Baseheadz: Hiphop
Mental Recordings

Naming a track “Hiphop” could be interpreted as an act of braggadocio but, judging by the song itself, that's hardly the idea Baseheadz (Netherlands-based producer Satiesh Mathoera) has in mind. The cut's laid-back vibe alone suggests an alternate intent and, true enough, the song's lyrics are worldly and celebratory in spirit as they champion hiphop's enduring power (“They never thought it would last this long but the song will last forever”) and its potential for bridging generations. Mathoera teams up with highly-regarded producer Kev Brown (who's lent his talents to artists like De La Soul and the Jay-Z remix Brown Album) for this 12-inch single.

The four variations are unified by the song's chorus (“It don't stop / You won't block the goals / We got a lot of those / Ever since back then / We rockin' the souls / That's the way it's goin' to have to be / ‘Til the curtain's closed”) while the rhymes themselves are delivered by Brown in an agile yet languorous, backbeat-heavy style. The opening ‘Radio Edit' version dresses the song in a horn-kissed, hiphop-soul-funk vibe while the ‘It's Real Hiphop' mix is delectably slower and crowned by beautiful scratches and cuts by DJ Dunic. Mathoera spotlights his bass chops on the jazz-funk-flavoured ‘Funky Chicken' mix (he cites Level 42's Mark King, Stanley Clarke, Les Claypool, and Jaco Pastorius as bass inspirations) before exiting the disc with a synth-heavy, electro-shuffle ‘Dirty Dirt' mix. What would be better? How about a whole album of equally strong material.

December 2006