Happy 20th Anniversary to Insight’s third studio album The Blast Radius, originally released August 24, 2004.
I have written about my admiration for Boston hip-hop numerous times on this site. The region’s scene has been quietly dominant throughout the 21st century. Ed O.G., one of the city’s preeminent hip-hop architects, has continued to put out consistently dope music for the last quarter century. Mr. Lif, Esoteric, Edan, and Akrobatik are among my favorite emcees still putting in work. Lesser known artists like Dagha and Porn Theater Ushers put out some of my favorite projects of this millennium.
Andre “Insight” Todman, another product of the scene, is one of hip-hop’s vastly unheralded geniuses. The St. Thomas-born, Boston-raised rapper/producer/DJ is talented at everything. He’s a great and evocative emcee and masterful beat creator. He’s highly skilled behind two turntables and has an encyclopedic knowledge of samplers, drum machines, and other “gadgets” used to create hip-hop music. The Blast Radius, his third full-length released 20 years ago, is a work of largely unheralded greatness. It’s one of the best albums of the ’00s and one of the most inventive albums that I’ve heard. When websites create lists like “The Top 100 Underappreciated Hip-Hop Albums,” The Blast Radius should be near the top.
Insight put A LOT of thought into The Blast Radius’ content and construction. For proof of the latter, look no further than the album’s tracklist: When combined, the first letter of each song title spells out the album’s title. Overall, he brings a level of creativity to his craft that is extremely rare, touching on a wide array of topics. In terms of sound, Insight is a sort of hybrid between A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One, Ultramagnetic MCs, and Gang Starr. The beats for The Blast Radius have a jazzier bend, as he uses superior technique to manipulate the source material into both head-nodding and adrenaline pumping grooves. As he proclaims on the project, “Infinite potential keep me climbing to the top / With intricate instrumentals I disguise into a chop.”
The album-opening “Time Frame” demonstrates Insight’s unique approach to the material on The Blast Radius. Insight lays out the history of hip-hop music. But instead of starting in the rec room of a Bronx apartment building at the intersection of Cedar and Sedgewick, he takes things all the waaaaaaaaay back to the late 1850s, when “Leon Scott found a way to rotate a plate on a pin,” then continuing to Thomas Edison’s invention of a way to play back recorded music on a disk. He chronicles the musical evolution and social developments throughout the 20th century that led to hip-hop’s development, to lesser noted important milestones for the genre, such as the first national news story ever broadcast about hip-hop music. The song also features one of the better descriptions of the purpose of rhyming I’ve come across: “We rap when it's hard to speak about things the local news were leaving out.”
Insight contemplates self-improvement on “Evolution.” He recounts his own history, going from an introverted young bedroom producer to earning his license to operate a full studio by the age of 15. He marvels that he went from hating English class to expressing himself through writing, boasting that he now “use(s) speech to bust rhymes through a concrete wall.”
Insight uses those skills on “Bother Me,” creating one of the funniest songs on a 21st century hip-hop album. He demonstrates his skill at deadpan humor, detailing his various misadventures with various pests and bug-a-boos, harassing him for his time and attention.
Listen to the Album:
“Seventeen MC’s” is extremely inventive, as Insight literally creates a monstrous one-man posse. He indeed assumes the roles of 17 different emcees, giving each a distinctive voice, mic presence, and delivery. Every different “member” of the crew rips a track highlighted by hard-hitting drums and jazzy horns and vibraphones. Insight would further commit to the bit by releasing Illusive Avenues Of 6 Intrinsic Musicians (2006) as Soloplexus, paring his ranks down to a more manageable half-dozen.
Insight touches on serious subject matter throughout The Blast Radius as well. He explores the self-destructive tendencies and those with nothing to lose on “Another Cycle.” He later highlights the lengths that economically disadvantaged residents go to get ahead, through legal and illegal means, on “Daily Routine.” He describes the early morning hours on an inner-city block, including all the minutiae and mundane details of the resident’s lives, juxtaposing them with schemes that some execute, all in a matter-of-fact manner.
“Lots of Facts About Control” features Insight examining different ways the human race tries to exert control over themselves, their emotions, the environment, and others. He encourages people to not allow malevolent institutions to restrain them, instead taking the initiative to forge their own path.
Meanwhile, “Inventors (Black)” is structured as a “nightmare” where a man wakes up and struggles to get to work after discovering he’s living in a world without Black inventors. The song resonates for all of the right reasons, demonstrating how often American society takes the contributions of the Black population for granted.
Insight also possesses a penchant for creating high-tempo tracks that sound lifted from obscure late 1980s hip-hop albums. Songs like “Hazardous Material,” “The Method of Madness” (featuring Dagha), and “Ready & Able” sound like tributes to Ultramagnetic MCs’ classic Critical Beatdown (1988). “Another Intermission” is a bit more refined, but Insight demonstrates his verbal dexterity as he sprints across the track.
Insight and like-minded triple threat Edan combine on “Unexplained Phenomena.” Insight builds a track that could have been lifted from the soundtrack of a 1960s Godzilla rip-off or a 1950s superhero film. He and Edan narrate the end of the world as we know it, trading lines back and forth as the planet descends into ordered chaos due to the power of their rhymes.
After ending civilization, Insight sonically smooths things out a bit to end The Blast Radius. Both “Strategy” and “Peace & Unity” feature sublimely ethereal instrumentals, juxtaposed with the ruggedness of their raps. “Strategy” features guest appearances from the aforementioned Ed O.G. and D.I.T.C.’s A.G., with all three emcees blessing a delicate piano sample. The bonus track “Peace and Unity” appears to be a track by the Midnight Shipment, Insight’s planned supergroup featuring himself, Dagha, and Adad. Unfortunately, it seems to be the sole song the group ever released.
I really wish Insight’s musical brilliance was recognized by a wider audience. He has continued to work in the 20 years since The Blast Radius dropped, often producing for other artists. But as much as I enjoy his work behind the boards for other artists, I can’t deny that he’s at his best when he exhibits his skill in the verbal as well as musical arenas. This album features the type of understanding of what makes great hip-hop that rarely comes around. It’s a shame we haven’t been exposed to more of it.
Listen: