It Could Happen To You! 'Them That's Not' Beat Deconstruction

J-Live - 'Them That's Not'
taken from The Best Part (Triple Threat, 2001)

Eddie Russ - 'All But Blind'
taken from Fresh Out (Jazz Master, 1974)

Man, the sibling rivalry must have been a bitch in the Philips' household in Mt. Vernon back in the day. Although older brother Pete is by far the more prominent and accomplished beatmaker, it would be a serious fallacy to overlook the work of his younger sibling Gregory (Grap Luva), who despite a considerably quieter and less widely acknowledged career behind the boards has at times demonstrated a proficiency in hip hop production skills that matches even the Olympic heights of his brother. Perhaps more well known for his rhymes than his beats, Grap's most high profile appearance in the annals of hip hop history must surely be on INI's Center Of Attention LP, an album that doesn't seem to me to receive the full credit that it deserves. However, he's also built a career in production, and although its contents are nowhere near as prolific as his sibling's, there are still some serious gems that establish him as an artist of serious quality who has at times been able to step out of the significant shadow cast over him by the Chocolate Boy Wonder.

When I arrived in Bristol in 2000, the hip hop scene was thriving. On an almost weekly basis I was able to catch some incredible live hip hop that sadly doesn't make its way here anymore, indicative of both a change in focus in the local scene as well as on a much wider scale. During one such occasion at a Pharcyde gig their DJ span a tune in the warm-up session that literally blew me away. Increasing in tempo over the course of the first minute, the song then took on a whole new sense of being as a slammin' drum track and bass were introduced: I was sold. After animated discussions with friends I discovered that the song was called 'Them That's Not' by an artist who I had previously not heard of called J-Live. It remains to this day one of my favourite beats of all time.

Grap turns to Eddie Russ's 'All But Blind' track from his Fresh Out LP released in 1974 for his sample fix here, ignoring the lead band member's electric piano contributions to the song in favour of Larry Nozero's sax part found at the 0.13 mark. The six descending notes that eventually rise up to settle into the groove after this initial flurry of activity form the backbone of Grap's composition on 'Them That's Not', a wonderfully constructed beat that is both original and executed with devastating effect. The rising and falling tempo throughout the song matches J-Live's cautionary tale of the pitfalls that lie in wait for the MC who allows success to go to his head too quickly, and it is this coherence of lyrical content and beat that make the song such an undeniable success.

The song is littered with favourite moments for me, but there are subtleties to the beat's construction that particularly stand out. The way the rumbling bassline drops at 0.57 and teases you before the introduction of the neck-snapping initial snare hit at 1.00; the high hats dropping out of the mix at 3.09 as the song begins its gradual descent in tempo only to be reintroduced six seconds later at half the pace; the steadily growing volume of J-Live's scratching as the song builds again from 4.00 until the final drop at 4.16. It is this attention to detail combined with the less-than-fussy final product that has made it a staple in my hip hop canon.

Although Grap will never fully detach himself from his position as younger brother to Pete Rock, this is due to the latter's incredible successes rather than any shortcomings on his own part. Perhaps in another lifetime and with a less high profile sibling it would have been Grap who could have become a true hip hop sensation, but as it stands, he will remain a producer who has little fame beyond the more discerning fans of the genre. Credit where it's due: 'Them That's Not' proves that Gregory Philips can make moves with the best of them.