Ultramagnetic MCs: Kool Keith Squared

Kool Keith’s personality had its start just about twenty five years ago. That seems like a pretty long time to be cultivating a single persona. As luck would have it, though, Kool Keith has amassed a back log of countless individuals that he embodies at various times – most recently Tashan Dorrsett.

Despite his erratic and sometimes irrational actions on the mic and in the dressing room – Black Elvis anyone – Kool Keith has been around for a long enough time to garner the respect of above and below ground rap fans. Keith’s popularity and record sales might not reflect that broad appreciation that the emcee has amassed, but that’s the lot that this weirdo chose. It’s easy to guess that he’s not sorry about it at all.

Back in 1984 Kool Keith, Ced Gee, TR Love and DJ Moe Love came together in the Bronx to form a group that in some ways laid the ground for any off beat rap group that would come afterwards (that means anyone from the Anticon stable, Sage Francis and even Eminem).

Ultramagnetic MCs would release a single the year following its formation, but weren’t able to muster label support to unloose a long player until 1988. By that late in the decade, most of the first wave of emcees had already laid down their definitive statement. It wasn’t too late in the game, though, for Ultramag to release Critical Beatdown and impact the genre.

Judging from just the cover, it would appear that Ultramags didn’t have too much to offer the rap world. Each group member seems to be attired in much the same way as their peers. And while that might be true, the way that the group approached sampling and lyrical content was drastically different.

Being one of the first producers to make use of a cut up samples Ced Gee is often credited with revolutionizing the use of records in hip hop music. And for this reason alone, the definition of copyright and music needed to be re-examined.

Beyond that point, what Kool Keith was able to summon from his pen and pad, even at this early stage in his career was well beyond – or detached – from most of whatever else was going on in the genre. Tracks like “Watch Me Now” don’t seem too different content wise from Keith’s contemporaries as most of the effort finds the emcee boasting and not too much else. The way that the emcee went about explaining his prowess, though, was totally different. At one point, he even counts to eight before getting back into his proper verse. That alone isn’t stylistically admirable, but conceptually odd. Keith goes on to talk about scaling ladders and other bizarre images considering his point – he’s a good rapper.

There’re countless examples of Keith getting obtuse all over this disc. And while Critical Beatdown might not be his definitive artistic statement, Ultramags wouldn’t reach a higher peak. Even in regards to Golden Age stuff, there’s not too much else that has retained its glimmer over time – Beatdown has.