A lot of people were excited for the 40th Anniversary Woodstock boxed set, but not exactly for the most wholesome reasons-- as undoubtedly the final time that these recordings will see a physical reissue, it was seen by many as a sign that we might start to free ourselves from the pervasive tyranny of Summer of Love boosterism, with all of its self-righteous back-patting and errant historical recounts. (As Douglas Wolk put it in his Pitchfork review, "the forgotten secret of Woodstock is that it kinda sucked.") Personally, I don't see any sign of abatement on that front, since around the same time, Tanya Morgan's new album taught me that misconstrued nostalgia is pretty much part and parcel of any span of time where great music and worthy ideals intersect: damn if the praise of Brooklynati has me wondering if I've got a faulty memory too.
This indie hip-hop group has been lauded as a flamekeeper for a certain time in the early 1990s when the Native Tongues held down New York with a sound that was less overtly Afrocentric but more commercially successful. But didn't Q-Tip appear on a Mobb Deep track? Didn't Phife Dawg threaten to ejaculate on someone in at least two of Tribe's most beloved singles? Wasn't De La Soul Is Dead a pitch-black rejection of the hip-hop hippie aesthetic foisted upon them by rock fans and critics? Couldn't Busta Rhymes and Redman, even at their most rah-rah, come and go as they please? Well, you all know that's true, but Brooklynati instead coasts by on a revisionist historical perspective where Tribe, De La et. al were at the forefront fighting gangsta rap not with innovation or originality, but with common decency.
It's a shame too-- I can't remember the last time a record this innocuous and well-meaning irked me so much. Well, maybe I can-- it was either eMC's The Show or the self-titled Slaughterhouse album from earlier this year, both motley supergroups of talented but commercially waning MCs who do a nice rendering of the kind of mid-90s NYC records that they don't have to compete against any more. Fortunately, Tanya Morgan (a partnership of Cincy's Ilyas and Donwill and Brooklyn rapper/producer Von Pea, formed on the Okayplayer message board) brings out the best in each MC-- "Bang & Boogie" is an unrelentingly good-natured ode to promiscuity, and I suppose the major difference separating them from their easiest comparisons is that Tanya Morgan has a discernable sense of humor.
As such, it's difficult to imagine the good vibes here fucking up any barbecue. But scattin' off soft-ass beats, Tanya Morgan raps happily-- tragically, that style deteriorates rapidly over the span of an hour of Von Pea and Brickbeats' loungy neo-soul. The three have a good rapport with each other, mostly spitting the kind of craft-minded raps ("I wanna be self assured... I did the right thing, following my dream and tightening my writing") that are considered intelligent because they're not overtly stupid. But too often, these three like-voiced rappers are too genial to step on each other's toes every once in a while or even play too much off each other-- even the most telepathic partnerships in hip-hop need someone to take the lead every now and again, and only guest spots from Blu and Phonte rank as standouts.
As with The Show, Brooklynati is most affecting when it finds some sort of purpose in the mundane workings of minor hip-hop celebrity. "Don't U Holla" all but begs to be called "Rap Promoter 2009", and "Plan B" is like some sort of tragic alternate ending to Kanye West's "Spaceship". And while there's thankfully little in the way of grumpy complaint rap, after gaining a bit of momentum, Brooklynati throws "She's Gone (aka Without You)" at us, assuming what the rap game really needs in 2009 is yet another "I Used To Love H.E.R." It just further to illustrate the philosophical dead end Brooklynati seems more than content to head towards: The album spends nearly its entirety trying to revive a sound prevalent in 1994, the same year when Common dropped the original, and the same year where hip-hop was so shamefully out of touch with its artistic roots that it only managed to produce Ready to Die, Illmatic, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, Tical, Hard to Earn, Dare Iz a Darkside...
So it's only fair that if Tanya Morgan is willing to use the clichéd, borderline misogynist personification of hip-hop as an easily cowed woman with a good heart who can't keep her legs closed, Brooklynati embodies the overused romantic foil: It's hardworking, reliable, sincere, kind-hearted and wouldn't do anything to hurt her. It's the sort you're supposed to settle with after spending one's youth going through exciting yet ultimately "unrewarding" flings. But hell, you've seen those divorce rates.
