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Company Flow
Funcrusher Plus
Release Date: 1997 07 28
Label: Priority

Featuring material recorded over 1994-1997, Company Flow's official full-length debut, Funcrusher Plus, had a galvanizing effect on the underground hip-hop scene. It was one of the artiest, most abstract hip-hop albums ever recorded, paving the way for a new brand of avant-garde experimentalism that blatantly defied commercial considerations. Musically and lyrically, Funcrusher Plus is abrasive and confrontational, informed by left-wing politics and the punked-out battle cry "independent as fck." It's intentionally not funky and certainly not danceable; the beats are tense and jagged, and often spaced far apart to leave room for the MCs' complex rhymes. Bigg Jus and El-P's lyrical technique is so good it's sometimes nearly impenetrable, assaulting the listener with dense barrages of words that take a few listens to decipher. Even if this is all highly off-kilter, it's also a conscious return to hip-hop on its most basic, beats-and-rhymes level; hooks or jazz and funk samples aren't even considerations here. The production is spacy and atmospheric, often employing weird ambient noises and futuristic synths that clash with the defiantly low-budget production values. It's also quite minimalist, particularly on tracks like "Vital Nerve," which is basically just a three-note synth line over a beat, and the classic Indelible MC's single "The Fire in Which You Burn," where Co-Flow trades rhymes with the Juggaknots over a skittering beat and sitar drone. Other tracks have sci-fi and conspiracy theory undertones; some are set in an Orwellian dystopia, while some pointedly satirize corporate and capitalist greed. Yet there's also some straightforward realism, as on "Last Good Sleep," a frightening domestic abuse drama. Funcrusher Plus demands intense concentration, but also rewards it, and its advancement of hip-hop as an art form is still being felt. It's difficult, challenging music, to be sure, and it's equally far ahead of its time. Steve Huey, All Music Guide

Tracks:

	Title	Composer	Time
1	Bad Touch Example	El Producto, Bigg Jus	3:26
2	8 Steps to Perfection	El Producto, Bigg Jus	4:43
3	Collude/Intrude	El Producto, Bigg Jus	5:25
4	Blind	El Producto, Bigg Jus	3:42
5	Silence	El Producto, Bigg Jus	3:33
6	Legends	El Producto, Bigg Jus	4:02
7	Lune TNS	El Producto, Bigg Jus	2:12
8	Help Wanted	El Producto, Bigg Jus	4:26
9	Population Control	El Producto, Bigg Jus	3:38
10	Definitive	El Producto, Bigg Jus	5:47
11	Lencorcism	El Producto, Bigg Jus	0:36
12	89.9 Detrimental	El Producto, Bigg Jus	1:03
13	Vital Nerve	El Producto, Bigg Jus	5:01
14	Tragedy of War (In III Parts)	El Producto, Bigg Jus	3:49
15	Fire in Which You Burn	El Producto, Bigg Jus	5:02
16	Krazy Kings	El Producto, Bigg Jus	4:52
17	Last Good Sleep	El Producto, Bigg Jus	5:59
18	Info Kill II	El Producto, Bigg Jus	3:48
19	Funcrush Scratch	El Producto, Bigg Jus	2:48