Genelec & Memphis Reigns – Scorpion Circles

2002 • HHI Recordings

Genelec & Memphis Reigns came out of nowhere—the underground of California—and disappeared just as quickly, but not before releasing a single album in 2002 as proof that they were indeed here. But unlike a lot of one-off obscure hip hop albums I've heard, this one stands up pretty well, and while it's nothing perfect or groundbreaking it's still a pretty nice experience.

The beats are what carry the album, and are consistently good—maybe not fantastic, but often interesting. They mix your standard heavy boom-bappy drums with samples and instrumentation reminiscent of jazz mixed with sometimes eastern or middle eastern music, styles not often heard in hip hop, or other unusual instrumentation like organs ("Organisms"). It works pretty darn well, too. There is also some nice scratching, something I feel is sadly very underdone in hip hop, and there's a lot of it too. The production quality is a bit on the low end, though; some of the tracks are poorly mixed and sound muffled (see "Anarchists Cookbook", then "Move" immediately following it; the inconsistency makes the problem worse), though this is a minor complaint.

Both MCs show considerable skill throughout the whole album, too, trading off verses and even individual lines in a skillful way most groups can't. But they both seem to rely too heavily on having a very rapid-fire delivery, which quickly becomes monotonous and even inappropriate on the slower tracks like "Offerings" or "Chicken Soup". What they lack in rhythmic ability, though, they make up for with some clever internal rhyming and wordplay. It's an interesting style with admittedly limited appeal, but when it works, it works well.

While I can say that I definitely do like this album, as it's enjoyable and pretty solid overall—no notably bad tracks (though not many notably good ones either)—it probably works best as just an example of good beatmaking and stops there. The tracks aren't too terribly memorable and after a handful of listens it's worn out its welcome to me. But as far as this kind of modern-ish underground hip hop goes it's certainly worth a few listens.

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