BeatTips MusicStudy: Marco Polo and Ruste Juxx Deliver Hardcore Rap with “Nobody”
With “Nobody,” Marco Polo and Ruste Juxx Prove They are Indeed Somebody Worth Paying Close Attention To
| By AMIR SAID (SA’ID) |
The way some people tell it, classic creative, “meat and bones” hip hop/rap is dead. Or that the “punch-you-in-the-gut” beat style is no longer in existence. Wrong. On both counts. Here with a joint that has seemingly come out of nowhere, Marco Polo and Ruste Juxx are demonstrating hip hop/rap’s most hard-hitting formula: tuff beats and street-rumble rhymes.
Anchored around a pulsating, piano-led riff and a milky, heavyweight bass line, the groove that beatmaster Marco Polo cooks up is soulfully energetic and thoroughly hypnotic. For the drums, Marco goes with a ratchet-like, syncopated snare that jukes and jabs, while the bottom-fed kick raps through the track like a battering ram knocking on a medieval castle entrance. And for good measure, Marco peppers the entire drum framework with 1/8 hi-hat hits that shuffle and swing in its own rhythm.
As for Ruste Juxx on the rhyme, Brooklyn-bred flow is front and center. Each line of every rhyme is delivered with the confidence of a pound-for-pound best rated boxer. Juxx doesn’t just drop lines; instead, he spits them out with the arrogance and bravado of someone who brandishes razors under his tongue. And while the harshness of his classic New York rasp is ever apparent, the dexterity and overall polish of his rhyme skills is hard to ignore.
The music and video below is presented here for the purpose of scholarship.
Marco Polo and Ruste Juxx – “Nobody”
