Bhood: The Album, Vol. 1

Bhood: The Album, Vol. 1
Label: Bollyhood
Length: LP
Rated: NONE
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Bhood: The Album, Vol. 1
The notion of desi hip-hop might be confusing to some people, but for a number of socio-diasporic reasons that have no place in a short CD review, suffice it to say that South Asian kids in America and the U.K. haven’t let Jay-Z’s jacking of Panjabi MC go unreciprocated. This 14-track compilation from New Yorker Ashlene Nand’s Bollyhood label brings together rappers and singers of South Asian origin in a way that’s completely devoid of the exotica trappings that allowed so many second-rate ‘tablatronicâ?� artists to slip into snoozy nothingness. Built on the pulsing, forward-moving percussive elements that define bhangra, but with a complete devotion to hip-hop’s verse-driven intensity and super-confident posturing, the artists here are brash and bold and not the slightest bit interested in fitting into the convenient stereotypes that so often plague contemporary music with South Asian connections. While their attitude may make some of them their parents’ worst nightmare, the diverse and powerful new urbanism they represent is a peek into the future.

This article appears in May 10-16, 2006.