Meet... Breakdown by Julie Garisto
For Breakdown, hip-hop is more than just beats and battles.
Breakdown (a.k.a. Ryan McGown)
Age: 28
Influences: Common, Andre from Outkast and Black Thought from the Roots
Day job: Electrician
Class is in session: Breakdown's new CD, Social Studies, features a scholastic theme. It's designed to look like a schoolbook, with a dictionary photographed behind the artwork. The track listings are printed like entries in a glossary, including pronunciations and definitions. Breakdown's life lessons are never heavy-handed nor do his words betray the rhythmic flow, enhanced by fluid and cleverly crafted wordplay.
His peeps "are everything": A collage of snapshots in the liner notes reveals the importance of loved ones in Breakdown's life. There are pictures of friends, family and most prominently, his late mother, Amber McGown, to whom the CD is dedicated.
Topics: He goes from talking about his rhymes, to the quagmire in Iraq, to a narrative about a young, struggling couple to the poignant and redemptive story about the day his mother died (Good Friday).
He's got the funk: "My favorite kind of music is funk," Breakdown says. "I love funk music and soul music. You can hear it in my music."
Early years: "I spent my formative years in Japan, Yokota Air Force Base, outside Tokyo. When I was little I used to breakdance, and I wasn't that great at it. I didn't start rapping till I was 17, in the suburbs of Brandon, Riverview area. For a long time, I was really introverted about it. No one heard me except close friends. I eventually started going to a lot of open mikes. That's how I started meeting people and getting better at live performance."
Lover, not a fighter: "(For) a lot of cats, you gotta battle to prove yourself. I never was really about battles because I don't like to make fun of people." (laughs)
Career jumpstarter: "DJ Blenda - He's the one person who set it off for me."
His right-hand man: "Ranmecca - He's my DJ when I do live shows."
The producers: "Surreal produced most of the songs on the CD. His beats have a rawer sound. They're very boom-BAT, boom-BAT. He uses a lot of funk, as well, and jazz. He was the first person I was getting beats from for quite a long time. Ranmecca brings a very soulful sound, and Slopfunkdust - his sound is very soulful but in a more emotional way. The track he produced (Dave and Sheila) ended up being a love story. (New York producer) Marco Polo, who's doing big things, produced a beat that's really catchy (on Perpetratin), definitely one I'd push as the single. Dutchmassive's beats have a swing to them ... and Mudd Buddah is very symphonic. His sound is big and orchestrated, with violins and cellos."
Surprise appearance: "Effex - I call him a beatboxer, but he calls himself a 'vocal percussionist'" (laughs)
Ultimate Praise: "I play in front of crowds that aren't hip-hop crowds, and people are saying, 'I don't even like hip-hop, but I was feeling what you were doing.' To me that's the greatest compliment I could receive. Me making good hip-hop is a given, but that lets me know I'm making good music."
Guilty pleasure: "I eat way too much chocolate."
Rating: 4 out of 5
Southeastern Hip-Hop
It's not that I don't like the music, because the beats are often pretty tight. It's just that most of the songs consist of the same simple four-line verse throughout the entire song. And that's just not lyrically pleasing to me.
I guess that would make it ironic that perhaps the best underground lyricist of the year thus far resides in none other than the city of Tampa. Breakdown's "Social Studies" displays a keen lyrical wit that is unlike most of what you hear coming out of the South. His slow yet articulate flow lays the backdrop for an exciting combination of heartfelt storytelling, imparted common wisdom and clever yet battle-ish verbal wordplay. And the album, though dedicated to and revolving around the oft-discussed tragedy of his mother's untimely passing, maintains a vibe of uplifting positivity and motivation. It is easily among the best underground releases of the year, and has the potential to put the city of Tampa and the newly-formed Saving Grace Records on the map.
Humility in Hip-Hop
If I were to perhaps pick out the number one thing that disgusted me about mainstream hip-hop, it would have to be its inability to be humble. Since hip-hop seems to have been formed out of a necessitated masculine ideology, cultural participants to this day often feel the need to brag and boast, flash their material possessions, put people down and act hard all the time. As if somewhere along the line, it became uncool to be humble, speak the truth, show one's real feelings or demonstrate any victimization to the pain and fear we experience in our daily lives. As if we somehow started to believe that there is nothing greater than us.
Breakdown's "Social Studies" is filled with just this type of introspective lyrical thoughts and attacks, ranging in topics about life, love and the culture and business of hip-hop. So check out Breakdown and Saving Grace Records You might just find an alternative to that Floridian hip-hop. Peace.
Rating: 4 out of 5
There isn't a wealth of underground hip-hop in Tampa - actually, there's very little. However, Breakdown has remained patiently under the radar for quite some time, until now. With his new album "Social Studies", he brings smooth rhymes, a clean style, and fresh beats (provided by a diverse array of talent) to the plate, and might just put Tampa on the map for great hip-hop. The album itself travels from tone to tone, with fluid tracks and different tempos. It's easy to listen to and hard to take out of your CD player. "Social Studies" drops this month, and can be found at most local music shops. It can also be found at any of Breakdown's live shows. For more information and to find show listings, visit www.myspace.com/breakdoogle.
Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5
Breakdown's impeeccable flow - smart, clear, deliberate lines that simultaneously recall Gang Starr's Guru and the Native Tongue scene's more straightfoward MCs - is immediately gratifying to anybody who grew up listening to the emergent alt-rap styles of the early '90s. Here, his liquid, low-end lines mesh seemlessly with some top-notch production from several gifted Bay area producers. Surreal, DutchMassive, and Ranmecca helm the best and most appropriate foundations for Breakdown's largely positive and often smoothly funny rhymes on "Social Studies". "The Path Set Before Me", "The Spot", and "The Turning Point" are standouts, but everything here is unbelievably good, with SlopFunkDust, Marco Polo, and the rapper himself turning in above-average beats.
Rated number 5 on HipHopLinguistics.com's list of the Top 10 underground Hip Hop albums of 2006.
Sparks definitely fly whenever Breakdown, a.k.a. Ryan McGown, takes the mic.
That could be because he works as an electrician by day. Or it could be because the fluid and cleverly crafted lyrics behind his funky, rhythmic flow deal with everything from the war in Iraq to the poignant and redemptive story about the day his mother died.
"A lot of what I say is very honest, and I'm not afraid to show weakness," he says. "A lot of people respect and relate to it because I'm not putting on some kind of image, like I'm super macho and I have all these women. I'm not trying to overcompensate for anything. I'm just me."
Breakdown's soulful beats have made him a natural to open up at all kinds of shows, from hip-hop, he was recently tabbed to open for De La Soul, to indie rock to metal. This genre flexibility has earned him some unexpected fans. The smooth mixes he drops rhymes on can be credited to Ranmecca, the guy Breakdown calls his right-hand at live gigs.
"A lot of times, I get booked on a bill with a heavy metal band or a lighter rock band or an obscure band whose sound is very far removed from hip-hop, and I end up playing in front of people who are more into indie rock," he says. "A lot of people aren't aware that the type of hip-hop I make even exists."
At the moment, he's working on two follow-ups to last year's LP Social Studies: a straight hip-hop album, and a concept album he says will revolve around women. "Not like in a negative sense, or like every song's going to be a love song or anything like that. But everything will relate to women."
Named one of T.B.T.'s Ultimate Local Bands of 2007. Although he came in 9th place out of 9 slots, Breadown was the only Hip Hop artist in the running and the only artist that wasn't actually a band.
