Ah, the fickle whims of history. On the one hand, originality has become almost the de facto measure of a creative effort's lasting worth; we judge artists by what they've contributed to the ideological advancement of a genre, leading us to dismiss that which seems derivative. Then again, no movement or scene can exist without prominent imitators. Take the show Survivor. Sure, America was captivated by the wacky day-to-day exploits of Richard, Rudy, and the gang, but it's the show's multitude of lesser imitators that have led "reality TV" as a whole to topple the sitcom and sit atop the throne of nighttime entertainment supreme. So it goes in the music world. Hip-hop could never have existed as a movement had anyone given pioneers like Grandmaster Flash too much creative breathing space. It's imitation that turns the fancies of a few into the parameters of a genre.
From Passage's first entrance on his solo release, The Forcefield Kids, in which he bursts out with rapid-fire free association and triplet rhythms tumbling into suspended tones, the influence of fellow Anticon artists Doseone, Why?, and Sole is apparent. As a member of original outfit Restiform Bodies, Passage's MCing has generally maintained a level tone, trading off lyrical bursts with musical interludes. Here, his nearly constant narration slips from conversational speech to distorted rant, bratty child to British dignitary, all territories previously explored by other Anticon MCs. The striking affinity with Clouddead in Passage's sudden acoustic guitar sections and nasal harmonies is hard to ignore. But whether Passage exists as their peer, or as the first in a generation of imitators, is up for debate, and it's a matter of taste whether the similarities turn you off or get you psyched for the hip-hop revolution.
Anticon has always flirted heavily with the term hip-hop, and though its artists and critics both balk at the genre label outright, few deny its influence. Apart from Passage's singsong MCing, the most hip-hop aspect of his music is the prominence of the collage. Everything about The Forcefield Kids, from music to lyrics to cover art, delivers a jumbled mess of conjoined ideas, where anything is up for grabs and genre divisions are defied as readily as sentence structure. Passage programs his sawtooth synths over minimal drum machine snares or breakbeat bursts, placing him on the aggressive end of Anticon's output. The stark contrasts of images and styles combined with the musical assault give the impression of Passage as an ADD-addled teen in a room full of keyboards and samplers, letting loose the ravings of his sugar-soaked subconscious.
These impressions are reinforced in Passage's lyrics. Though he explores similar absurdist/surrealist realms as Doseone, Passage's jumbles of thoughts and impressions tend to be less linearly coherent in phrasing, and more reminiscent of beat poetry, as he addresses general topics through the course of each song. Delivered with a proclamatory urgency, the streams of free association contain fantastical imagery mixed with the sneer of teenage nihilism-- apocalyptic prophesies ("Emergency broadcast's a grim infomercial, but listen closely for the great big, final school cancellation"), rebellion against the modern world ("We watch saints of popularity, rain thin snack on their hollow legs") and misogynistic tendencies ("Women are funny, they're almost like people"). Though he offers many clever phrases and striking images ("DaVinci twists the valves to move the gasses round in Reagan's chest"), he just as often comes across as intentionally cryptic.
The Forcefield Kids is a good album, and comes close to being something better. Anticon is quickly growing from a collection of artists into a style all its own, and Passage is still in a position of opportunity to expand it. He seems to be staking out his territory as the Nintendo-damaged suburban youth of Anticon's roster, but while everything's in place for his character to flourish, his delivery is still incomplete in development. Passage's future releases that will determine whether he's a parameter-shifting performer of Anticon, or just a forgotten sidenote.
