Editor’s note: A section of the beginning of this story has been removed because it editorialized the talent of musicians across Ohio, most notably in Dayton and Columbus. The story has been updated to reflect the most accurate information.
Unbeknownst to even the biggest hip-hop heads, The Queen City has actually bred some of the genre’s most cutting-edge and hardcore underground artists of the ‘90s and early 2000s.
Cincinnati has a somewhat lost heritage of old-school, backpack hip-hop. While one side of the city’s sound was reflected in Hi-Tek’s soulful productions in the vein of J Dilla, Detroit’s influence was most palpable in Cincinnati’s competitive, Golden Age spirit. Once home to Scribble Jam, stylized as “America’s largest hip-hop festival,” graffiti artists, break-dancers, DJs, battlers and more would flock from across the country and establish Cincinnati as a center for purists. Legends such as KRS-One, Little Brother, Eyedea and even a then-unknown Eminem made appearances at the now-defunct festival. While Scribble Jam is no more, its legacy of passionate, headstrong rhymes lives on in Anticon Records.
While the Anticon collective was founded by artists from across the country and eventually operated out of Oakland (the capital of backpack itself), many of its core members represent Cincinnati. When Sole, Doseone and Alias teamed up with Slug of Rhymesayers in 1998 to form the group Deep Puddle Dynamics, many labels they shipped their music to deemed them too avant-garde to invest in, so they came together, betting on themselves with their own independent record label. In 1999, Anticon would release “Music for the Advancement of Hip-Hop,” a compilation album that would come to represent the scene’s essential names and mission statement of emotive, innovative music in spite of the pretentious title.
That off-the-wall style of hip-hop placed Anticon at odds with their contemporaries and other backpack icons while Rhymesayers were close affiliates — Atmosphere, Eyedea and Sage Francis frequently collaborated with Anticon — not everyone was so open to their twist on the genre. Sole found himself embroiled in a beef with Definitive Jux — New York’s more hard-nosed equivalent to the scene — where El-P clearly came out on top. “Linda Tripp” remains one of the most humiliating diss tracks of all time, and where El is a household name even 20 years later, Anticon has largely been forgotten.
Anticon’s influence is palpable regardless of their unknown status. The label continues publishing to this day, but focuses more on forward-thinking alternative rock outfits than hip-hop. Newer Anticon signees include Tobacco, a producer who has collaborated with Def Jucky-turned-Rhymesayer Aesop Rock, and the Scottish group Young Fathers, whose new album “Heavy Heavy” has received great acclaim in internet music circles. Hip-hop oddballs and stars alike owe a great deal to their willingness to experiment, bear emotion and put on for a proud city.
Here we will discuss some of Anticon’s essential acts, especially those out of Cincinnati.
cLOUDDEAD
cLOUDEAD remains Anticon’s signature act, with its self-titled 2001 album considered a cult classic by many. Consisting of Doseone, Yoni Wolf and Odd Nosdam, the group pioneered many styles of hip-hop that have only been fully realized by newer artists in more recent years.
cLOUDDEAD’s production was airy, psychedelic and left plenty of room for instrumentals to breathe; an early foray into the now massive genre of aptly named cloud rap, artists such as A$AP Rocky, Lil B, Bones and Clams Casino have built something far greater out of such a primitive album. Dose and Yoni’s lyrics were often very esoteric, feeling like abstract nonsequiturs, but there was always a down to Earth, emotional undertone. Backpack hip-hop was always made by and for the average person who couldn’t relate to the more bombastic, mainstream subject matter. Alongside Atmosphere’s “God Loves Ugly,” cLOUDDEAD paved the way, for better or for worse, for emo rap today and that vulnerable subject matter.
While most hip-hop fans, or even artists, today might not be up on cLOUDDEAD, it laid the foundation for niches that wouldn’t be done justice until much later.
Doseone
Alongside Sole and Alias, Doseone was always one of Anticon’s truest MCs despite his zaniness. Once a student at the University of Cincinnati, Dose found himself embroiled in the local scene through Scribble Jam freestyle competitions. Lost in his multitrack voice recordings, dense rhyme schemes and completely boundless flows are the makings of a bonafide technical lyricist. Reminiscent of Busdriver in many ways, his breakthrough album “Hemispheres” is a rewarding, albeit inaccessible listen featuring production from Ohio University professor Jason Rawls. Later releases such as “Ha” and “Circle” are among the label’s best, but to call Dose an acquired taste is generous.
WHY?
The stage name of cofounder Yoni Wolf, WHY? is the Anticon project that opened the floodgates for the group’s transition into alternative rock. While Wolf’s work featured distinctly hip-hop flows, albums such as 2008’s “Alopecia” pushed boundaries with more acoustic production and melodic, melodramatic vocals. Fake Four Inc. founder Ceschi directly emulates Wolf’s work in his pastiche of punk, folk, and electronic with hip-hop, while Anticon’s modern stable is full of artists doing just the same with their own unique perspectives. Superstars such as the late Lil Peep could even have their lineage traced back to the acoustic and deeply expressive style of WHY?
Odd Nosdam
Always repping Ohio, producer Odd Nosdam was historically the engineer behind Anticon’s entire sound and many of its greatest hits. Beyond his unique work for cLOUDDEAD, his many instrumental albums, especially 2005’s stellar “Burner,” featured warm, old-school samples that would have bordered on the J Dilla and Hi-Tek style were it not for the electronic influence he incorporated. Odd Nosdam has produced for other artists such as Jel. and for much of Serengeti’s Kenny Dennis series.
