The Egyptian Lover* – You're So Fine

I could pursue this review by sketching interesting points about this work, but I must, of course, make a brief historical introduction to the musical work of Egyptian Lover.

Greg Broussard aka Egyptian Lover, legend of West Coast Hip-Hop and Electro, began his career in 1982 in Los Angeles, California, at a club called Radiotron - the legendary hip-hop spot in LA. Influenced by Kraftwerk and the aesthetic imaginary of the German group, the artist introduced drum machines, vocoders and analog synthesizers in their sonority.

In 1983, for example, the artist composed the soundtrack of the infamous documentary Breaking & Entering, which served as a tool for the diffusion of the hip-hop scene from the west coast to the world, broadcasting artists such as Ice-T, Chris The Glove Taylor (in addition to the Egyptian itself), and emphasizing Popping and Locking dance styles.

In 1984, the artist composed the soundtrack of the television series called "The Pilot", with a soundtrack focused on Electro. The series presented the dance of the moment in the American ghettos, baptized by the media and mass media through the expression "break dance". In the same year, Egyptian Lover released their first album, "On The Line".

The first album brought to life the classic "Egypt Egypt", one of the greatest hits of his career as a producer. He says the recording sounds so good decades later because at the time the engineer in the studio was paid by the hour. The audio engineer spent so much time equalizing each element of each track in order to get more money, that the record sounds clean and so good anyway 35 years later.

Following in the wake of "On The Line" success, "One Track Mind" appeared in 1986, but before that incredible EP, "You're So Fine". This was the first record I got from the Egyptian Lover and, on the other hand, is what sounds best to me, even twenty years after I bought it.Of this EP, only the track "You're so Fine" integrates the album "One Track Mind"; the other three tracks are exclusive to the EP.

Side A rescues the aesthetics of the album "On The Line", following the musical premises of classics like "My House", "Egypt Egypt" and others. Raps short, melodic, with a sensual verve that refers to one of his idols, Prince. However, side B presents a different musical proposal; The first two B-side tracks - "E-Rap" and "Scratch Force One" - bring prologue raps, but they do not have melodies composed of synthesizers. The beats are heavy, dry, followed by scratches and cuts. It sounds really similar to the records from 1986, with Rap, def beats made by drum machine and scratch. The last track on the B side - The Ultimate Scratch II - is more like the Egyptian sounds made on the first album; beat uptempo and fast rap, as well as the track "What Is A DJ If He Cant Scratch."

Curiously, Greg made no more records with an emphasis on Electro Rap like this 1986 EP; he opted to follow a musical line that rescues the aesthetics of the sounds of his first album, that is, he chose a music focused on sonority, the texture element, with more emphasis on programming drum, box and hi-hat timbres through roland 808 and in pleasant melodies composed through analog synthesizers, vocoders, than to follow the musical chain of Electro Rap. Incidentally, the Egyptian Lover is more recognized for the inventive way in which he programs his beats than for the lyrics of his songs. For him, the drum machine Tr-808 is not a mere instrument; is an extension of his personality.

Still on the 808, Egyptian says that the rhythmic clicking sound heard on his tracks, one of his musical signatures, was the result of an accident in the studio. An engineer made a mistake and connected a wrong 808 audio output to the sound table. When he and the audio engineer went on to call and program the 808, they heard a strange noise, but Egyptian became interested in the sonority and asked them to leave it as it was. The noise was then equalized and used as rhythmic element. "It was an accident, but it turned out to be my sound," Egyptian said.

i first heard "you're so fine" (the section from 1:50-2:20 from this 12" mix, ending with the phrase "coz i am the king of ecstasy") used in an old jeff mills radio mix from 1989 back when i was 14 or so in 1998 or 1999 and have been trying to identify that song ever since for almost 15 years, that's how good and catchy it is. i've been getting into a lot of oldschool hip hop and electro recently and accidentaly came across it. so now i can die happy.

the other tracks on this single are more filler to me but still good 80's electro.