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.SixToo Almost a Dot on the Map. The Psyche Years. 1996-2002
.info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
supplier....: KrbZ encoder.....: lame3.90.3modified
label.......: vertical form source......: CDDA
rip date....: Feb-01-2005 size........: 81,9 MB
street date.: 2004 tracks......: 21
style.......: Hip-Hop playtime....: 67:58 min
quality.....: --alt-preset standard | Joint-Stereo
.notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Most likely I first heard Vaughn Squire's distinctive rap stylings
on Buck65's The Bassment Show on Halifax community radio in the mid
90s. That may seem obvious to you, as, no doubt, you're familiar
with the Sebutones' ouevre and Squire's long-standing affiliation
with them, but things weren't always that way. And SixToo wasn't
always this way either. If the adjectives 'moody' and/or 'erudite'
seem to be readily applicable to the man today, there was a time
when the adjectives "scathing" and/or "rugged" might more easily
have been applied.
Transplanted from maddening Toronto to miniscule Truro in his teens
(for reasons unfathomable), the young, punk-fuelled Squire came to
the plate swinging - a vicious battle rapper, whose swagger at the
time far outstripped his nascent lyrical abilities. He played the
Pete Best to Truro's paramount hip hop export, Hip Club Groove,
leaving just prior to their achieving recognition (unheard of for a
Nova Scotian rap group at the time). Today you might catch SixToo,
in a wistful moment, revealing that he always thought Hip Club's
Cheklove Shakil should have been the one to really get the
recognition in rap.
Striking out on his own (inasmuch as an MC can), Squire began to
study at the knee of Halifax's already legendary beat luminary, DJ
JoRun. Jo and Buck (then known as Stinkin' Rich) provided beats for
SixToo's breakaway debut - Superstar Props on Ant Records (no
relation to Anticon, simply The World's Smallest Record Label,
based in Truro). Clearly, though, SixToo knew he wasn't pushing his
artistic destiny to its limits, hence the intervention of DJ JoRun.
JoRun taught SixToo about sampling, programming and most of all;
diggin in tire crates. Trust me, reader, when I tell you that
without the tutelage of JoRun, you would not have the SixToo you
know and love.
SixToo's second cassette on Ant Records was called 4 Elements, not
just because he was finding himself as an orthodox 'tru-skooler',
but because he was now rocking in the four traditional disciplines
of hip hop. Angry-eyed SixToo tags were invading downtown Halifax
(one adorning the one-way arrow indicating CBC's downtown studio's
driveway didn't fade until last summer); Squire's lanky frame was
getting loose at jams; the tables were experiencing his touch, as
evidenced by the first of his now-customary Rakim scratches on that
cassette. And the rhymes... the rhymes were issuing forth as
always, though now the braggadocio was ever-so-slightly diminished,
the introspection and bitter lament just barely peering around the
corners of his expression.
Then SixToo, 'the producer who raps', upgraded to a new level:
SixToo, the gear-whore who raps and produces'. He made his nominal
debut across Canada via The Bassments Of Badmen compilation on
Toronto's Hand'Solo Records. Psoriasis, his collaborative cassette
with Buck65 as The Sebutones, materialized seemingly out of thin
air and as unabashedly dope as that project was, the only thing
that had improved in SixToo since the previous album was his mood.
No, the customary burst in quality didn't come until a few months
later when his aptly titled Progress album presented itself.
This is, most likely, where your journey begins, reader. Even
exponential increments don't necessarily grab one's attention when
two's become four, but when four becomes sixteen it's time to start
counting on all your fingers and toes. Progress represents that
definable moment where SixToo 'the baddest fucking whiteboy on the
whole east coast!' mutated decisively into the real life Turbo
Honky you now hold in your hearts and minds.
He had the SP-1200 (sampling drum machine) eating out of his hand;
he had all the compression he wanted; he had what he touted as the
perfect clean vocal. He was in touch with his dreams, had read some
of those works the Romans deemed 'classics' and his rhymes were
becoming truly abstract, yet sacrificed none of the early piss and
vinegar he'd built a rep for.
He'd begun to dabble in multi-syllabic rhymes, although he would
eventually forsake them again in pursuit of more direct expression.
He'd concocted a wicked posse cut (included on this collection)
featuring the finest MCs out of Halifax's grimy little brother,
Dartmouth - Nathan C, Papa Grand and a young man who would grow up
to be known as Tachichi one day.
A second Sebutones album, 50/50 Where It Counts, broke everything
out of the frame... developed in what would later be considered
Buck's trademark 'mixtape' style, this nonstop full-out
reapplication of hip hop's classic values in an honestly avant
garde vein, peeled some wigs back at home... and even further
afield...
Around this time, the guy poked his head into the internet and got
it stuck. While developing Progress, he'd also been hammering out a
degree in some broad technological discipline. This manifested in
the seminal hip hop webzine. triple-bypass.com. Rap the world over
was getting weirder, and someone needed to put himself out there to
make sense of it all. He wasn't alone, though. There was an this
stuff happening, stuff that would later more or less consolidate
into a little something you might recognize as Anticon, but which
at the time was basically manifesting as a tru-skool website called
truehiphop.com.
Vital connections were made in those days and artistic connections
soon became business connections. Halifax's hip hop scene went
through some turbulent harbour waters, maybe some cats who realty
should have stayed friends maybe kind of didn't. Let's just say it
was about time certain cats threw some shit off the front porch.
Shortly before Triple-Bypass got ground into the silicon dust,
SixToo dropped an album entitled The Psyche Intangible. The
untitled tracks featured an alarmingly clean production aesthetic -
all-in-all a brand new aesthetic in indie hiphop. It sounded like a
'real' album. In addition, it had enhanced Macromedia content
designed by big SixToo himself and it featured a big picture of a
handgun!
This is to say nothing of the fact that more and more esoteric
musical devices were creeping into his compositions; that he had
progressed as a DJ to the point where two full tracks were
dedicated to displaying his chops; that his lyrics were breaking
out into philosophical tangents that didn't always have to rhyme or
even flow In a traditional manner. He started telling interviewers
he wasn't sure if he was making hip hop anymore, but you could ted
how feverishly he hoped that he was. He didn't want to be beholden
to rap's traditions, but he would have been disappointed if
ultimately he found his work irreconcilable with them.
But wasn't he still digging ever deeper in the crates? Wasn't he
still approaching the mic with a neck to wreck? So why shouldn't it
be rap music? Guests on that album included Cheklove, Sole,
Recyclone, Knowself, Josh Martinez and Kunga219. Posse was in
effect!
Not long after that release, SixToo made a so-called EP (in reality
17 tracks deep) of songs rejected from that album which he called
The Psyche Continuum. This featured L'Roneous, Buck65, more
Cheklove and bass by then frequent live collaborator Lukas Pearce
and cello by a woman identified only as Steffi. She appeared on
must be one of the prettiest hip hop songs ever - Sultry.
Then that whole Anticon thing happened. SixToo hooked up with Sage
Francis, with Pipi B. Skid and the 1200 Hobos. He produced for
Recyclone, Orakull, Sole and Alias and rapped on a 12" produced by
UK drum'n'bass outfit Aquasky. He had his faith shaken by political
scandals at Skribble Jam and almost quit hip hop on principle, but
rebounded like he always does. He moved away from Nova Scotia for
the first time in nearly ten years to hole up with the Anticon boys
in grimy Oakland, California. He produced a song for the legendary
PEACE of Freestyle Fellowship that, one day, if you're lucky, you
will hear.
At that time, we were anticipating that he was about to drop his
craziest material ever, but concurrently we also kind of felt like
we'd never hear from him again. Just as he came home to us,
however, the 12" dropped, and the Constant Elevation principle was
put into full effect once more.
A single entitled A Work In Progress, not much shorter in its
duration than the original Rapper's Delight, exposed us to a new
SixToo. One that not only continued to bring dope drums to the
forefront, but one who could now seriously rap his ass off !
Who knew he had it in him? It kicked ass and formed the cornerstone
of his live show for a year or so. It was featured on his only
Anticon full-length release, a CD entitled Songs I Hate and Other
People Moments, along with the epic Canada Project which featured
ADeeM, Sage, Buck65, Pip Skid... More guests than ever turned up on
the other songs, including JD Walker, Josh Martinez, Sole,
Recyclone and Knowself. The man had become a media maverick. The
internet teemed with zealous youngsters, unable to refrain from
vociferously singing his praises. And why not? This, the cat who
started out simply hurting MCs feelings with genuinely unkind
battlerrhymes had wound up quietly sonning most producers, diggers
and intellectuals in hip hop.
That does not bring us up to speed. If the story of SixToo were to
end there, it would strand him in a position of just beginning to
get the props he needs, a position of still not having any
full-length wax out, a position of maybe being on the wrong label
for all parties concerned. More stuff happened after that, but you
reading this already know what that was.
You have The Secrets That Houses Keep, the guest appearances, the
Duration CD and/or limited wax - and the ultimate proof that he's
still evolving and improving - the incomparable Antagonist Survival
Kit on Vertical Form. You already know you haven't heard the last
from the Sebutones, that the 7" series he's been putting out
massacres beats like nobody's business, that he lives in Montreal
now and that he's finally about to make the noise he's needed to
make for a hot minute.
Pretend you don't, though. Pretend it's 1997 and you just stumbled
upon a copy of the Progress cassette, with it's oblique bondage
mask cover and everything. Maybe you heard of this SixToo cat
before or maybe not, but you're not watching RapCity like you used
to. Readers, you need proper perspective before you really know
what's going on with SixToo (if such a thing is in fact possible).
You need to recognize the man's steady climb before you hear
whatever he's working on next and just spit coffee everywhere
because you simply weren't prepared for the dopeness.
You need to basically recognize the fact that this moustachioed
frig was making dope rap music before you even liked rap music.
Now sit down and listen close because he's not going to show you
this again."
thanks to cms for releasing the lp earlier. now enjoy the cd
version but still dont forget to buy!
.tracklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
01. -03:34- Destroy
02. -02:35- Drip Drop
03. -02:44- Grimey Inks The Moment
04. -03:33- Caukazoid Germ
05. -01:39- Alligator
06. -03:04- One World Lost
07. -03:27- Detriments Lament
08. -04:24- No Gimmicks, No chorus (feat. Little T, Papa Grand, Nathan C & Cheklove)
09. -14:17- Work In Progress
10. -00:41- Nice Beat
11. -02:19- Real Soon
12. -00:58- Anger
13. -02:18- Part 3
14. -03:42- Lacking Precipitation
15. -00:26- Weird Timer
16. -03:06- Hanging From A Tree (feat. Recyclone)
17. -00:41- Propaganda
18. -05:56- Damage Control (feat. Cheklove)
19. -00:48- Triple Bypass Theme
20. -05:25- Sultry (feat. Steffi on Cello)
21. -02:21- My Gold Fronts
total.playtime.: 67:58 min
.about . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
KrbZ is not meant to be a group trying to respect or reputation with the
quantity of its releases. we therfore neither see any reason for
competition between us and any other group, since we only release dope
music we like.
believe it or not.