Known to some as ‘Joey Brains’, to others as Brando Flux, ‘Braintax’ is the moniker of Leeds-born, London-lived Joseph Christie, thoughtful, peace-loving rapper Joseph Christie who appeared on the scene with 1992’s ‘Fat Head’ EP. So what else have we to learn? Well today, we’re going to be learning about illegal wars in the Middle East, the loss of freedom, text messages, the media, Bush and his evil claws, Blair and his smugness, Kuwait, Korea, the Falklands, the BNP, refugees, gas emissions and Earth respect. Sounds a lot at one sitting? Well it is. And it it occasionally sounds like the soapboxing rhetoric of the loony left, but what distinguishes it from other hip-hop lobbyists is the sharp grasp Braintaz has of the broader picture, locating it cleverly within the dialect of Little England and within the more national concerns of poll-tax riots, getting pissed and finding enough money for the taxi home. As the title implies: this is a ‘Panaorma’ – meaning no one blot on the landscape is singled out for particular attention; instead they’re all laid-out evenly across Christie’s horizon as an historical inevitability.
Label owner, co-founder and driving force behind ‘Low Life Records’, Braintax uses his 14 years’ worth of experience in the industry to deliver a very British record; informed by other cultures and dialects yet very much its own voice.