They are snarky, focused, silly,
sarcastic, irreverent, creative masterminds.
Beat-based pop crew LEN is anything
but straight. In a world where Busta Rhymes can fly and Marilyn Manson
leads an army of bitter fifteen-year-olds, LEN's Work Group debut reflects
an attitude that has long disappeared in this industry. Drawing its inspiration
from juice commercials to the Juice Crew, You Can't Stop The Bum Rush,
is a fun trip of old-school hip-hop, electronic machinations, and bastard
beats.
Where most albums today follow a standard
formula for success, You Can't Stop The Bum Rush defies convention, creating
a musical hybrid that transcends genres. From the candy-coated ultra pop
of the group's first single "Steal My Sunshine," also featured on the "GO"
soundtrack, German-language electro-plink "The Hard Disk Approach," loathe
song "Big Meanie," the romantic soul of "Junebug," to the jurassic old
school-stylings of "Cryptik Souls Crew," LEN travels across the musical
spectrum while remaining introspective. It's a headphone album and party
album, all in one.
Built by The Burger Pimp, his sister
Sharon, D. Rock, Planet Pea aka Kudu5, DJ Moves and Canada's own Drunkness
Monster with ancient tools in their secret laboratory in the heart of Canada,
You Can't Stop The Bum Rush is an album that is innovative and insane,
catchy and confounding. It was mixed by the Dust Brothers' John King (Beastie
Boys, Hanson, Beck) in Los Angeles. The one track that wasn't, "Feelin'
Alright," was engineered by John X (Ice Cube, Korn, Dave Navarro). The
crew was assisted by DJs Buck65 and Mr. Dibbs (named one of 1999's Top
Ten turntablists in the world by SPIN magazine), and employed the vocal
chords of the diabolical Biz Markie (Beautiful Day/Man Of The Year), Kurtis
Blow (Cold Chillin') and glam of Poison clan member C.C. DeVille (Feelin'
Alright).
LEN was born in 1991 out of Ontario,
Canada. The Burger Pimp and Sharon initially formed as a noise-driven punk-pop
group while honing their beat-making skills with longtime friends/musicians
on the East Coast of Canada. From 1992 to 1996 LEN would release one EP
and two albums on their own label. Releasing 1996's Get Your Legs Broke,
with innovative indie self-directed videos for "Smarty Pants" and "Trillion
Days," they continued mining hip-hop grooves on the side and releasing
other hip-hop acts on The Burger Pimp's own Four Ways To Rock label. "We
sold 10,000 to 15,000 every time we released a record," The Burger Pimp
reveals. Such success from the other side of the contractual line had them
medium-rarin' to postpone their behind the mic experience in favor of full-time
label minding.
As LEN's sound evolved, so did its
crew. Merging with their eastern partners in rhyme, the very definition
of the group changed. With its "anything goes" philosophy, the group thought
nothing of phoning up their hero Biz Markie (from whom D Rock got his name)
to appear on "Beautiful Day" and "Man Of The Year", nor Kurtis Blow for
"Cold Chillin'." It incorporated Toronto's Faith Chorale gospel choir and
Vancouver rapper Moka Only on "Crazy 'Cause I Believe (Early Morning Sunshine),"
Toronto University horn and keyboard players on "Junebug" and samples from
a Spanish children's album on "Hot Rod Monster Jam."
"All we wanted to do was make clear
from beginning to end that all our influences for the past 20 years (since
beats were made) are shown on this record," says The Burger Pimp. "No matter
what happens in this record -- hard shit, choir shit, old-school shit -
it's all good."
