Grand Analog's Hip-Hop For Non-Purists

Canadian hip-hop has always struggled to find its voice.

The country doesn't have the population to support urban music, and American markets are so insular that they react harshly to MCs from other states, let alone countries.

Canadian rappers are well aware of the minimal returns, and enter the industry with low expectations — which means less pressure, less rules and more experimentation.

While Americans are counting 50 Cent's bullet holes and welcoming back Eminem, Canadians are buggin' their shutters and crabbing their buckets. Canadians have altered hip-hop by expanding the genre's boundaries and freely integrating soul, reggae, jazz, disco and plenty of indie rock.

Grand Analog are one group who understand cross-genre hip-hop. The Winnipeg/Toronto collective fronted by Odario Williams will push the limits even at the risk of losing more narrow-minded fans.

"I still get the odd underground hip-hopper telling me we're not hip-hop enough," Williams says. "That's bullshit.

"I was born a hip-hop kid, but I also grew up to reggae, punk, funk and dance. There is nothing wrong with that, and I am now finally embracing it. But as human beings, we are trained to compartmentalize everything, especially the stiffer folks.

"Cats need to loosen up. They need more dirty funk and dub in their lives."

Williams' tastes reach pretty far. He's a big Joni Mitchell fan. How many American MCs would openly list quiet folkies as influences?

"I love all that Canadian folk movement stuff from the '60s and '70s: Leonard Cohen, Bruce Cockburn, Gordon Lightfoot," says Williams. "Poets putting prose to music...

"When I discovered Joni, I realized how important it is for an artist to be vulnerable. Just put yourself out there whether you fail or succeed. All of Joni's hits and her misses were sincere, personal, humble and very, very Canadian."

Truth be told, Grand Analog were supposed to be a rock group. Since Williams' previous outfit, Mood Ruff, were on semi-permanent hiatus, he was looking for a project where he could explore new sounds and styles. However, as many artists used to the urban scene find out, it's not easy to be in a rock band.

You have to go to rehearsals, know music theory and depend on your bandmates — who are usually pretty shaky individuals. And Lord help you if your drummer sucks. There's no cure for a bad drummer.

"How do those rock dudes do it?" Williams asks. "Rehearsal schedules constantly get messed up, their hair is always messed up.

"Egos were messed up to begin with. Their girlfriends are messed up in a proud, protective, neurotic way. And don't get me wrong, I like a good fitted pair of denim, but the skinny jeans on a grown-ass man? Now that's messed up."

In the end, Grand Analog found a middle ground by using rock guitar samples in their hip-hop grooves. "I Play My Kazoo," the opening track of their new Metropolis Is Burning, is a good example, as it layers crunchy power chords over a stripped-down drum beat.

And check out the Bo Diddley rhythm of "Her Daddy (Don't Like Me)." You won’t hear anything like it anywhere else.

Grand Analog perform tonight (Tuesday) at Toronto's Wrongbar with DJ Fase and on Wednesday at Winnipeg's Pyramid Cabaret with Nestor.