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Simmering between the raucous urban centers of New York and Atlanta, Baltimore has long held a reputation for violence and drug abuse. Partying, not so much. But as it turns out, under that city's grimy exterior is an even grimier form of expression known as Baltimore Club — or, simply, "party music" — and it could very well be the dirtiest music in the world. Resembling a mixture of house music and old-school hip-hop, Baltimore Club is gaining a national foothold, thanks to snappy drums, a curious lack of bass lines and lyrics that would make 2 Live Crew blush.
And according to its followers, it's a healthy steam-release for locals, who lose their minds for bawdy tracks such as "Throw that Pussy." "What really got me into it was to see people's reactions. It was cool to see people lose their cool," says Low Budget, a DJ with Philadelphia's infamous Hollertronix crew and a big Baltimore Club fan. "I haven't seen that since the early days of hip-hop."
As music becomes more global, it has also become increasingly regional, with Baltimore Club being just one example of a genre defined by geography. Houston has screw (hip-hop slowed waaay down), Washington D.C. has go-go, and Brazil has funk. But what is it about "Bodymore, Murderland" that embraces — nay, celebrates — sentiments like "Poke Ya Ass" ?
"Baltimore's a really worn-down city," said expat MC Spank Rock, who now lives in Philadelphia. "Club is raw. It gave kids a chance to wild out." In the early 1990s, notes Rock, the scene was often violent, a mixture of the
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Must-Have Baltimore Club Tracks:
"Poke Ya Ass," DJ Technics and Rod Lee
"There's Some Hoes in this House," DJ Funk
"Shake That Ass Girl," TAPP
"Can I Fuck your Friend?" Club Queen DJ K-Swift |
everyday frustrations felt by the genre's poor urban audience and the aggressive tracks being played in the clubs. "A song would drop, and people would just rumble," he recalled. "It's just compatible to how people were feeling. It was fight music."
That aggression has also made the scene highly sexual. The beats used in the songs provide a natural booty-shaking tempo, while the repetitive lyrics overwhelm the listener with the frequency of their delivery and bluntness of their content. On TAPP's "Shake that Ass Girl," the MC rhymes "Shake that ass and rub them tits/shake that ass, do it bitch," which heads into a mind-numbing loop of "doitbitchdoitbitchdoitbitch," before leading to the unintentionally hilarious "shake it like a rumpshaker/shake it like Anita Baker."
Other tracks, such as "I Just Wanna Fuck" and "There's Some Hoes in this House" contain no lyrics other than the titles, which are pummeled into listeners' brains for a solid three-and-a-half minutes. With both men and women contributing vocals, sex in the world of Baltimore Club is like a gang war, with each side daring each other to blow the other's mind with their midsections. Think of it as Mutually Assured Destruction in the bedroom.
It all falls very much in line with today's hip-hop gender politics — at least in the Lil' Kim "if you want me, buy me things" school of empowerment — but with Baltimore Club, there is absolutely no let-up. Like a hardcore porn flick, it's in-your-face imagery all the time, with no time for cars or Cristal.
With many of the songs instructing women on what they can do with their aforementioned assets — the answer being, usually, shake them — there must be some objections from the ladies, right? "It just makes the girls go even harder and dominate the dance floor," claims Spank Rock. "It's derogatory, but it isn't offensive," explains legendary local DJ Technics."They know we're not talking about them specifically." Technics, whose web site also offers a gallery of bootylicious "Make 'em Skeet" girls, also pointed out that the recent single by Atlanta crunk combo Ying Yang Twins ("Wait," featuring the refrain "just wait 'til you see my dick") has opened the floodgates of dancefloor etiquette. "Before that you couldn't go up to a woman and say that in a club," he says. "They made it cool to say it."
Even the scene's reigning female DJ, Club Queen K-Swift, is laissez-faire about the sex talk. "People are a lot more liberal these days," she says, "The listening ear is more grimey." In a political sense, many in the scene look at the songs, regardless of the hardcore lyrics, as escapism for a city still struggling with gun violence and drug abuse. Says Technics: "You can't get anymore messed up than we are already."
Although the scene can hardly be thought of as progressive when it comes to gender politics, for several years the club circuit was dominated by Miss Tony, a huge, black drag queen who worked as an MC and later as a radio host. (Who says this isn't John Waters' city?) And after years of the genre thriving independently, the rest of the country is catching on. "Chain record stores are starting to pick it up," reports K-Swift. Technics concurs: "I've pretty much played in every state." Nevertheless, it's indie spirit, complete with selling CDs on the streets (some artists don't exactly get clearance for their samples) that gives the native Baltimoreans a sense of pride. Top-ten status doesn't necessarily rank high on their to-do lists. "If you can't play it on the radio, it's better than anything on the radio," explains Technics, "it's as easy to get as a gun on the street."
Of course, the lingering question on everyone's mind has to be, "what about the children?" Technics and K-Swift also sell curse-free "clean" CDs featuring remixed theme songs from Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob Squarepants. "You've got kids in elementary school who love Baltimore Club," said K-Swift. Technics sees it as a chance to get kids involved early, citing Jay-Z's breakthrough hit "Hard-Knock Life," which featured a chorus cribbed from Annie. "It became a global hit," he points out. So at what point do kids graduate from SpongeBob to "Throw that Pussy"? Notes K-Swift: "That's for the parents." n°
©2005 Ryan Kennedy and hooksexup.com
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