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Rammellzee vs. K-Rob – Beat Bop (12″ vinyl, 33 ⅓ RPM)
33,00 €
Condition: Mint, New (M)
Unsealed vinyl listened to for review
Second Hand
The Rammellzee vs. K-Rob – Beat Bop vinyl is a cult piece in the history of hip-hop, marking a turning point in urban experimental music and street art. Released in 1983, this long and hypnotic ten-minute piece is often considered a UFO in the musical production of the time, not only for its unique sonic aesthetic, but also for the cultural context that surrounds it, mixing music, visual art, and performance. This recording, produced by New York artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, remains emblematic of the artistic effervescence that reigned in New York in the 1980s, particularly in underground circles where hip-hop, graffiti, and contemporary art intersected.
The cover of the vinyl “Rammellzee & K-Rob – Beat Bop“, designed by Jean-Michel Basquiat, is a work as legendary as the music itself. Indeed, it constitutes an essential part of the visual and artistic identity of the record, reinforcing its status as a total art object. It features words, numbers, and rudimentary shapes, inscribed in the manner of graffiti found on the walls of New York, where Basquiat first made his mark as an artist under the pseudonym SAMO.
Rammellzee and K-Rob, two artists from the New York underground scene of the 1980s, are the voices that animate the track Beat Bop. Like Basquiat, Rammellzee was not only a rapper; he was also a respected visual artist, creating sculptures, paintings, and costumes that he wore in performance art. His persona was also a work of art in its own right: he adopted complex futuristic costumes that he called Garbage Gods, creating a mythology around himself. This punk sci-fi aesthetic was far ahead of its time and made Rammellzee a cult figure in the art world, as much as in music.
The influence of Beat Bop can be felt in the way it paved the way for broader experimentation in hip-hop. By refusing to follow the traditional rules of rap music, Rammellzee and K-Rob created a body of work that influenced artists far beyond the genre. We find this spirit of creative freedom in musicians like the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, or even in the alternative hip-hop scene of the 1990s. Label: Mr Bongo – MRB12046
Description
Rammellzee vs. K-Rob – Beat Bop is much more than just a piece of music. It is a total work of art, born at a time when the boundaries between artistic disciplines were in full dissolution, when graffiti, music, and contemporary art coexisted in an explosive creative melting pot.
The early 1980s in New York City was a time of intense transformation in the art and music scene. Hip-hop, still young at the time, was beginning to gain momentum in African-American and Latino neighborhoods, while street art, especially graffiti, was gradually becoming institutionalized. Artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and Rammellzee were at the forefront of a movement that saw the fusion of these different forms of creative expression. Basquiat, already famous for his pictorial work mixing graffiti and cultural references, was interested in music and saw in hip-hop a new way to express the rebellion and energy of marginalized youth.
In this context, Beat Bop was born from the encounter between Rammellzee, a multidisciplinary artist and performer, and K-Rob, a then relatively unknown rapper. The original recording was financed and produced by Jean-Michel Basquiat, who saw this project as a way to extend his artistic practice to music. This vinyl is unique in that it transcends the boundaries between visual art and sound, with the album cover designed by Jean-Michel Basquiat himself, who also funded a very limited edition of the record.
The sound of “Rammellzee vs. K-Rob – Beat Bop/strong>” is instantly recognizable. Unlike most rap songs of the time, which relied on aggressive beats, repetitive loops, and rapid rhymes, this track takes a more abstract route. The track is nearly ten minutes long, an unusual length for a rap song, especially at a time when hip-hop songs were primarily designed for radio and party use. Here, the rules are broken. The production is both minimal and psychedelic, with floating echoes, distorted percussion sounds, and an overall atmosphere that seems to come from another world.
The two MCs, Rammellzee and K-Rob, deliver vocal performances that intertwine without following a typical structure. Their rhymes respond to each other, overlap, creating a kind of unstructured conversation, a dialogue between two minds wandering the dark streets of New York. Their lyrics, often obscure and cryptic, speak of power, war, urban survival and rebellion, with references to street gangs and social struggles. The tone of their voices oscillates between menace and nonchalance, reinforcing the feeling that this track is a manifesto, a declaration of artistic independence, more than just a rap song.
The album cover, a work by Basquiat, has itself become iconic, reinforcing the status of vinyl as a total art object. The combination of visual art and music was at the heart of the project, a concept that follows in the footsteps of Renaissance artists, for whom art was not limited to a single discipline.
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s involvement in this project is not limited to production and visual design. His influence can be felt in the way Beat Bop defies convention. Basquiat, like Rammellzee, believed in a total artistic approach, where the boundaries between artistic disciplines should be erased. Just as his paintings mixed texts, symbols and images in an anarchic but thoughtful way, Beat Bop does the same with sound and words. It is a piece of music that reflects Basquiat’s postmodern thinking, where elements of popular culture, history and personal mythology are combined to create something entirely new.
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