Supergroup?

It's taken me a while to get around to talking abut it, but clearly we have all now heard the single "Us Placers" by rap super-group CRS (Child Rebel Soldiers), sampling Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke's sparse piano-led chorus from solo project "The Eraser". We've also viewed the Va$htie video featuring child versions of our modern-day heroes who make up the group, Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West and Pharrell Williams, and nodded our heads along sagely, marvelling at the audacity of the sample and the lyrical sophistication and mature subject matter of the track.

Meanwhile we have perhaps smugly congratulated ourselves on our knowledge and appreciation thereof, certainly when the track was more of an underground mystery to unearth, taking time out from scouring youtube links and internet forums to slap our own backs in recognition at how eclectically clever and post-modern we are to be into straight up hip-hop, as well as indie music, and now the combination of the two. And I include myself very much in this sweeping statement. Indeed, maybe it is just me who this applies to. But hopefully you see the point I am making, which is that the CRS project, and this tune in particular, is a prime example of rap music that is perhaps tainted slightly by a sense of self-satisfaction.

You know that feeling of slight irritation, which is perhaps an extension of the music's close link with sampling and the train-spotter tendencies that make finding the most obscure tune to build a track around some kind of bizarre badge of honour. The song which says, look at how much I know, and how diverse my record collection is, surely you must immediately herald me as a creative genius. Kanye I suppose is a prime example, and before you say anything, I am also aware of the irony of such a judgement from a blog which itself spends much of its time warbling on about its eclectic tastes and recommending tunes for you to discover.

Hopefully A Story To Tell remains informative rather than condescending in its tone, and I am sure that Mr West and others feel the same about their product. And in many ways, as I have stated on here previously, West's production skills and choice and manipulation of beats are often truly inspired. But this is a digression to the central argument that there is just something about "Us Placers" that smacks of slightly superior self-satisfaction. Now don't get me wrong. This is a great tune, and I am truly a big fan of all three members of the fledgling project. All three verses are strong, the beats are original and I am licking my lips as much as the next man at the prospect of a full-length product that combines their doubtless talents. I am just a little wary of tunes that are heralded as brilliant by dint of the fact that they step away from the norm. Yes it is good, but let's also keep it in perspective and not succumb unquestionably to the lazy equation which says hot rapper plus falsetto indie singer plus grown-up lyrics equals instant classic.

The term, "written with Chris Martin of Coldplay", seems to be used by the critical music press as some kind of kitemark for quality, and I am a bit tired of it. It is also condescending in itself, and patronizing in the extreme, when said critics seem to be suggest that rap becomes immediately more sophisticated as soon as it takes on some indie sensibilities. "Oh Rupert, Jay-Z is great as a voice of the urban youth but doesn't he simply rap about money, girls and crime?". "No, no Sebastian, you should hear his latest work, it has a real depth to it. Chris Martin from Coldplay does a chorus wouldn't you know! It's quite brilliant". I'm not saying that these, or any other collaborations shouldn't excite us, just that we should apply the same levels of critical awareness to them.

In the case of "Us Placers", it is a combination which works to quite stunning effect, a haunting and modern rap tune for the I-pod generation, and as an opening salvo for CRS, a potentially great omen of what's to come. Let's just hope Coldplay are busy with ther commitments when it comes time make the album.