Jedediah White: Evolution of an Idea
Inner Current

Oregon resident Jedediah White creates a wildly experimental and oft-hilarious brand of sample-heavy hip-hop that gets a full workout on Evolution of an Idea's twenty-five cuts. Dusty samples from far-flung genres come together in a dizzying potpourri that's grounded by a thematic thread of spoken word passages that document the evolution of motivational business guru Paul Myers.

Hip-hop beats underpin many cuts though White opts to layer voice samples overtop instead of live MCs. He also creates hypnotic loops from fragments of familiar songs, and clearly has a soft spot for David Bowie, considering his extensive use of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane in general, and “Starman” (“Recluse”), “Lady Stardust” (“Awful Night”), and “Lady Grinning Soul” (in “Living End (She'll Go)”) in particular. Carole King also gets a Chipmunk makeover in “Autumn” but the tune's downtempo flow is irresistibly funky no matter who's behind the mic. White includes an occasional instrumental cut too; the dusted mix of piano, acoustic bass, and drums in “All You've Got,” for instance, replicates the smoked vibe heard so memorably on Malcom Kipe's Breakspiracy Theories and Lit. Unpredictable and cleverly sequenced, Evolution of an Idea captivates for its full forty-six minutes.

July 2007