Esoteric vs. Japan

7l & Esoteric | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 6, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Traffic (The Orchard)
• ASIN: B001733O4S
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #210,645 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No one is safe! Nuclear testing has resurrected this Jurassic Age relic and now the emcee/producer known to the U.S. as Esoteric has risen off the coast of Tokyo Bay, bringing chaos, crisis, and hysteria with him. Armed only with the sounds of 70's and 80's Japanese classics, Esoteric must strike against the uncompromising forces that aim to dismember him. He calls upon Godzilla, Rodan, Force Five, Ultraman, the Shogun Warriors, early Japanese surf, punk, and electro bands, and even the Japanese Spiderman to aid him in his fight! The sound he created, which he calls "Mecha Mecha," stands as the boldest of the daring directions Esoteric has taken his music. With his recent genre-bending efforts such as A New Dope, Egoclapper, and Esoteric vs. Gary Numan, the world needed to hear how he handles the beautiful country of Japan. Much tokusatsu is brought on this feature length epic depicting one man's struggle with life as an English speaking Bostonian. All tracks produced by Esoteric. Features Main Flow, King Magnetic (Army Of The Pharoahs), Moe Pope (Project Move/Megaphone), Nejel Mongrel (8th Wonder/Japan), Eddie Meeks, Will C. + KARMA. Continuing a historic and coveted twelve year career, the street-tested, taste maker-approved new sound of 7L & Esoteric has evolved again. The electronic fun of their last group record, A New Dope, (compared to Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique by several publications including HHC), and the hellish tempest of abrasive sounds and untouched samples that defined Esoteric's first solo studio offering, Egoclapper, now gives way to yet another full-length opus. All New Studio Album Available On Limited Edition Deluxe Six Panel Digipak CD

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the single most overlooked hip hop album EVER, November 14, 2011

By 

Publius - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Esoteric Vs. Japan: Pterodactyl Takes Tokyo [Explicit] (MP3 Download)

I bought this a while ago and it has never left the rotation of CDs in my car... Everyone I've introduced this album to went out and bought it within a week of hearing some of it... This is something special, ladies and gentlemen. MC Esoteric delivered a pure work of genius from start to finish. A unified work with very few guest spots and includes even a few instrumental interludes of sort that showcase Esoteric's beat-making skills are as rich and as complex as his verbal delivery.

The impact of anime and Asian cinema on hip hop - particularly underground hip hop - is profound, and MC Esoteric takes it to a whole new level on Pterodactyl Takes Tokyo. Filled with samples and clips from classic cartoons like Shogun Warriors, Esoteric unapologetically delivers a fusion of boom bap hip hop with 1980s-era Japanese pop culture. The result is part Ghostface Killah-caliber devotion to saturday morning cartoons and breakfast cereals of his childhood, and part Quentin Tarantino film or even better, Shinichiro Watanabe's genre-busting hip hop samurai jidaigeki anime series Samurai Champloo. Esoteric shows a deep cultural literacy that transcends both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

Outside of the dazzling array of references to Marvel Comics characters or Toei monster movies, Esoteric also manages to lay his soul bare. His unhealed wounds over the passing of his dog Logan sounds loud and clear when he raps on "Gigantor Says Anything" - "Me and Logan trek through the thickest mud // 'A Boy And His Dog,' that's word to Vic and Blood // Lost the last one, yeah your man cried // Saw 'I Am Legend,' walked out when Sam died." Heartfelt and hilarious!

I cannot recommend this album enough. Five stars does not do it justice. This is easily one of the finest rap albums of the last decade, if not all time. In the tradition of other great underground albums like Dan the Automator and Del's Deltron 3030, J Dilla and Madlib's Jaylib, and Dr. Octagon.

5.0 out of 5 stars How am I only the 3rd???, February 14, 2009

By 

E. Bowman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Esoteric Vs. Japan: Pterodactyl Takes Tokyo [Explicit] (MP3 Download)

I bought this album around the time it originally dropped and have been listening to it since. I been a fan of 7L and Esoteric for a while now and this has got to be the best stuff I've heard come from Esoteric! I love when artists try different concepts and push the creative envelope, and Eso does that here. Being a fan of stuff like anime, comics, sci-fi, etc., I can really get into how Eso gets creative with the samples from various Japanese shows & films (there's even a sample from an old Godzilla commercial I remember from my childhood!) and made it hip hop.

Favorite tracks:

Real Rap Design
Mecha Mecha
God Less America
Knifegirl
Demoralizer
I Do Lo-Fi

5.0 out of 5 stars How am I only the 2nd???, October 9, 2008

By 

Cerrious - See all my reviews

This review is from: Esoteric vs. Japan (Audio CD)

Wow, I'm not sure where to start. I've been meaning to write a review since I got this cd early this last summer. This is my favorite album so far this year. I have been a fan of 7L & Esoteric since Dangerous Connection and have seen them evolve as artists. This album is SO creative and different then anything I've heard. To be honest, it's been tough finding good hip hop lately. Once I heard this, I was able to exhale and not worry so much that the whole industry is falling off. My favorite tracks are Neo-Tokyo (Main Flow verse is insane), Wrestlelectro, Real Rap Design, & Gigantor Says Anything...but I truly like them all. Esoteric is a sampling beast on this album. Thanks for putting this out and switching it up in an industry of bland, predictable, fakeness...it's refreshing.