Basehead (known in Europe as dc Basehead) is a hip hop group headed by Michael Ivey, a native of Maryland, United States. Playing a cut-and-paste combination of rap, R&B, reggae, rock and funk, the Basehead sound has been loosely categorized as both "slacker rap" and "intelligent hip-hop".
Biography
The group chiefly comprises mainman Michael Ivey (b. 5 February 1968, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; vocals, guitar, writer, producer), who is joined (originally for touring purposes only) by DJ Unique (b. Paul Howard), guitarist Keith Lofton (b. 9 May 1967, Washington, USA), drummer Brian Hendrix (b. 29 July 1968, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA) and bass player Bill Conway (b. 29 November 1967, Washington, USA).
A student of film at Howard University, Ivey recorded Basehead's debut album, Play With Toys (1992, 1992 in music), on his basic home set-up with minimal help from Hendrix and Howard. Originally released by the small independent concern Emigre in 1991, the album became a critical success, garnering attention in both the USA and Europe, and subsequently became a college radio hit.
Ivey assembled a band (primarily utilizing his touring band's abilities) and released the follow up album Not in Kansas Anymore in 1993 to a mixed response.
The following year, Ivey released the debut album by his collective B.Y.O.B. project on Rykodisc, but by this time he had begun to fall foul of the critics. The Christian-influenced Faith album followed in 1996, with In The Name Of Jesus appearing in 1998. 2002 marked a partial return to form with dc, which retained Ivey's religious slant but delivered a significantly more listener friendly experience.On his fifth album as Basehead and third album as a Christian, with personnel: Michael Ivey (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion, programming); Keith Lofton (guitar); Bill Conway (bass); Jay Nichols (drums); Pete Van Allen (drums, percussion, programming); Aaron Burroughs (percussion); CLarence Greenwood (turntables). Principally recorded at Recording Arts, Virginia. Michael Ivey swings away from the hermetic, electronic landscapes of 1998's In the Name of Jesus, but not his simultaneously insistent and vague system of belief. Percussionists Pete Van Allen and Jay Nichols pour on most of the instrumental snap, together and apart, with Van Allen hitting hard, crisp, and a little behind the beat (think John Bonham growing a funk sensibility), and Nichols with a slightly lighter, swing-touched feel. Ivey encloses an admonition from Matthew 6:24 against serving "both God and money," and a few tracks touch on this idea in unique ways -- "Sold Out" translates as ridding oneself of materialism for enlightenment, while the protagonist of "Walking" finds himself on an unsettling stroll through hallucinatory terrain of consumerist confusion. Ivey's metaphorical imagery informs, and somewhat offsets, his inevitable recapitulation to the Almighty. "Pink Eyed Girl" is a Jesus-free, affectionate portrait of an ideal mate who may or may not exist outside the tale-spinner's mind's eye (another surrealistic touch; a pink-eyed girl would suffer from either conjunctivitis or albinism). "Respect" bears no relation to Aretha Franklin or Otis Redding, except that Ivey slyly assumes the persona of black consciousness throughout history, from the pyramids through slavery to, "I taught your king Elvis how to have some soul/And I gave birth to a child called rock & roll." One or two tracks jut on past their vocal portions like soundtrack music to a movie listeners can't see (or are meant to create with their own eyes), but on the whole the mastermind's unique combination of the whisper and the guttural, his effective use of subtly shifting patterns inside a repeating framework, and his talented co-conspirators lift DC into distinction and miles in some direction or other from any stereotyped Christian rock bin. ~ Andrew Hamlin, All Music Guide
