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 El-P live at Irving Plaza, February 10, 2007
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jaime Meline |
| Also known as | El-Producto, Lazerface |
| Born | March 4 1975 |
| Origin |  Brooklyn, New York City, United States |
| Genre(s) | Hip Hop |
| Occupation(s) | Producer, Rapper |
| Years active | 1993 – Present |
| Label(s) | Definitive Jux Thirsty Ear |
| Associated acts |
Company Flow Central Services The Weathermen |
| Website | Definitive Jux Definitive Jux - Bio |
El-P aka El-Producto (born Jaime Meline on March 4, 1975) is an American hip hop artist and entrepreneur from Brooklyn, New York City. A major driving force in alternative hip hop for over a decade,[1] he is the co-founder, owner and CEO of the Definitive Jux record label.
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Biography
The son of jazz pianist Harry Keys (born Harry Meline), El-P (born Jaime Meline) became involved with the hip hop culture of New York City at an early age. After being expelled from several schools for problems with authority, Meline decided to whole-heartedly pursue a career in music. At his 18th birthday party, he met Mr. Len, whom he had hired as a DJ for the night. The two quickly became friends and formed Company Flow in 1992. They released their first vinyl single, "Juvenile Techniques", in 1993. Bigg Jus later complemented the group and in 1996 the trio released their debut EP, Funcrusher. Subject to a major label bidding war after the success of the EP, Company Flow waited until they could get a contract on their own terms. They eventually signed to Rawkus Records, and released their debut full-length album, Funcrusher Plus (1997), which is now widely recognized as one of the most ground-breaking and influential alternative hip hop albums of all time. After an instrumental album called Little Johnny From the Hospitul: Breaks & Instrumentals Vol.1 (1999), also on Rawkus, disagreements between El-P and the label lead to Company Flow leaving Rawkus. El-P then decided to start his own record label, Definitive Jux, and because of critically acclaimed albums like Cannibal Ox's The Cold Vein (produced by El-P) and Aesop Rock's Labor Days, the label quickly rose to prominence. Company Flow (now comprised of only El-P and Mr. Len) dissolved amicably in 2001 and the following year El-P released his debut solo album, Fantastic Damage, to wide critical acclaim. In 2004, El-P collaborated with The Blue Series Continuum for a jazz-fusion album entitled High Water, which received very favorable reviews from both the hip-hop and jazz worlds, as well as from more mainstream critics independent of both scenes. El-P's second proper studio album, I'll Sleep When You're Dead, was released on March 20 2007. It generally received very favorable reviews and became El-P's most commercially successful album to date, peaking at #78 on the U.S. Billboard 200. El-P has been involved in at least two notable hip hop feuds (or "beefs"): one with anticon. rapper Sole, in which El-P incorporated a taped telephone conversation that took place with Sole into his song. The second involved Boston rapper Esoteric of the group 7L & Esoteric. This feud included various Definitive Jux artists and members of the Demigodz. El-P has contributed productions and guest raps to albums by DJ Krush, Aesop Rock, Murs, Cage, Mr. Lif, Prefuse 73, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Mike Ladd, The High and Mighty, Aceyalone, Atmosphere, and Techno Animal. He collaborated with Alec Empire on the first Handsome Boy Modeling School album and with Cage and Chino Moreno on the second. He was selected to work on Rage Against the Machine frontman Zach de la Rocha's solo album (which never materialized). El-P also provided the soundtrack for the graffiti film Bomb the System.[2][3]
Style
As a rapper, El-P's style can be characterized by his dense, aggressive, and verbose attacks, which include notable use of metaphor, science fiction and fantasy themes and references, and associative word play. El-P is a great fan of science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, and many of Dick's themes, such as paranoia and questions about the nature of reality, feature in El-P's work. Regardless of this sophistication, he does not eschew traditional hip hop subject matter, a description which would fit equally well with several of his colleagues. As a producer, Meline is notable for his innovative mix of bleak futurism and low fidelity sounds. His dense, claustrophobic sounds are strongly influenced by Public Enemy's production team, The Bomb Squad. El-P has worked with free jazz pianist Matthew Shipp, a fan of El-P's music. In an interview with Shipp, Meline stated:
| “ | First and foremost, I wanted to do it because it scared the shit out of me ... And when I get offered the chance to be involved with something that scares me, I usually do it, because I'm trying to learn, I'm trying to understand music as much as I can, to become a better musician in general and work in different capacities. | ” |
El-P has done some work as a DJ. In November 2004, he spun alongside Peanut Butter Wolf, owner of Stones Throw Records at a small club named Sonotheque in Chicago. Also, in the summer of 2005, at the Intonation Festival hosted by Pitchfork Media El-P did a short DJ set alongside Yo La Tengo member James McNew, both denizens of the same apartment complex in Brooklyn.
Solo discography
Albums
| Album cover | Album information |
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El-P Presents Cannibal Oxtrumentals
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Fantastic Damage
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Fandam Plus: Instrumentals, Remixes, Lyrics & Video
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High Water
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Collecting the Kid
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I'll Sleep When You're Dead
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Mixtapes
- Weareallgoingtoburninhell (Definitive Jux - 2003), A limited release only sold at shows and was said to have been recorded by the New York native shortly after September 11.
Singles
- "Stepfather Factory" 12" (Definitive Jux - 2001)
- "Dead Light" / "Train Buffer" El-P/Aesop Rock Split 12" (Chocolate Industries - 2002)
- "Deep Space 9mm" / "Tuned Mass Damper" 12" (Definitive Jux - 2002)
- "Dead Disnee" / "Dead Weathermen" 12" (Definitive Jux - 2002)
- "Lazerfaces' Warning (RJD2 remix)" / "Squeegee Man Shooting (Original Version)" 12" (Definitive Jux - 2002)
- "Truancy" 7" (Definitive Jux - 2002)
- "Sunrise Over Bklyn" 10" (Thirsty Ear - 2003)
- "Jukie Skate Rock" / "Constellation (Remix)" 12" (Definitive Jux - 2004)
- "Everything Must Go" 12" colored vinyl (Definitive Jux - 2006)
- "Smithereens" / "The Overly Dramatic Truth" 7" colored vinyl (Definitive Jux - 2007)
References
- ^ allmusic ((( El-P > Biography ))). All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2007-10-04.
- ^ El-P Biography at DefinitiveJux.net (old) (2002). Retrieved on 2007-04-07.
- ^ El-P Biography at DefinitiveJux.net (current) (2007). Retrieved on 2007-04-07.
External links
- El-P at Worlds Fair
- Definitive Jux - Official Website
- Definitive Jux - Bio
- El-P's Management team - World's Fair
- El-P at MySpace
- El-P's iMeem page with streaming audio & video
- Track listing for rare lp Weareallgoingtoburninhell
- The Onion AV Club Interview
- The Village Voice interview
- Pitchfork Media Interview
- Mesh Magazine Interview
- El-P video interview from GermanRhymes.de
- A Conversation with El-P from Oh Dang! Magazine by James Monroe Adams IV and Photo by Gretchen Robinette
- El-P review from G-wie-Gorilla.de
- SuicideGirls Interview with El-P
[[:Image:|El-P - EMG]] [[Image:|noicon]]
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[[:Image:|El-P - Smithereens]] [[Image:|noicon]]
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