Edan

All Music Guide:

There was a small but vital hip-hop genesis in Boston at the tail-end of the 1990s led by a motley group of artists (Porn Theatre Ushers, Skitzofreniks, 7L & Esoteric, Mr. Lif, Insight) who shared a number of musical attributes -- a love of block-rockin' retro-beats and veneration for the hip-hop "new school" of the late '80s and early '90s, and a proclivity for irreverent, tongue-in-cheek lyrical styles, to name the most significant. Bedroom geek Edan (aka the Humble Magnificent) was the most block-rockin' and irreverent of all Boston's underground scientists. A triple threat on the microphone, as a producer, and behind the wheels of steel, his music -- a willfully oddball and eccentric blend of rap's past and future -- caught on first among the progressive cognoscenti of London, but had such exuberance and appeal that it was only a matter of time before it staked out territory on its home turf as well.

Edan Portnoy grew up a musically inclined loner in the suburbs of Baltimore, MD. Inspired from an early age by the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and psychedelic rock, he picked up the guitar and bass during his adolescent years, but when N.W.A. dropped Straight Outta Compton in 1988, it instantly captured the ten-year-old's imagination and altered his musical path. By the time he was a teenager, Edan had begun to dig up and collect rare LPs and try his hand at making elementary beats inspired by the likes of Main Source, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, and the Native Tongues family, as well as old-school heroes both famous (Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, Ultramagnetic MC's) and obscure (DJ Cash Money, Percee P). After graduation from high school, he moved to Boston to study guitar at the Berklee College of Music, ultimately dropping out before taking a degree but not before delving into production and engineering. His newfound technical facility helped as he began creating his own tracks and, due to lack of an MC, rhyming on them as well. It resulted in a series of CDRs (including an unofficial debut album called Architecture and an early EP version of Primitive Plus), sold mostly at live gigs around Boston, and now-classic 12" singles, culminating with the much-sought-after "Sing It, Shitface," released by Boston indie Biscuithead Records in 1999.

Very much an acquired taste, Edan's popularity began to spread slowly throughout England. Due to its built-in fan base of vintage hip-hop, the rapper was given a measure of respect in England that was difficult to come by in his rap-saturated home country, and British promoters took the opportunity to fly him over for well-received live shows. In early 2002 the artist prepared a proper full-length edition of Primitive Plus (adding six new songs to the original EP) for release on British label Lewis Recordings. The album received rapturous reviews both in America and overseas. He followed it several months later with an EP, Sprain Your Tape Deck, also on Lewis, as well as outside production for and collaborations with Count Bass D ("How We Met") and Mr. Lif ("Live From the Plantation"), among others.

Wikipedia:

Edan (born Edan Portnoy) is an American alternative hip hop artist from Rockville, Maryland.

Style

Edan is known for his unique take on hip hop culture, where traditional rap songs are often skewed by 1960s rock samples, tape echoes and foreign language choruses, not to mention the off-beat humor and surrealist imagery incorporated via his lyrics. He often uses techniques such as multisyllabic rhyming and alliteration in his music. His mixtape Sound Of The Funky Drummer accumulates hip hop tracks that utilize James Brown's "Funky Drummer," which has been called the most-sampled record of all time. His second album Beauty and the Beat drew approbation for its lyricism as well as the production. The album was also notable for its graceful marriage of psychedelic rock and hip hop.

History

Edan attended Berklee College of Music from 1997 to 2000, majoring in production. The Rockville, Maryland native had already been experimenting with 4-track and 8-track home recording using both live instruments and a Native Tongues inspired, sample-based approach since 1994. Continuing on this path, Edan completed the officially unreleased album Artchitecture on an 8-track cassette recorder in his dorm room in his sophomore year. The only tracks to be released from this project appeared on his debut 12-inch single Sing It, Shitface in 1999. It was released by the now defunct Boston independent record label Biscuithead Recordings. The single introduced Edan's slightly askew humor ("The principal got nervous/When I ran into his office shirtless") and dusty production style to the world.

After leaving Berklee College of Music in 2001, Edan began work on the official debut album Primitive Plus. The single Edan And Company Bring You The Raw Shit was released on Sun/Moon Records in 2000. He released the single Mic Manipulator as the first artist signed to UK label Lewis Recordings in 2001. In the same year, he released the single Drop Some Smooth Lyrics on his own Humble Mag Records. Primitive Plus was released in 2002 to critical acclaim. Edan handled all the production, rapping and turntablism on the album, with the exception of guest spots from Mr. Lif and Father Time. In addition, the track "Key-Bored" was produced by Memory Man. The experimental/throwback vibe of the album was also fused with some of the 1990s innovations in rhyming and scratching, which led to the album's title, explained on the title track as "primitive plus futuristic."

In 2001, Edan released the mixtape Fast Rap. This collection of golden era burners by luminaries such as Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap and lesser known rappers like Black, Rock and Ron was credited by some as sparking a renewed interest in "fast rap" and influencing eBay auctions for the records used on the tape.

Around this time, Edan began performing with several musicians from Berklee under the name Fiber. The band performed mainly in the Boston area, playing Edan's songs interspersed with long jazz improvisations during which he would scratch records through a delay pedal. However, the affiliation was short-lived as Edan soon left to pursue solo ventures.

In 2002, Edan released the EP Sprain Your Tapedeck. It includes some of the CD-only songs from Primitive Plus and two new songs. All of these songs had been recorded live in his home studio directly to an ordinary cassette deck after his 8-track finally broke. Deprived of the ability to overdub, all of the EP's scratching, mixing and effects were done live as Edan rapped to a sequencer and drum machine.

Edan then began producing other artists such as Akrobatik and Mr. Lif, as well as providing a remix for Souls of Mischief. Teaming up with fellow Boston rapper Insight in 2003, Edan began performing a new live set. Later billed as Duplexx, Edan & Insight often incorporate their DJ abilities into performances and tried to establish a high level of showmanship. Edan's "Johnny the Fox" routine involved rhyming with the mic in one hand while cutting up doubles of the Thin Lizzy song's intro with the other, and can be seen performed in the film SBX!

In 2004, Edan released the first single I See Colours from his second album Beauty and the Beat. It was a psychedelic track featuring his own Moog synth work over a loop which, as he acknowledged in the lyrics, had been used before by Prince Paul. Edan mixes between two versions of the sampled track in the song's chorus. The lyrics concern psychedelic visions which can be attained without the use of drugs. The B-side song "The Science of the Two" was the first recorded collaboration with Insight. The single whetted fans appetites for what appeared to be a more ambitious direction for his next album. The mixtape Sound Of The Funky Drummer was also released in 2004.

Beauty and the Beat was released in 2005. It was critically well received. The album finds Edan attempting to "put Syd Barrett's face on Biz Markie's body" with "Kool G Rap's brain." The album features Mr. Lif, Insight, Percee P and Dagha. It is again produced by Edan himself.

Via his appearance at All Tomorrow's Parties in 2009, it was revealed that Edan was working on the project Echo Party. The mixtape was released in 2009.