When you can be both curiously repulsed and regrettably titillated by the musical macabre and lyricism of a particular variety of musicians, then there must be something deeper there. King Gordy and his tag team group The Fat Killhaz (No Type Entertainment) are, when combined, such a quartet.
“We just want to annihilate the rap game,” said Gordy, armed with his signature devilish horned-shaped braids and the biggest superfly red-tinted glasses – so big even Phyllis Diller would salivate.
In the infancy of his 2004 tour with D-12 and Slum Village, 26-year old Gordy and his twenty something year-old crew, gave Milwaukee, Wisconsin a taste of their personalities, music, philosophies and dreams. Gordy himself is the brainchild of himself and of melodically unpredictable and the downright odd like Marilyn Manson, Andre of Outkast and Nirvana, Good Charlotte and Public Enemy. They have given him some of the fuel that propels his musical Hemi engine.
“My ultimate dream is just to get on,” Gordy asserted. His lyrics are not to be confused with the satanic nothingness and devil worshipping commentary on the behalf of some of his peers. Gordy just develops a lucid snapshot of the horrors in a world where God presumably presides.
Songs like Fight, Situations and Nightmares all offer a verbal dissertation on “sex, drugs, rap and rock and roll,” among many other social issues relevant to many. And though relevant, few are willing to candidly “deficate on loose-leaf” (or any other kind of paper) scenes that arise in the depths of crack houses, in the minds of those who painfully, violently use guns to “snap” and the colorless faces of mental illness and physical disabilities.
“If the deaf could hear and the blind could see, would the deaf listen, would blind still peak, in the darkness?” Gordy queried in When Darkness Falls.
But he and The Fat Killhaz are not all without color. The mosaic of shades from the self-proclaimed, “World’s Largest Group” can perhaps best be heard in the ninth song on King Gordy’s project – The Entity. The song, “Fat-tastic 4” is a wonderfully boastful verbal scrapbook of their individual metrical skills.
This super-hero, rather “super villain” tune gives new meaning to the cartoon mantra, “Here we come to save the day.” It is chalked full of lyrical rhyming acrobats, like those from group leader, Fatt Father. He describes himself… “Known to enter a scene without being seen, make you drop your chicken wings – giggle – pick ‘em up and leave.”
Also present and always necessary are the heavy hitting, head-bobbing, hip rocking, throbbing drum-beats that line verses like those from Marvwon. “They call us the fat-tastic when things get drastic, I am in your park sweeping up your pic-a-nic basket…I shift the shape, my shape’ll persist, ‘til you be like damn, what shape is this.” He taunts and teases potential competitors, “Go ahead and try it, the Fat-Four has got your whole crew quiet.”
No, the entire songs’ lyrics won’t be revealed here – just a morsel of the coy creativity in the “tuneful smorgasborg” inherent in their oft-times disconcerting musical meal.
In sharp contrast, they possess a light-hearted, funny and whimsical side that under girds those words. Their playful desire to be viewed by some of their fans, in a different light, is a side of particular interest.
“We want to be looked at as big sex symbols, with the ability to entertain and amaze crowds,” declared Fatt Father, (pronounced Fat Favre) who is the leader of the Killhaz.
He reflected back in time of the “Big is Beautiful” movement of fellow larger-than-life rappers like the Fat Boys, Heavy D and the legendary Biggie (Smalls)!
With a lyrical style that is smooth and soulful, his inspirations, unlike Gordy’s, are of rhythm and blues crooners like Marvin Gaye and Eddie Levert. Their sounds, he said, can be heard emitting from his car speakers at any given time.
“Old music is so deep, so soulful. I am like that,” he said with a voice full of Barry “White-ish-ness.”
There are no self-image problems within this foursome. There is no support group needed or weight loss plans embraced. These giant lyrics are simply invented by giant men, in possession of giant goals, who have giant heads – brains that is – in need of being purged.
Their stage presence and the space they occupy further added a much needed enlightenment to the otherwise heavily laden group, who while focused and honest with their music, don’t take themselves too arrogantly serious.
Marvwon shared an unexpected, more gracious side of the collaboration.
“We put it all in God’s name. We’re not out here selling drugs. We just want to be stars.”
He is also freehearted, giving advice to newcomers in this fleeting entertainment industry.
“Don’t try to be like anyone else out here just because they’re getting praise. You will get praise just from being you,” he counseled.
Shim-e Bango, perhaps the groups most interesting and bow-legged, weighty member, prides himself in just that.
“We love being fat. I think being fat is being sexy. We want to be the next fat phenomenon,” he concluded.
By Yolanda D. White for HipHopHotSpot.Com
