Untitled Document

Founder and driving force behind Endemik Music, Scott Da Ros continues to change the sheets and sweep once-bitten crumbs from what seems to be hip hop's death bed. With two 7" singles under his belt, this 15-song album is for all music lovers and it's unlike anything you've heard while sleeping naked under a crow's nest. Wrapped inside are 11 guest rappers, 5 instrumental works, and a beautiful - and sometimes chilling - array of carefully crafted sounds. Please welcome his debut album: "...one kind of dead end."

Without striving toward any particular genre, convention, or rule, every song is independent of all the others while still retaining the same feel. Leading you along the path are his trademarked drum sounds that can make a listener feel at ease with a nail driving through the chest.

Scott Da Ros spends what little creative free time his hectic schedule allows him perfecting and programming the synthetic glitch and static surrounding the ever-elusive "white noise," while seamlessly layering strategically placed drums that often feel off-centered, yet organic. The atmospheric soundscapes surrounding the crashes and chops of the drum hits are equally as important as each vocalist is to this album.

And this ain't no beat-catalog-given-to-a-rapper project. Scott Da Ros called upon his faves (and good friends) of Endemik to help make this album smell as good as the third day of spring. Bleubird makes four appearances with his distinctive style, each line as thunderous as Da Ros' drum kicks, and Tweetch !zown explodes onto the scene with two appearances, flaunting his incredible writing that makes the listener think and rethink. Filkoe176, another member of "Jerk Circuit," attacks "outline of a valentine" with one of today's most unique approaches, staying in synch with the record's innate sense of fresh.

Keeping the roots of Endemik intact, Da Ros' hometown Halifax recruitments, Ghettosocks, Dave Pal, and Apt, remind that the city breeds raw talent. k-the-i??? (Mush) appears twice, including a duet with Apt on "ocean splits in half," a rare case of EPMD meets Battlestar Galactica. Reminiscent of Johnny Cash and June Carter, jdwalker (6months) and Sontiago make their long overdue premier duet on the bluesy "1912 'til infinity." A remake of "humans bury deep" for the full-length serves Sole (Anticon) and Bleubird as the main dish with a side of vocals by Endemik's Skyrider.

Japanese MC, Yskee of Granma Music, drops aggressive and frustrated lyrics to "infinite labyrinth," also featuring Bleubird. One of the most significant songs is found at the album's conclusion: a 19-minute epic entitled "silence + circles," featuring the complementary forces of Tweetch !zown, Bleubird, and k-the-i???.

The method of it all? Each rapper recorded and sent Scott Da Ros a cappella verses riddled with honesty, allowing him to construct the sounds and feelings to envelop them - becoming the setting, props, and plot of each storyteller.

Influenced by the moody weather of Halifax, the hidden rhythms buried under the bustle of buzzing Montreal, Scott Da Ros' unconventional approach buffs the rules sprayed on the crumbling walls of the South Bronx -- goes beyond limits set by the likes of Marl and La Rock. Produced by a true digger of the unique and intimate friend of technology, "...one kind of dead end" insists on keeping the art in rap.