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Flash Bang Grenada

'10 Haters' available 8/23 from Hellfyre Club / Grimm Image Records

Photo by Daiana Feuer

The evening has imploded on itself. And there you are fending against rabid conversationalists and an unmarked decibel that has torn into your very being. Your significant other’s sweaty lower back is clinging to the lacquer brassieres of the morally bankrupt. What was your wallet is now a mound of putty with a hot coal burning at its center. How did this happen? Why is the emergency exit a hulking neon-lined vagina daring you to pass through it? And how did the DJ downloaded your most cherished memories onto his Serato set-up, then blend them seamlessly into a Glitch Mob outtake?

Flash Bang Grenada is how. The rap super duo composed of LA’s Busdriver and Nocando . And possibly the city’s last-ditch effort to change the course of rap related musics as we know them as well as social network stalking.

The music world has been suffering under the oppressive thumb of Busdriver for the past 10 years. As a veteran of the LA music scene and essential member of the Project Blowed collective, he’s helmed a career that has seen him releasing challenging records on influential indie labels that span from Big Dada, to Mush, to Epitaph/Anti-. His seminal release, Temporary Forever(2002), is still heralded as one of left-field hip-hop’s most overlooked gems. And breakout Anti- debut, RoadkillOverCoat, set a pace for LA rap that has yet to properly understood. Yet still his value has always been in his abandonment of hip-hop political correctness and willingness to interweave his style in any and all genres that he come across. These tendencies were established in the early 00’s during his stint as resident MC at the world renowned Hip-hop/Drum&Bass club weekly, Concrete Jungle, where he shared the stage with other LA luminaries Daddy Kev, Mikah-9,DJ Hive and the Conartist who later bcme known as beat scene giant edit of the Glitch Mob.

Then there is Nocando. Who took the twirling baton and darted a light year ahead as the resident MC of LA’s electronic music star breeding ground, Low End Theory. The latest brainchild of Daddy Kev where today’s brand of beat-infused electronic music is birthed and championed by frequent performers such as Flying Lotus, Nosaj Thing, Baths and the stellar resident DJ roster consisting of Gaslamp Killer, DJ Nobody, D-Styles and Daddy Kev himself. Nocan’s Blowed-cultivated skill set is brandished every night and thrown against the aggressive bass-heavy crunch of this week’s latest off-kilter dub-step, beat music and hip-hop tracks. A herculean feet that only a handful of emcees could even fathom tackling let alone being actually good at.

When Nocando isn’t teasing the scensters with his brisk wit and commanding stage presence at Low End, he’s clashing with the countries top battle rappers. The various clips of him outthinking run-of-the-mill battle aficionados on Youtube never cease to stun and trigger uproarious laughter. The Grind Time scene reveres him and Scribble Jam had to admit to his genius on their final year and give him the crown in 2007. He is pretty much just feared in general by anyone who dare speak rhythmically.

In 2009, after their collaborations on both of their last respective solo albums (BD’s “Jhelli Beam”(released by Anti-) and Nocan’s “Jimmy the Lock”(released by Alphapup)) were met with both praise and cease and desist orders, they vowed to properly flesh out the potential of their joint efforts by forming FBG. In this context their propensity for seamlessly weaving fun-filled raps through the fabric of forward-thinking production a la Low End Theory is exploited to the fullest. On top of that the song writing has landed somewhere between the convoluted meandering of underground hip-hop’s yesteryear and of the moment it-rapper cross-country swag pretense…at least that’s what the group thinks.   

But the point, in part, is to accurately capture the spirit of a scene that has lost its voice. All awhile exemplify an era where distinctions between top 40 and indie hits have lost all baring. No amount of studio wizardry, bravado, or word-nerdy-ness is left off of the table. The truth of Nocan and BD’s freewheeling stage hi-jinx and ability to fit within all brands of club music that crosses their path is the only reference. And Los Angeles has no better spokesman for such a thing.

The group is currently writing and recording in between their solo duties. By the beginning of next year…something may surface.

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