Show Preview
Time Out Chicago
May 2005
Hip hop thrives on the excitement of visceral, spur-of-the-moment freestyle rapping—but few groups improvise a whole set the way locals Modill did at the Empty Bottle in May opening for DJ Spooky. When showtime arrived and a guest MC never showed up—making the set list and the vinyl in DJ K-Kruz’s record crate worthless—Modill still managed to deliver a solid set, with K-Kruz scratching new songs into existence and rapper Racecar dutifully following his lead.
It’s a feat the North Side duo is built to do. Racecar has a smooth, focused and flexible delivery that exhibits a visceral, spur-of-the-moment freestyle rapping Dan the Automator-type drawl, and K-Kruz, who was previously a drummer in some short-lived local funk groups, relentlessly remixes each track he touches, cobbling together broken beats and spacey samples. It all adds up to a flowing, futuristic sound—imagine a toned-down version of Antipop Consortium.
The duo’s creative restlessness places it in other good company alongside many other up-and-coming North Side hip hop artists, like Single Minded Pros and Chester Copperpot. K-Kruz has already produced tracks for the relentless rapper Diverse and Modill has also worked with crosstown Chicago rappers like Longshot and Thaione Davis. On Friday 8, Modill (opening for Detroit MC and Eminem favorite Royce Da 5’9” and Chicagoan Psalm One, among others) should preview tracks from its forthcoming full-length debut, Midnight Green. It’s a shame this hip hop showcase is stuffed into the smokey Abbey Pub, because the jazzy, shuffling beats dropped by this crew would set a sublime mood at any early evening block party.