Greedy Fingers

Belgium turntablist, and third place winner of the International Turntable Federation’s (ITF) World DJ Championships, DJ Grazzhoppa has teemed with British turntablist Greedy Boy to release their debut full-length of jazzy instrumentals and eerie vocal tracks. The instrumental tracks are interesting and well formulated, but they’re not mind-blowing. It takes the addition of a few MCs to pull the tracks up into banging hip-hop territory. New York shockmeisters Cage and Necro contribute vocals to two tracks each. Necro proves why he’s the “brutalist” with his two tracks, the scary “Wise Ass” with a beat that would not seem out of place in nearly any horror flick, and “Brutal Styles” with its more upbeat and, dare I say it?, happy instrumental. However, on both tracks Necro comes with his in-your-face offensiveness. Cage, on the other hand, brings his more subtle shock core with the nightmarish “Daydreams” where Cage slices and dices with the patience of “Agent Orange” over another perfect horror beat and “Adlibs In My Head” demonstrates Cage at his most lyrically adept. Less impressive are the two appearances by M.F. Doom (aka Zeb Love X of now defunct hip-hop group KMD) and Megalon on “I Sell Rhymes Like Dimes” and “True Thug MC,” although the quick cracks they make at Ice Cube on “I Sell Rhymes” and M.F. Doom’s impressive imitation of Southern hip-hop on “True Thug MC” do make both tracks worth at least one listen. The additional appearances of Scratch Pervert Tony Vegas on “Playing With A Pervert” and the saxophone flow of Fabrizio on “Wise Ass The Return” are both nice breaks from the beats and rhymes of the other tracks. Hopefully, Shady Sirens will free the way for more collaborations between North American artists and those overseas. If not, well, this is one aberration worth owning.