You need look no further than Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Watch the Throne or Let God Sort ’Em Out to realize great rap albums aren’t always created in silos. Hip-hop collectives unite under a banner of free-flowing rhymes that satiate the soul.
Local rappers ChiefDVB and Syntax Vernac tap into that teamwork on The Farsighted, a 14-track LP featuring emcees and producers from Vegas, Hungary and indie label Keep Records. “It's showcasing all of our cool underground hip-hop collectives essentially,” ChiefDVB says.
“And everyone's flesh and blood,” adds Syntax Vernac, owner and label manager of Keep Records. “We either met these people, or we recorded with them, or we spent time on the road with them. None of these people are just anonymous email contacts. [It's] almost like a little brotherhood."
The project took shape shortly after the duo visited Europe, where they discovered the Budapest-based Farseers Collective and their devotion to the gritty game of analog hip-hop.
“The best thing I can try to compare it to is what I would imagine the early to mid ’90s hip-hop scene in New York was. This is hip-hop culture at its purest, street-level form,” says Syntax. “These guys do shows four or five nights a week. They have cyphers nonstop. If they're not in the studio, they're on a stage somewhere. These guys live and bleed hip-hop.”
Driven by a feverish call to collaborate, the emcees on The Farsighted operate on an intuitive wavelength, volleying verses back and forth with the lyrical dexterity of a prized athlete. Tracks like “Crumbz on the Futon” bear the blueprint of ’90s lo-fi beats and coolly calculated flows. And it’s that collective effort, that curation of energy, that makes this compilation album so fresh and ambitious.
“A lot of people think so many things are just not able to happen, but they are. Write it down on the paper, go book the flight, reach out to the guy,” ChiefDVB says. “Still listen to the bars and hear what we're saying, but ultimately [know] you can create a cool, crazy piece of art like this.”
The album is streaming at keeprecordsmerch.bandcamp.com.
