Okeeblow

Scapegoat Wax | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 19, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Grand Royal Records
• ASIN: B00005LMBL
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,957 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #27 in Music > Indie Music > Dance & DJ > Dance Pop
  • #74 in Music > Indie Music > R&B > General

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HOT Scapegoat Wax CD!, August 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Okeeblow (Audio CD)

The talent the Beastie Boys scout for their record label typically matches their own musical tastes -- and Scapegoat Wax is one of their noteworthy finds. Fresh from Chico's house-party circuit, Wax's Marty James has cultivated an album of diverse styles. On Okeeblow, co-produced with Beasties collaborator Mario Caldato, Jr., James can hop-scotch from rap to hip-hop to '70s funk with admirable agility. "Freeway" is a D'Angelo-style R&B soul track, complete with falsetto harmonies; "Crawling" is an acoustic guitar-driven ballad along the lines of Incubus' "Drive." Despite the requisite scratching and genre-bending, Okeeblow doesn't sound sample-heavy. When he raps on "Evelyn" and "Almost Fine," James fits in with progressive rappers like Outkast and the Roots, who tend to avoid samples in favor of live instrumentation. However, both "Crawling" and "Space to Share" -- while demonstrating James' ability to write and perform well in different genres -- fail to mesh with the otherwise seamless hip-hop-DJ vibe. Lyrically and stylistically, Scapegoat Wax best relates to artists like Beck and the Beastie Boys, wacky alchemists who successfully transcend musical boundaries.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HOT Scapegoat WAX!, August 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Okeeblow (Audio CD)

Awesome album, everyone! Scapegoat Wax Okeeblow (Grand Royal) Goes well with: The Roots, Everlast, Beck's Midnite Vultures The talent the Beastie Boys scout for their record label typically matches their own musical tastes -- and Scapegoat Wax is one of their noteworthy finds. Fresh from Chico's house-party circuit, Wax's Marty James has cultivated an album of diverse styles. On Okeeblow, co-produced with Beasties collaborator Mario Caldato, Jr., James can hop-scotch from rap to hip-hop to '70s funk with admirable agility. "Freeway" is a D'Angelo-style R&B soul track, complete with falsetto harmonies; "Crawling" is an acoustic guitar-driven ballad along the lines of Incubus' "Drive." Despite the requisite scratching and genre-bending, Okeeblow doesn't sound sample-heavy. When he raps on "Evelyn" and "Almost Fine," James fits in with progressive rappers like Outkast and the Roots, who tend to avoid samples in favor of live instrumentation. However, both "Crawling" and "Space to Share" -- while demonstrating James' ability to write and perform well in different genres -- fail to mesh with the otherwise seamless hip-hop-DJ vibe. Lyrically and stylistically, Scapegoat Wax best relates to artists like Beck and the Beastie Boys, wacky alchemists who successfully transcend musical boundaries.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fresh perfection, August 16, 2001

By 

Nick Danger (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Okeeblow (Audio CD)

How can I even start to explain how brilliant this record is? I got it a few weeks ago, along with several punk/emo cd's, and this is the one I've been listening to the most. It's fun, it's intriguing, it's thought-provoking, and it's perfect. Marty James has the freshest sound to come out in a long time, mixing a variety of styles to produce the next level of hip-hop. This CD isn't about rapping or rhyming, although he can do both with ease. It's about production. There are plenty of layers to be heard, including an amalgam of live instruments and preset loops.

Who should buy this cd? Anyone who appreciates music. Scapegoat Wax has such a universal feel, that I'm pretty sure I could go song by song and say, "Oh this sounds like so-and-so," yet every track belongs with each other, completing a sequence of emotions and attitudes. Thanks to Scapegoat Wax, I have a renewed faith in hip-hop's ability to reinvent itself. Or maybe I should say Marty James' ability to reinvent music.