Предлагаем вам ставший нашумевшим сэт хэдов на выступлении в студии Deep Rock Dive вместе с Kingspade. К сожалению, качество не очень хорошее, но шоу было действительно великолепным.

hx to thegoodfight.

Download (230 Mb)

It’s only fair to say, that for every style of music, there is always at least one great band. As far as the now much maligned and defunct genre of rap-metal goes, Hed(PE) were that band. Although less celebrated in the heyday of the late-90s which saw the release of their seminal record Broke (2000), the band became rather unfairly lumped in with the likes of Limpbizkit and Linkin Park, and as such, exacerbated by the chart failure of their follow-up album Blackout (2003), fell from critical favour along with the rest of the nu-metal brigade by the early naughties. Unfair, in the sense, that Hed(PE)’s particular cocktail of hiphop sensibilities and heavy rock was a lot more experimental, edgy and creative than any of their baggy-panted peers. Boasting the impressive street-cred, venomous lyricism and slick flow of their hedonistic Brazilian/African-American mcee Jahred Shane, Hed(PE) have now remoulded their abrasive hiphop stylings with punk rock and even a splash of reggae into a new bastard genre – something Jahred calls ‘G-Punk’ – and are riding a wave of a massive underground movement Stateside, and despite the naysayers and critical disdain, have released three albums independently and are now touring Australia.

Having weathered a veritable storm of label issues and lost bandmates, MC Jahred and bassplayer Moke now remain the only original members of Hed(PE), but that hasn’t stopped the irrepressible frontman emerging with his middle finger held high and trademark shit-eating grin firmly intact. He even has time for those who still consider Broke to be Hed(PE)’s best album. “It’s a great album, but I don’t love it as much as our fans might love it, you know?” acknowledges the singer. “When I listen to it, I’m like ‘wow, I’m so much better at what I do now!’ So, I’m more into my independent and currents album, as they’re much more of a truer expression. But then again, I can’t be objective cos I’m the artist – that’s just me.”

Does he accept some people will always regard them in the same ilk as Limpbizkit & Co, and that they’ll never lose the rap-metal tag? “Well, whenever you describe music with words, it’s gonna leave you at a loss. Like describing a painting with words, it’s inadequate. But I guess, maybe at the time, the guitarists were kinda metal and if you really wanted to mathematically dissect the vocals, less that 50% were rap, so to call Hed(PE) ‘rap-metal’ is misleading.

“And as for the Limp Bizkit, well…..” he gives a low chuckle. “I was never a fan.”

As far as Jahred sees it, Hed(PE) remain more relevant that ever. “Who is relevant? The shit you see on MTV or hear on the radio?” cackles the frontman. “I mean, people are like sheep mostly, even when it comes to art – they let the mass media define for them what’s relevant. I turn on MTV for tens minutes and I wanna go gag myself. But I don’t and never have gauged myself by any of that.

“I mean, look – you take a band like Linkin Park, who were supposedly leaders of that whole nu-metal hip hop metal movement, and now they sound like fucking Coldplay!?” he laughs again. “Sorry, I’m not buying it.”

Nonetheless, critical reaction has not been kind to Hed(PE)’s independent albums, even though they remain the ones closest to the singer’s heart. “Perhaps, what about the kids who come up to me and say ‘Only In Amerika is my favourite album EVER!’, you know? This is not math, it’s not science. It’s not like someone can go ‘oh, we’re done vigorous testing, and this is definitely better.’” The singer gives a derisive laugh. “It’s just an opinion, and a fifteen year old fans opinion is just as valid as some dude from Rolling Stone.”

Only In America, lyrically, is quite a brutal album – there’s a lot of anger, bitterness and invective towards Hed(PE)’s old label Jive. “It’s was a reaction to being fucked over so badly by a major label. I was really trying to push some buttons and provoke shit, exercising my freedom of speech.

“My thing is this,” states Jahred. “People get all upset and crazy over others talking or singing about sex, and yet you’ve got war and killing every day being sanctioned by the government – it’s a twisted reality!”

These days though, Jahred has more to be smiling about, with Hed(PE)’s brand of alternative rapcore and G-Punk having found a whole new fan-base. “There’s a whole independent underground movement we’re involved in here in the States, along with The Juggalos, Insane Clown Posse and the Kottonmouth Kings. It’s huge here, man, whereby we’re able to put just as many kids in the clubs as any of the big corporate bands. And we’re not on the radio, and we’re not critically embraced, yet all these rock bands who have tons of press and radio play can’t even get the fucking kids through the doors. Kids are seeking this music out for themselves, rebelling against the mainstream. It’s a really exciting time for Hed(PE), how technology and the internet has actually empowered the artists. We can make a living without giving a fuck about what corporate America thinks about us.

“I kiss the ground I walk on that Hed(PE) didn’t go platinum back in those days. There’s always exceptions to the rule that bands who make it big remain cool – like Rage Against The Machine or System Of A Down or even Bob Marley – but I feel that would have been a true nail in my coffin, and it almost happened anyway. But when I was going to abandon Hed(PE), the fans let me know via the internet ‘no way, dude – you’ve got to keep it going’, that they would support me if I kept going on an independent tip. So in a way, that was the rebirth of the band.”

Rather than raving about bee-yatches and blunts, these days Jahred’s lyrics now contain continual reference to conspiracy theories, global secret societies and fraternal orders in Hed(PE)’s lyrics now. Has the singer turned into one of those wackjobs who studies the Kabbalah too much? Jahred laughs, before turning serious. “Well, that’s what they want you to think. So much of our thinking is moulded by society – take the guy who think UFOs are a joke, well I say that guy is the idiot as there are military whistleblowers who have come out about extra-terrestials. Same as anyone who believes the government’s version of 9-11… that’s the guy who is sound asleep and brainwashed. Every time people uncover a truth or something that doesn’t add up, it gets labelled a conspiracy theory.”

Well, it’s all well for likes of David Icke to be discussing this stuff, but is music really the vehicle for this kind of alternative thought? “I don’t just think it – I know it! I mean, Bob Marley sang about peace and love, and he magically got cancer. John Lennon did the same, and he got shot. Don’t tell me that the Illuminati or whoever is in power, doesn’t recognise the power that art has in spreading the truth. It’s all part of a global shift in conscientiousness, and the reason Hed(PE) is drawn to it is because people are drawn to it. It’s an evolution in conscientiousness on the planet.”

Ok, so what does Jahred say to the cynic who says ‘well, here’s this black punk-rock hip-hop dude with heaps of tattoos and piercings, whose used to smoke a shitload of weed, take heaps of drugs and party hard, and now he’s preaching to us about the sinister global conspiracies and the Illuminati – I mean, c’mon’? He laughs. “Well, they don’t have to believe me – but they can seek out the truth for themselves. The alternate to conspiracy theories is accepting the truth in state-sanctioned newspapers and television…and where’s the creative thought there? All I’m asking is people exercise their brains and do a little research of their own.

“And yes, I’m all those things you described, but man… I’ll take an IQ test with the best of them.”

via beat.com.au
thanx to LunatiK

Just awesome, say yeeah…