The Effin' Sumbodies - Cactus Stew

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The Effin' Sumbodies - Cactus Stew

Written by Administrator

Tuesday, 09 September 2008 13:50

Putting together a group album is hard fucking work. It is a long tedious process that often times end unsuccessfully for a lot of aspiring Hip Hop factions out there. Relationships are tested as well as patience as creative energies are combined to create a better project.

The Effin' Sumbodies, out of Tucson, Arizona, cook up a banger of an album with "Cactus Stew", a ensemble of neck breaking beats and on point lyrics and rhymes schemes. Led by Hip Hop Veteran James Ciphurphace, The Effin Sumbodies are a mixture of some of the Southwest most talented Hip Hip Artists. Including up and coming emcees Lee Hybrid, Scripts G.O.D. and Diggstown Thompson. Cactus Stew is soundscaped by 2 of New Mexico's Finest Scorpioflo and Aelius Heroin, as well Phoenix's Quaddafi and
Tucson's Philly mumblez and Diggstown Thompson, who all provided a soul yet aggressive sound for ES to rock over. Phoenix's Dj Grapla brings dope scratches and cuts to add and extra level to the project.

When the Sumbodies get together on their group tracks they are unstoppable. On The Anthem "Our City" ES makes claim to their turf over a nicely flipped Gun and Roses Sample provided by Scorpioflo. On "Movin' the Continent" the Team explains their plans for the next generation Hip Hop takeover. "The Stew" explains in details their recipe for creating the ever-so tasty Cactus Stew.

While the group tracks are well done, it's the solo tracks that left me impressed. On "Pen to Paper" Lee Hybrid steps into the spotlight and delivers a potent track over some jazzy, yet aggressive production. The beautiful and soulful track "Tragedy" featuring Simone Hines shows how much range ES has a team. Diggstown Thompson, with his grimey yet digestible cadence, delivers two neck breaking tracks on "Drift" and "Lost It" propelling him on my personal list of favorite Arizona Emcees. "Make Everything" by James Ciphurphace is a soul drenched song with a soundscape provided by Quaddafi.

With an abundance of talented artists, ES is a force to be reckoned with. I would really like to see solo projects develop from certain artists, particularly Lee HyBrid and Diggstown Thompson. Hopefully this will materialize in the near future.

This Album provides a pretty solid blueprint for how to put together a awsome group album. In the future, however, I would like to see less Ciphurphace (who is clearly the leader of this project) not because he isn't talented but because his over-bearing presence gives the album the feel of "ciphurphace and the Effin Sumbodies" instead of just the Effin Sumbodies. Ciphurphace could've cut 2 or 3 of the tracks that he is on and saved them for his next album. This also would've made the album a little more easier to absorb overall. since it does clock in at 21 tracks.

Cactus Stew is a good cross reference for the sound that AZ underground Hip Hip is trying to provide. This is CD is a must have in your collection if you are AZ hip Hop fan....especially if you like James Ciphurphace. His introduction of the ES family gives us a good indication that southwest hip hop has a very bright future ahead.