For many hip-hop purists, there is a particular sound they have grown accustomed to hearing. Outside of this small box they will not consider anything hip-hop. However, like all other forms of art, hip-hop is about expression. An unfortunate side affect of putting hip-hop into a box is often the penchant for those who feel as outsiders to posture and appropriate the culture from which the music originated. Then there are those who understand the necessity for originality and diversity in the genre, that is where Tim Fite comes in.

I’ll be honest, when I first saw a picture I wondered what this corny looking white boy could possibly know about hip-hop. Then I listened to 2 Minute Blues and wondered if the person who recommended I listen was suffering from genre confusion. With its blues guitar and slight honky tonk sounds, I was convinced there was nothing hip-hop about Tim Fite whatsoever. I did like You’ve Been Warnedand several other songs on the album, but hip hop it was not.

Then there came Over the Counter Culture, a sharp departure from Fite’s previous releases and all of the markings of someone fed up with popular culture. By no means a great emcee, Fite’s greatest strengths are in effectively poking fun at the formula that has become the norm for all things mainstream. I’ve Been Shot is a parody on rappers wear bullet holes like badges of honor in hopes of improving their street credibility. Camouflage satirically examines camo fashion calling it a “fashion statement from a fascist nation.”

Camo on my beans
Camo on my jeans
Camo on my Land Rover
Camo on my scene…

It seems like this camouflage is camouflaging kings
Posing as presidents, camouflagin’ the evidence
That the Patriot Act is tapping every phone in your residence…

The title track Over the Counter Culture is a statement about how pop-culture and mainstream mass media is another way to sedate the people. “It’s good for business,” Fite notes, for everyone to be lulled into a stupor with crappy music, false politics, effective marketing and everything else that can be considered an opiate of the masses . The song is driven by a soldier beat and the chorus in which his voice drips with sarcasm and disdain:

This one goes out to all my peoples with addictions
Fightin’ the fight against the men who write prescriptions…
We, over the counter culture getting’
Over the counter culture, getting’
Over the counter

While at first Tim Fite had to grow on me, I have learned to appreciate his genre range, wittiness and biting sense of humor. For me, there is little better than discovering an underground artist with substance and originality, even if his style is slightly off beat. Fite further sweetens the pot by making two of his three albums available for free download on his website! Check him out and come back to let me know what you think.

Check out more artist profiles from Listen In.

© Kimberlee Morrison 2008 for Listen In. Some rights reserved.

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