BIGMOUTH STRIKES AGAIN

It’s been five long years, but Spank Rock - the MC who fired the bullet that paralysed ‘conscious’ hip hop - is back. If ‘Yo Yo Yo Yo Yo’ put Baltimore back on the map in 2006, his sophomore LP confirms his emergence on the world stage. Its title? ‘Everything Is Boring And Everyone Is A Fucking Liar’.

“I was sitting with a friend of mine, this really smart artist and designer, and he asked me why I made 'Yo Yo Yo Yo Yo' sound like that,” Spank - aka Naeem Juwan - explains. “During that time, nothing else sounded like that.

“I told him it was because I came up in a very underground hip hop environment. A lot of Rawkus Records and Lyricist Lounge compilations. Def Jux was bubbling up. It was very serious backpack rap, you know? Long dreads, smoke weed all the time, that whole thing. I told him that by the time I was ready to sit down and try to make an album, I had been so worn out on that whole scene, and I just thought that everything was boring and everyone was a fucking liar.

“It seemed like a lot of those artists were trying to put on this swag and relive this moment of revolution that had already happened in the past. It was like a re-enactment of the Black Panther movement. It was almost like they were putting on a play, and not really being smart about changing the landscape of America politically.

“So my friend got that quote out of me, and when I said that, he just started laughing. He was like, 'yo, you should name the (new) album that'. I was like, 'holy shit, you're totally right!'”
The album's a drastic departure from its predecessor. 'Yo Yo Yo Yo Yo' was a relatively sparse, skeletal affair; Juwan spitting bravado and perversion over bass-heavy beats that sounded like they'd been kidnapped from Rick Rubin and subsequently traumatised.

The intervening five years have seen Juwan branch out beyond XXXChange's productions and work with the likes of Mark Ronson and Sam Spiegel (N.A.S.A.). All three men contribute beats to 'Everything Is Boring…', alongside Pharrell Williams, Diplo and executive producer Boys Noize.

With such a dance-heavy line-up, what separates this record from, say, a David Guetta joint?
“I think I just take more risks,” Juwan says. “I write rap songs as if I'm in a rock band, more than anything else. With this record, especially, I was doing a lot of research into punk music. I read 'Please Kill Me', trying to catch up with this culture that I'm inspired by but didn't really know much about. I think I approach my music with that mentality.
“You mentioned Guetta; I think he's approaching his music with a pop mentality. That's not something I've ever been a part of. I don't have a lot of money, and I don't save up the money that I have to go to Ibiza or Cancun. I definitely want to represent a lifestyle that is more serious. I hope Spank Rock is closer to Fugazi than David Guetta.”

It's difficult to reconcile this desire to represent a 'more serious' lifestyle with choruses like 'shake it 'till my dick turns racist'. On the other hand, it's hard to get more serious than Morrissey, whom Juwan references on the album's opening track, 'Ta Da'. Is he a closet Mozza fan?
“I'm not his biggest fan,” he laughs, “but I do appreciate some of his music. I know Morrissey and The Smiths because of my friends Hennessey Youngman, who does a skit on the record, and Amanda Blank. I learn a lot about music and art and culture through my friends.
“I hate the internet, I hate learning, I hate reading. So these things that become a part of my life, that I hold onto, usually come from something my friends mention. I respect my friends; they're my real teachers.”

You might have figured out by now that Juwan is nothing if not contradictory. He wants to represent a more 'serious' lifestyle, but is still best known for 'Backyard Betty'. He hates reading and learning, but just admitted to reading a classic punk rock text. He put 'conscious' rappers - those boring, fucking liars - to the sword, but continues to be inspired by them.
“I definitely reached back to that time and place and those inspirations for a lot of the lyrics on this record,” he says. “I hope in some way you can hear a little bit of Kweli, a little bit of Company Flow, a little bit of that feeling in my lyrics at times.
“Music played a big part in the way I behaved as a kid, and I want to make sure I put lyrics for people to live their lives by and be inspired by in my music. I think everyone should do that.”

Spank Rock plays Summafieldayze, at The Spit on the Gold Coast, Monday January 2. ‘Everything Is Boring And Everyone Is A Fucking Liar’ is out now. summafieldayze.com