Yo Majesty

by Eddie Robson

Royalty in waiting

"This may be a sign of a watershed moment in hip-hop. Or not. We’re not psychic, we just listen to this stuff and tell you what we think."

American music breaking first in the UK is hardly a novel phenomenon: you can go right back to The Walker Brothers, through Television, The Pixies (and the rest of the crop who signed to 4AD), to The Strokes and Kings of Leon. However, it’s much more unusual for this to happen to a rap act, perhaps due to the more limited industry that’s built up around the genre here by comparison with the vast American juggernaut. Yet Yo Majesty find themselves labelmates of Franz Ferdinand, Clinic and Arctic Monkeys on Domino Records.

As we recently noted in relation to The Cool Kids, this may be a sign of a watershed moment in hip-hop. Or not. We’re not psychic, we just listen to this stuff and tell you what we think. But it’s hard not to think that Yo Majesty are working their way up via Britain because, in spite of their talent, they’re too esoteric to find a place in the American market, much as American rock bands have done in the past. The Yos (as probably nobody calls them) are, in case you haven’t heard, lesbians and devout Christians. Their lyrics are uninhibited, as is clear from the opening moments of their new LP ‘Futuristically Speaking… Never Be Afraid’: ‘Fucked Up’ is a sickly hilarious stalker anthem.

The extent to which they are ‘controversial’ can be overstated (and it will be, since if you don’t fit in with the mainstream, you’re likely to be hyped by being placed in opposition to it), and shouldn’t overshadow the fact that Yo Majesty’s music is also forward-thinking. In their attempts to get a fresh and different sound, Shunda K and Jwl B employed London electro producers Hard Feelings UK to assemble a backdrop for their early material (the album features Hard Feelings alongside a range of other producers, including Basement Jaxx on ‘Don’t Let Go’). Their hard vocal attack combined with hooky club rhythms and beats, combined in a slightly ramshackle fashion, sounds like a genuinely modern take on punk. (A collaboration with any or all of the above-mentioned Domino acts would be fascinating.)

‘Club Action’ is an amazing demonstration of their power – a simple 80s-style synth riff and 200mph vocals over the top, it’s addictively brilliant. The Missy-esque stylings of ‘Blame It On The Change’ are almost equally thrilling. As a whole though the album could take some tips from The Cool Kids, and indeed from punk – keep it short. Several tracks would make better two-and-a-half-minute bursts than four minutes, and when your music trades this heavily on energy and vitality it’s good to get off the stage before you wear the audience out.

Ultimately there’s so much to like about Yo Majesty though – not just their freshness but also their positivity and inclusive message ("I got ya covered / Even if you ain’t my colour, sister, brother" they declare on ‘Night Riders’). That’s the most striking parallel with punk – whilst hip-hop has swollen to the point where the artists are as far removed from the audience as rock stars were in the mid-70s, the way could be open for a new generation to reconnect. Yo Majesty are seizing the initiative.
Lovesoxxx said on September 26th 2008 [report abuse]

This makes me very excited.

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