Album Notes

Hip-Hop Needs Us is is a pretty big claim. But don’t mistake the truth for ego. In a genre oversaturated by artists trying to prove their toughness, Johnny La Rock & Mush Mouth stand apart. They don’t want to be hard, they just want to have fun. The duo have been making music for years, and have a quite diverse resume of projects, including folk, indie rock, punk, and of course, hip-hop. Both are skilled musicians as well as emcees. Mush plays bass on some tracks, and La Rock is the man behind the beats, samples, and anything else you hear on their songs. Their chemistry, which is great both live and on record, comes from a longtime friendship and years of playing in bands together. Though they’ve played different genres, hip-hop was always calling them back. As kids they watched YO! MTV RAPS obsessively and would buy each other rap singles for Christmas and Birthday gifts. They wore out tapes by Black Sheep, Jeru The Damaja, Wu Tang, Fat Boys, Kool Moe Dee, Sugarhill Gang, LL Cool J, Das EFX, Tribe Called Quest, Kriss Kross, Bone, ABC, Bell Biv Devoe, Eric B. & Rakim, Dj Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, and numerous others. They were also influenced by rock, jazz, r&b, and even Pop. Yes, they’ll tell you straight up: they dig New Kids On The Block AND Color Me Badd. It’s this open-minded attitude that makes them so loveable. It’s hard to listen to their songs and not want to jump around, and it’s even harder to not sing the lyrics days after hearing them. From the rawness of “Grimey”, the heartfelt lyrics of “I’ll Be Frank”, all the way to the straight up funk of “Morning Edition”, Hip-Hop Needs Us is a unique journey through everything you love about hip-hop.