The Why? Cult

While I do not quite have the lyrical prowess of our other fine friends here, I will do my best to provide what insight I may have, which primarily lies in memorizing/analyzing obscure lyrics and making sarcastic pop-culture references.

For my opening post I will discuss the band Why?. Why? is a part of the Anticon label, although they tend to stray a little further from hip hop than their label-mates. They border on indie rock, but that is by no means indicative of the entirety of their sound. What draws me to the band and back so frequently is their use of percussion instruments and bizarre lyrics. They frequently use chimes, multiple drum sets, and other percussive toys which really add to Yoni Wolfe's beat poetry style of singing. Why?'s live show is quite a sight to behold. Yoni's live rap is interesting in that he doesn't rap quite in time as would be expected and he will elongate a syllable or two, so even if you are singing along, Yoni gets the last word. Their audience interaction is completely nonsensical and hilarious, but what makes the show most memorable are Yoni's eyes. His eyes possess the most soul piercing gaze I have ever seen in my life. It is as though he is looking at everyone at once.

Recently, Why? released a fan inspired album called Golden Tickets. The album as a whole is pretty ho-hum. It has some moments, but is largely forgettable were it not for the stories behind the songs. "Dropjaw," for instance, is particularly bizarre. For Golden Tickets, a video contest was held in which the winner would have a song written about their video. "Dropjaw," the winning video, is a shirtless man with dreads simply sitting and talking at the camera without any sound.

For me, Why? was a band that I listened to once and had absolutely no clue how I felt about them. A few days later I went back and gave them a second listen, and from that point on I was hooked. If you haven't given them a listen and would like to start, Alopecia, Elephant Eyelash, and the EP Sod in the Seed are my personal favorites, although they are all pretty good albums. Also, Yoni's podcast, http://whywithaquestionmark.com/, is quite entertaining. It is updated quite frequently and includes interviews about a huge range of topics. At the time of posting, the most recent podcast has an interview with Sean Daley (Atmosphere). They discuss rap in the modern era and what it is like to be an aspiring rapper. Why? and Yoni's podcast are definitely worth a listen.