DeeJay Punk-Roc

By tony carnevale Catalyst

Send comments to: catalyst@wildcat.arizona.edu

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat

ChickenEye

(Independiente Ltd.)

Instrumental hip-hop is rarely successful. Without the focus and intensity possible with lyrics, turntable gimmicks tend to get repetitive and bland all too quickly. ChickenEye, however, is brilliant.

DeeJay Punk-Roc, a Brooklyn native whose real name is a mystery, keeps things interesting by varying not only his style, but the patterns within each song. The beats are ever-changing, and the tracks actually deserve to be listened to in their entirety. Roc employs both the booty-shakin' elements of hip-hop and the intellectual sound-collage of Negativland to masterful, terribly listenable effect.

Perhaps more importantly, he's got a sense of humor. There's a self-conscious smirk behind the fuzz-bass and frenetic Miami jiggling on "All You Ladies," a knowing wink underneath the vocal samples on "I Hate Everybody." Punk-Roc's better-known, less-entertaining peers, like DJs Krush and Shadow, could take a lesson from him: if you want to communicate "important" messages, don't make bad hip-hop; write bad poetry. Punk-Roc hijacks the technological trappings inherent in the medium of hip-hop and puts them to hilarious postmodern use. Screw this "swing-dancing" fad - if anyone was offering booty-shakin' lessons, ChickenEye just might convince me to enroll.