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In the interest of full disclosure, let me say it right up front: yeah, I’m friends with the men of Lord T & Eloise and I even make a guest appearance on their new album, Chairmen of the Bored. However, that being said, if you read this website with any frequency, you know I make a big deal about being very particular about what I write about. I have plenty of friends and acquaintances out there about whom I have never written a single word because of my strong conviction to only write about music that really blows my mind or trends in music that I see as vital to the progression of things. Furthermore, my friends (at least my real friends) will tell you that I’m more critical of their work than anyone. Why? Simple: because if I actually care about you as a person and I know that you value my opinion, what good does it do you for me to want to sit around and bullshit you?
If you’re the kind of person who comes to me for my opinion only because you want to hear someone else tell you how great you are, I don’t want to be bothered with talking to you or talking about you. Ever. The Lord T & Eloise situation is no different for me, and these gentlemen know it all too well. Now if you want to know the story, read it after the jump.
So now let me break it down for you. The Lord T & Eloise package — from their outfits to their sound to their songs themselves — are part novelty and part skill. They give you what you want while giving you what you need, presenting the excesses of the good life through rap music in the most unique possible way: their over-the-top looks and “aristocrunk” sound represent the highest form of satire, rap songs which beg social commentary, creating solid party anthems that glorify the historical ills of excessive wealth and opulence. What your eyes see is the minstrel show, but what you actually get is a rap party extravaganza the likes of which you have never experienced.
By embracing these extremes, Lord T & Eloise remain both heirs to an empire and anomalies in the current climate of “dirty south” rap and hip-hop. Everything about them, their back story, being the wealthiest industrialist rappers in the world, Lord T’s white flowing locks and blue ring, Maurice Eloise XIII’s gold skin and hair curlers, the idiot savant genius of MysterE and the silent strength of DJ Witnesse is intentionally hilarious. You’re supposed to laugh and, at the same time, recognize that these adornments unwittingly speak to the best and worst of class warfare. As party records and hip-hop are want to do, their songs are laced with unbridled misogyny and capitalism throughout every verse. Being haves vs. being have nots is their central theme of Lord T & Eloise, a theme that for some may lead to misunderstandings about class warfare vs. racial divide.
When you combine the songs with Lord T & Eloise’s “rich white guy minstrel show” antics, a secondary message comes through loud and clear from a city as notoriously racially divided as Memphis: we have broken down our barriers so fully that finally, even in the culture of hip-hop, no longer is there merely black and white. The only color that should matter to anyone, Lord T & Eloise would tell you inevitably, is federal green. However, as evidenced by the appearance of Eloise on the Grammy Red Carpet this year, this story has plans to be much bigger than Memphis.
The 20-song CD which got into our hands this weekend is a non-stop party record. It’s not just a smart and accomplished recording by four guys from Memphis. Chairmen of the Bored is filled with the kind of banging bass anthems that you want to rock, whether it’s past the bus stop or through the parking lot at the mall or when you’re pulling up to the valet at Hyde. It’s overwhelming to take notice of the phenomenon swirling around Lord T & Eloise at a time when our country is in such dire shape. No matter how hellish your current situation is, Lord T & Eloise want to give you a chance to escape, to take you on a trip to the good life for a minute and forget about your problems. They want you to get up and shake your ass and laugh and have a good time. This album successfully blurs all the lines between “living the party life” and “being the life of the party”.
With so much tremendous material on one record, it’s almost a greatest hits album by itself. There’s club anthems like “Dance Move (featuring Al Kapone)”, deep funk grooves like “Back From The Business Trip (featuring 8 Ball)”, the M.I.A./Spank Rock/Amanda Blank influenced “Hollywood Stars (featuring Gangsta Boo)” and a slough of comedic skits, guest appearances and tracks that encompass a well-rounded traditional party rap album. The collection is far from run-of-the-mill. It’s truly the kind of record that I can imagine I will hear booming out of car speakers from coast-to-coast.
If the physical appearance of these four guys on stage are at once confusing and, perhaps, laughable, the laughter quickly subsides once they start their show. They give 110% of themselves at every turn, they don’t rely on the gimmickry of their outfits to do the work for them — they give an incredibly physical show full of classic hip-hop braggodocio and style. It’s because of this that Lord T & Eloise have been given the seal of approval for their rhymes and their beats (created by MysterE himself) from several forefathers and bridge builders of Memphis’s rap illuminati. The guest vocal appearances on the new album read like a who’s-who of Memphis artistry: Gangsta Boo (formerly of Three 6 Mafia), 8 Ball (of 8 Ball & MJG), Al Kapone, Kingpin Skinny Pimp and Kinfolk Kia Shine (representatives all of a Memphis “rap mafia” if you will) along with Free Sol, Kaz, and even Cody Dickinson (of North Mississippi All-Stars) give you the sense that Lord T & Eloise are the inheritors of a well-deserved validation for their efforts in a notoriously insulated area of rap music.
From a music business perspective, they have the formula figured out correctly. Like the Beastie Boys themselves, Lord T & Eloise present themselves as three MC’s and one DJ and rap (as the Beasties did early on) about partying, making money and getting women. In other words, it’s not exactly a “new model”, but it is definitely one whose formula for success could only be valid if the people who put it together pull it off effectively. If the best evidence I can present to you is their over-sold show at the Hi-Tone this past weekend (which included crowd-moving appearances of 8 Ball, Gangsta Boo, Kingpin Skinny Pimp, Kaz and Free Sol), it’s clear that Memphis has seen the beginning of yet another phenomenon in the history of hip-hop.
For the record, this story is really writing itself. I’m merely editing it down in my brain, telling you what I see and what I hear. My suggestion? Sit back, relax, and take notes.
DOWNLOAD ALERT: Click here to check out a song from the new album, “Hollywood Stars (featuring Gangsta Boo).
1Minton on Jul 1, 2008 at 5:28 pm:
From the first time I saw their show in Little Rock, I knew they were legit.
I have been an aristocrunkaholic ever since.
Their Rhymes are amazing, and the show is insane!!!
I can’t wait to see them hit it big time
2Elissa on Jul 1, 2008 at 5:58 pm:
I love Lord T and Eloise. I see them every time they come to Nashville, and had a blast watching them at Bonnaroo. I’m really excited at the good press they are receiving, and I can’t wait for everyone to experience Aristocrunk.
3LeaLea on Jul 1, 2008 at 6:14 pm:
this is my first time. it is delightful to be Funked so hard and so well. i cant get Lord T and Eloise out of my head. I want to be covered in Eloise!;} LoveLea
4Lori on Jul 1, 2008 at 7:14 pm:
Tru dat… I love Lord T & Eloise…lately I find myself needing a Lord T & Eloise dose like medicine!!!!!!!!
5Chasity on Jul 1, 2008 at 8:56 pm:
Lord T & Eloise.. is the stuff!!! There is no other way to put it..
6mind.reader on Jul 1, 2008 at 9:09 pm:
i am friends with the band and have to say that the success they have is only the beginning! i haven’t taken the CD out of my car since saturday night. i think it’s this year’s summer album. i agree with you about it sounding like a greatest-hits record. i thought that as i was listening yesterday. a great sophomore release, gentlemen of leisure!
7clobcrush on Jul 21, 2008 at 2:33 pm:
this shit gives memphis a bad name…no soul…just another hipster creation…trend of the summer,,,outfit of the month..talk to me in five years when everybody is tired of the gimmick…at least the beastie boys can play intruments…and they didn’t resort to bullshit costumes…give me something real..
8E.J. on Jul 21, 2008 at 3:01 pm:
How to address this…ok, first off, the principal beat maker is MysterE, a multi-instrumentalist who has played with (and still plays in) a number of Memphis bands. As for the rest of this whatever it is you’re trying to say, Lord T & Eloise is supposed to be FUN. It’s not trying to be deep serious hip-hop, it’s not even pretending to be. But I’m a serious, SERIOUS hip-hop fan from the days of way back and I endorse what they do completely. I guess that makes me some kind of target now, right? Bitch please. Bad for Memphis? I’m sure you think Three 6 Mafia winning an Academy Award was bad for Memphis, too. You probably hate that Hot 107.1 is called “The Station Where Hip-Hop Lives”. I’m sure you only listen to “real hip-hop”. I respect that, we all like what we like. But I don’t roll up to you at Popeye’s and slap a two-piece meal out of your hand just because I’m a vegetarian.
It’s also cool to start shit because if you start some shit, you’re trying to earn some stripes. If you’re already a soldier in the game, why you gotta start some shit to earn some stripes you’ve already got?
Memphis has a lot of amazing hip-hop talent that just hasn’t ever gotten its props outside this area. It’s not like they haven’t tried, you know, or made quality records. But this is a city where 10-15 years ago, everybody was selling the shit out the trunk of their cars trying to just make a dollar. You know, selling shit on corners and oh, by the way, here’s my new album since you’re a good customer and that kind of shit. Now, thanks to the popularity of what we call Dirty South Rap (or crunk or whatever), there’s a few people that have been in the game a long time starting to make it.
Meanwhile, there’s still this community of sick, magic-mouthed traditional hip-hop artists here who can cipher without calculating the seconds it takes to grab the microphone. They’re still not getting theirs. It’s fucked up. It’s wrong. But instead of embracing the legacy that has been created, there’s all this hatred and biting and negativity going on towards the people who got theirs.
See, if you’re getting anywhere at all in this world doing any fucking thing, no matter what it is, someone is going to be there to try and knock you down because they’re fucking pissed off that it wasn’t them. How the fuck can you go through life like that? What’s the fucking point? This time is too precious to waste it trying to debilitate and hate people who get recognized for creating something new and different. We are supposed to just keep creating no matter what.
But the madness of arguing over what is or isn’t good or real or true or false or whatever does nobody any fucking good because, like it or not, someone’s nerve has been touched by whatever we put out there. Lord T & Eloise aren’t the foes of “true hip-hop” or what’s good in Memphis — they’re just doing their thing, having a good time, and people like it. There’s no point in trying to complicate something that really isn’t all that complicated to begin with. Love yourself, be down for yours, get yours, and don’t shit on the front porch of the next man because they got theirs first. Checkers ain’t chess and chess ain’t checkers, feel me? Unity and positivity are the only forces that can create longevity.
Now, back to the deal: Licensed To Ill, I would argue (correctly I might add), is the same kind of album that Chairmen of the Bored is — it’s an extraordinarily fun party rap album. It’s got fucking anthems out the frame on it. It’s a bunch of friends getting together spitting jams that actually are meant to caricature the very people that they’re written about. It shouldn’t appeal to serious hip-hop fans at all — but it’s got to fuck with you that it DOES.
Now, don’t misunderstand me — I’m certainly not saying that Lord T & Eloise are even CLOSE to The Beastie Boys — it’s too early to make that kind of an assessment. I’m comparing the album styles, and it’s a deserved comparison. You haven’t even listened to the shit, so that was obvious before you even started typing.
I’m not dismissing everything the B-Boys have done since then (including disavowing their Licensed to Ill-era personas). But as for this being a hipster creation and a trend of the summer, that’s a pretty thin argument. I suppose you’re against having a good time, too. That’s cool. Keep debating, perpetrating and anticipating, because hating gets you nada.
Oh and about the costumes — the Beastie Boys went on tour opening for themselves as Triphammer back in the day which (if you know your shit) was the B-Boys pretending to be a metal band. Remember when hip-hop used to be fun? Nah you’d never remember that.