Though local bills featuring both indie-rock bands and hip-hop acts aren't quite the novelty they were 10 or 15 years ago, they're still one of those phenomenons that makes the city's music scene beam with pride. Talk to enough musicians about why they like playing in Milwaukee, and inevitably at least a few of them will point to cross-genre bills as an example of how friendly, varied and open-minded the city's scene is. Yet for as often as indie acts and hip-hop acts cross paths on stage these days, those shared shows rarely if ever spur any greater collaboration. So Soul Low's new single with WebsterX, “Heard It All Before,” is truly a rare event: one of the city's most exciting new indie bands, working in conjunction with one of its most exciting new rappers. This kind of thing doesn't happen every month around here.
And there's good reason for that, of course: It's hard to pull off. Even the best intentioned rock/rap collaborations tend to turn out tacky and ill-fitting at best, or awkwardly aggressive at worst. Soul Low and WebsterX have avoided that trap, and that's no small feat. What's remarkable about "Heard It All Before" is how in sync they are with each other. Soul Low's best songs already have a slightly schizophrenic quality to them, so WebsterX's verse fits the song's segmented seamlessly. And instead of dropping the typical hit-and-run guest bars, WebsterX approaches his verse like he's a member of the band, even transforming his flow in its final stretch to mirror the sputtering, disjointed (and decidedly un-hip-hop-like) feel of Soul Low's music. Rock/rap collabs rarely feel this natural.
You can stream the tense video for "Heard It All Before" below, and read an interview with Soul Low's Sam Gehrke about the track and the group's upcoming EP Kind Spirit (out Jan. 3) at Impose Magazine.
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