Punk and hip hop have always shared one thing in
common: a genuine D.I.Y. aesthetic. Back in the day
before either sonic genre was seen as a viable
commercial endeavor, both camps alike had to press
up their own records, book their own shows and
generally fend for themselves. Not much has
changed, except that now the hard driving guitar
angst of punk and the low-end rumble of rap dominate
both SoundScan and the commercial radio airwaves.
Though the fusion of the two styles has enjoyed some
success over the years and both share the same
underlying ideology, their sounds are still miles apart.
For the most part, when a rock group attempts to
appropriate rap into the mix, the result is often
forgettable or, at best, predictable.
But forget all that. Enter (hed) pe out of Cali's Orange
County with a style they call "G-Punk," and
representing this style to the fullest. (hed) pe's sonic
assault warps a metallic density with a nearly surreal
sense of texture and invention that suggests a grand
collision of Rage Against the Machine, Bad Brains,
Funkadelic and The Bomb Squad-sometimes in the
same song. Comprised of M.C.U.D., Wesstyle, B.C.,
Mawk, Chizad and DJ Product the turntable arsonist,
(hed) pe is poised to hit the world with a blast of raw,
unfiltered punk-hop.
"G-Punk reflects our mass consciousness. It's the
next step in the natural evolution of hip hop/hardcore
styles," says M.C.U.D. (Jerred Shaine). "We basically
got together with the idea that we were gonna do a
really authentic hip hop/hardcore thing. We've seen
so many bands tryin' to pull it off, but doin' it all wrong.
Most folks just grab a rock ensemble and throw a
rapper in with'em without the authentic hip hop beats;
they just play rock beats with a rapper."
Wesstyle adds, "It just seemed like that idea of
merging those two styles, everyone was thinking it,
but no one was really feeling it. No one was really
capturing the true soul of both punk and rap."
What sets (hed) pe apart is that they are by-products
of a generation which has grown up being equally
assaulted by the sounds of alternative rock and
underground hip hop. In the last several years, the
lines between the two genres has been seriously
blurred thanks to the likes of Ice-T, Cypress Hill, The
Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage.
"I grew up listening to punk," recalls Wesstyle. "But
then there came a time when all the punk guitarists
started tryin' to play metal and I thought,'Hmmm, that's
not what punk's all about.' That's when I got into hip
hop, because it seemed more punk to me than punk
rock was at the time. That's why we're really
influenced by gangsta rap-Dr. Dre and Ice Cube-and
hardcore." "But not topically," adds M.C.U.D. "We hit
up different topics-but we use that vibration."
"We're fully on the positive tip," explains Wesstyle.
"Our songs are always about overcoming obstacles.
There's a recurring theme of being put through tests
and overcoming them. We write songs about
questions that everybody's had or issues that you've
had growing up. Y'know, that turmoil in your head."
Sonically, (hed) pe utilize the ominous, mysterious
sound that producers like Dr. Dre, Muggs from
Cypress Hill, and others in the hip hop milieu have
become famous for. To this they meld solid hardcore
chops to create the overall (hed) pe vibe. Their
unique sound was originally unleashed on a
self-released indie EP entitled "ChurchOfRealities" in
1995. Now (hed) pe are poised to hit the world with
their self-titled full length LP.
While hardcore (hed) pe fans will notice that many of
the EPs songs have manifested themselves on the
new album, don't expect the same old songs. "There's
a lot of different versions on here," says Wesstyle.
"They've all changed in some way. We did a rewrite
on 'Ground' since its inception. Other songs matured
in some ways, too, and others like 'I.F.O.' were
reconstructed, as was'Darky.' A lot of the samples
were taken out of it for the new version." "A lot of it's
changed, but a lot of it's the same," concurs M.C.U.D.
One thing's for sure, like it or not, (hed) pe is
prepared and fully qualified to provide that authentic
G-Punk vibe. And they've declared war on the
constricting limitations of genre categorization. In the
end, (hed) pe is a tight blend of punk rhythms, rap
bravado, and creative, sonic mayhem. It's just like
M.C.U.D. says, "To me the vibe just comes from the
reality of embracing a very hard, evil, hip hop sound
with intense, aggravated hardcore. It's that ambient
evilness meets that pensive anxiety."
