the prominent hi-hats on the beat, and the way they ocassionally sound like they're tripping over themselves, plus the breakdown beats, sound very old skool. Similarly the breaks on '101 Things'.

Overall, I like the way his style is so unassuming. He manages to be full of personality at all times, and yet never overly in your face. It's a good trick. I can imagine some of the lyrics wouldn't stand up to a lot of examination. This kind of 'hey I'm a man, so I don't have to care what I do with women' attitude offers very limited amusement.

Anyway I've just ordered the album fairly cheap from Amazon on the basis of those samples on the breakz4days site. Don't think I can go far wrong.

PS Khaologan has beaten me comfortably in the obscurity stakes - Son of Bezerk - no files on Kazaa, only 20 matches on Google. So much for that competition then.

Regrettable Juvenilia

13:18 / 19.11.03

Stick "kwest" + "this is my first album" into Google and you should get some more results, Pi...

14:17 / 19.11.03

God, I've see that Son of Bazerk album around, great James Brown pastiche cover. I only ever heard the single - the weird one that changed backing about 4 times and had speed metal guitars in. I even had the video on tape for a while.

I have no doubt you'd be able to get it at the The Sound Library in New York. I've never been there and this this is only an interview but it sounds amazing, and they must have some kind of international ordering thang or website. It's not in-demand or rare as far as I know so shouldn't break the bank.

23:07 / 19.11.03

...I just find it strange and a little unnerving to realise that there's an artist out there that I can find no music or information on the net for. Has anyone else come across an artist this obscure?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha you have no idea.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

00:32 / 20.11.03

I was so very into Kwest back in the day. "(I Met My Baby At The) V.I.M." is the best Metro-Centric New York Love Rap Song EVER.

See, V.I.M. is (was?) THE place to find nicely priced urban footwear. Kwest describes meeting this girl at the store, his friends clowning him for being serious about a girl, etc, etc. It is GOLD!

And Khaologan, that skit was my ultimate favorite.

07:56 / 20.11.03

thanks ill

15:03 / 20.11.03

Well don't hold out on us Jack. Let's hear some names.

16:34 / 20.11.03

I just find the criterion for "obscurity" a little amusing: I mean, there's not a lot of internet presence for, say, the New Fast Automatic Daffodils, and I've never found any of their stuff on Kazaa Lite. Does that make them "obscure"? They were on Elektra, they're listed at AMG.

Other bands I never found on Kazaa Lite, for all my repeated searching: Dub Tribe Sound System, Scruffy the Cat, Jack Frost (i.e. Steve Kilbey from the Church + Grant MacLennan from the Go-Betweens), Richard Barone, Rash of Stabbings, David Baerwald, the Bevis Frond, Ball and Pivot, Spare Snare, Angry Salad, Cactus World News, An Emotional Fish, My Drug Hell, Stupid Club, Abunai... these are all bands I've heard on the radio at one point or another: many of them were on major labels at some point. How "obscure" can they be?

Stuff that only came out on vinyl, or in the early days of CDs; "local hits," from back when that term meant something (pre-ClearChannel); stuff that was deleted from the catalog before the advent of file-sharing services (which was--what--five years ago?); are these "obscure"? Are they "underground"?

A lot of George Harrison's stuff has fell out of print during his lifetime, and was very hard to get a-hold of: was he "underground"? He was a fucking ex-Beatle fa chrissakes.

"World music" acts seem underrepresented, too. Wimme Saari, Väsen, Hedningarna, in fact many of the artists on Northside Digital... never found 'em on Kazaa Lite, despite the fact that there are free, high-quality MP3s readily available through their label's website.

What's the difference between a niche artist and an underground artist? Can anybody tell me?

Actually, the most underground artist ever is my new band. We have no website, we don't have a record out, and in fact we don't actually exist yet except in my own mind. Deep underground, man.

Which, of course, makes us better than any band you've ever heard of, because they're all sell-out hacks...

...but that's another debate.

22:05 / 20.11.03

I'm a little confused as to where you're coming from there...

You reacted originally to me saying that Kwest was particularly obscure in terms of net coverage. Aside from Pivot and Ball and Rash of Stabbings, all of the bands you list have many times more matches on Google than Kwest does, and I would hazard a guess that they're not all as recent.

And I don't think that not being on Kazaa is by itself enough to prove anything. It was the net coverage bit that mainly surprised me.

So, discussions of what obscurity really is aside, I would still say that prima facie, Kwest still looks pretty damn obscure, all things considered.

And btw, AMG appears to have an entry for just about every artist under the sun. Why does being featured there remove any possibility of NFAD being considered obscure?

09:57 / 21.11.03

i'm glad jf's imagiband are (ip)so obscure: they sound shit.