QuESt: Another Mix Tape

If Mike Waxx becomes some sort of sought after producer, would he be the first ‘Internet Producer’ to make it? We’ve already seen a few blogosphere rappers come to the attention of the general public – Asher and CuDi – but no one from behind the boards has made that leap into the consciousness of America, yet.

Waxx worked out the beats on a much anticipated Nero mix tape a few months ago and turned in a solid group of tracks. There was nothing futuristic or ground breaking about that work, but it was rooted in the East Coast Tribe/De La axis of production. And on QuESt’s Distant Travels Into Soul Theory, Waxx again reveals a series of tracks that are more tied to past hip hop innovations than anything forward thinking. That’s not to say that the work here is anything less than listenable and in fact the production throughout is overwhelmingly consistent and interrelated.

But of course the focus of this album is QuESt. Probably the most commendable aspect of Distant Travels Into Soul Theory is the fact that the fourteen tracks that make up the release have been constructed to form a pretty specific narrative. Looking at this work from the perspective of story telling, there haven’t been too many concept discs that work as well and cohesively. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the disc is going to make QuESt’s career, but it surely points to the fact that he can only improve on a strong and well received model.

Beginning with a four minute track devoted to two friends figuring out how to approach a girl from the neighborhood, it might serve an indispensible function, but it’s also the longest track on the disc. When the raps actually begin on the following track, “Just My Imagination,” QuESt turns in a few dense verses, but than kinda just peters out towards the end. And in this one track, listeners can basically understand what’s to follow.

There’s a great deal of wasted time and space here. The tracks partially devoted to basic conversation, working to push the plot ahead, could easily have been achieved in a much truncated fashion or even in rhyme. But skits – ala De La Soul minus the hilarity – distract from the quality of the overall product.

QuESt won’t claim to sport the storytelling skills of Slick Rick tha Ruler or the insight of Common, but he could become a pretty solid act in the not too distant future. As a rather young performer, some of what this disc suffers from is the overly personalized nature of the proceedings. While the work touches on things that every man has experienced, QuESt seems self centered enough to disregard the way in which this final product could be considered by fans.

Of course, by the end of the narrative, anyone listening is going to have more than just a little bit of sympathy for what the character (or QuESt) has gone through. The story’s a bummer, but musically, it’s redemptive.