No Longer Inna Scope

So ... anyone who's been following Charles Hamilton over his short career had prolly already threw their detective hat on and figured out that he wasn't going to have a smooth go once major label politics got involved. Well, major label politics got involved. And it hasn't been a smooth go. Three months into his self-imposed internet exile, CH has been released from Interscope. Word is that it was mutual thing that's been in the works for a while now, but I couldn't care any less. I just want him to come back to his blog and talk. Regardless of any of that, we were given a gift out of this situation, good or bad.

Charles Hamilton -
This Perfect Life

This is an album I would've preordered on Amazon the very second it was available, but oh well. Given that Interscope decided they weren't gonna release it in any capacity, someone got on their grizzy and leaked it out for public consumption. And it's everything I could have hoped for in a major label, fully-backed project. What started off beautifully in the form of a perfectly conceptualized, funded, and produced video for his buzz single "Brooklyn Girls" has now ended in nothing. But at least now we got what would've been a proud accomplishment for an underground rapper who got his name out there solely by himself, relying on absolutely no one to pave any kind of way for him.

Charles spent years in the studio producing and recording as much music as he could, never settling on anything but fully conceived projects that he wanted his fans to have on a frequently regular basis. He had this philosophy about Sonic the Hedgehog that literally no one could come to grips with. His Charlie Brown-sampling "Stutter" track got the attention of some blogs and put his name in some more peoples' google searches. He was a New Yorker who at one point had been homeless and was once on heroine. His blog was highly personal and provocative, causing him to become an extremely polarizing figure for an up and coming rapper. He appeared on radio stations and would aptly freestyle about anything for way longer than any studio rapper had a right to. He then prepped and promoted his Hamiltonization Process 2008 beyond what anyone could imagine and gave us a brand new album-quality project every two weeks off of a different major hip hop website. He even got on the cover of XXL. His recording methods struck people. He was almost exclusively a sampling producer who had a penchant for a heavily vintage and almost lo-fi sound. His rhymes were crazy out there, often self-deprecating, and he sang heavily on a lot of his choruses even though he'd let everyone know he couldn't sing. Everything about him was historic and impacting to his fans while offsetting and grating to his detractors. But the main thing was that Charles was forcing the world to pay attention as he was going places.

And then a bunch of crap happened. Whether it was his own arrogance and trouble-causing nature that fueled it or simply a mischaracterization by the powers that be and a general misunderstanding from the listening public, Charles' buzz made a turn for the worse. People who seemingly hated him turned out in droves and he quick became an easy hip hop punchline. And then he disappeared. And his infallible idon'tgiveauff attitude, the one thing that had previously always shown through, disappeared with him.

But finally, months and months after waiting, we got the first major finish line that Charles was heading towards all during his short career. We have This Perfect Life, the major label album that was supposed to blow open the iron-clad doors that permanently separated the mainstream and the underground. This musician, who created all of his extensive catalogue for the love of the music and released it for free to anyone who wanted to experience it with him, was finally on the heels of releasing his proper debut. But ya know what? Maybe, for him, that wasn't proper at all. Maybe, just maybe, this is how it shoulda gone down this whole time. In this perfect life.

... but do take my word for it.