Dead Prez - "Let's Get Free" Album Review

Dead Prez - "Let's Get Free" Album Review

Stic and M1, who make up the duo Dead Prez, see themselves as hip-hop freedom fighters following in the footsteps of the Black Panthers, always gearing up for the inevitable struggle. They're training in martial arts, living a health-conscious lifestyle, and gathering like-minded people to their side. Their enemies are the gargantuan forces of capitalism, imperialism, and white supremacy, manifested in tangible form by police, schools, politicians, and giant corporations. Dead Prez are looking for a few good revolutionaries, and their debut Let's Get Free is the invitation for you to join the team.

Dead Prez aggressively and articulately attack the forces that contribute to inequality in modern society. While there are current hip-hop groups who are just as politically motivated, I can't think of another act in the hip-hop game right now who is quite as outspokenly Afrocentric. They see themselves as Africans stranded in a land where they don't belong, living in a thoroughly unequal society where the deck is consistently stacked against them. Let's Get Free recalls the day when strongly Afrocentric groups like X-Clan, Poor Righteous Teachers, and Brand Nubian not only existed, but were successful. This is a relief for those of us who miss that side of hip-hop, who understand Dead Prez' concern that capitalism is invading music to too great an extent. A key difference between Dead Prez and the Afrocentric groups of the past is that they have more concrete goals and plans; they're calling for community building and grassroots activism. They also give their message a deeper layer by focusing on the economic roots of injustice instead of just complaining about the surface-level problems.

Dead Prez don't pull punches; these are two MC's who deliver their message as forcefully as possible. The big shame here is that they have such a dull musical backdrop for such bold statements. The album's beats and musical flourishes have nothing distinct or interesting about them whatsoever. Maybe this is intentional; all the attention is drawn to their voices, since there's hardly anything else of interest to listen to. But even their rhyming skills aren't all that exciting. They make their points, yes, but it's all direct communication. There are no rhymes delivered in a way that makes your jaw drop or makes you want to rewind and catch that last verse again.
As a means of delivering a message, Let's Get Free is effective. The extent to which Dead Prez rely on messages to carry them means your taste for their music might depend on how much you agree with what they have to say. Dead Prez have unbreakable conviction that what they're saying is true and important. For this very reason, this album is powerful enough that it can't help but spark discussions, which seems to be one of Dead Prez' goals. On the track "Mind Sex" they express the desire to have good conversations. With Let's Get Free, they've created quite a tool for getting people to talk about timely issues.

Dead Prez Official Website

Ludacris - "Theater Of The Mind" Album Review

Ludacris - "Theater Of The Mind" Album Review

Since his formal introduction onto the main stage back in 2000, Christopher “Ludacris” Bridges has been a symbol of consistency. So far every album he’s released (aside from DTP projects) has landed him a nice shiny platinum plaque to hang in his Atlanta mansion. Now with his sixth studio album on deck, Theater Of The Mind, he hopes to keep that streak intact. The whole idea behind Theater Of The Mind is for each song to replicate a scene from a movie, which means the artists who accompany the Atlanta lyricist on the album aren’t being “featured,” they’re “co-starring.”

So after you buy your tickets, grab a tub of popcorn, and find your seat, the opening credits begin with a patented “Luda” intro with him unleashing his comical lines like, “Tell them other n*ggas we see danger/probably, cause I got enough albums to fill your CD changer.”

The first co-starring role comes from retired Welterweight boxing champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. providing Ludacris with a pep talk on ‘Undisputed.’ Behind the horn-drenched beat supplied by Don Cannon, he continues to express his lyrical individuality, “What you want from me, I got pistols for the haters/ya fam will be in black like they were playing for the Raiders/and your music isn’t favored/and DJ’s, they never bring it back/like when you go and borrow so mething from yo ur neighbor.”

Ludacris and T.I. continue their friendly truce, as he co-stars on ‘Wish You Would.’ This time with DJ Toomp tracking the beat, both Southern boys discuss what they have, and how they dare someone to try and take it from them. T-Pain co-stars on ‘One More Drink,’ so the concept behind the title should be self-explanatory, but for those who can’t figure it out—it’s about drinking and hooking up with women.

Boston native Clinton Sparks loans his touch on ‘Call Up The Homies’ co-starring both The Game and DTP member Willy Northpole. The Game and Ludacris take turns trading lines on how they’re getting ready for war, while alerting their crew on speed dial, with Willy Northpole batting clean up. ‘Southern Gangsta’ actually has a real actor on it, as it co-stars Playaz Circle, Rick Ross, and the voice behind the BET series American Gangster, Ving Rhames.

The veteran performer depicts all three acts just as he does on American Gangster for the hook, while they all back up his research with their verses. ‘Everybody Hates Chris’ co-stars the creator of the actual sitcom Everybody Hates Chris in Chris Rock. The funnyman rambles off a quick intro and outro for his fellow “Chris,” as the rapping Chris goes on tirade about why people probably hate him in between.

‘MVP’ is one of only two songs that star Ludacris all by his lonesome, and it was a perfect one to hog the limelight on, because DJ Premier steps in and takes over the 1’s and 2’s. North definitely meets South, with Ludacris fully completing the unmistakable production and scratch-laden hooks with lines like, “Eight years in the game, ain’t a damn thing changed/so I brought it back to one of the tracks of where the damn thing came.”

Little Brother’s former spin doctor 9th Wonder sets the stage for director Spike Lee and Common to co-star on ‘Do The Right Thang.’ The drawn out production is the perfect match for both slow-flow experts to bring in their own flare, as “Mars Blackmon” caps it off with a quick soliloquy. The rest of the album contains honorable mentions like ‘Last Of A Dying Breed’ co-starring Lil Wayne, the big-budget film of ‘I Do It For Hip-Hop’ co-starring Jay-Z and Nas, the clap-happy ‘What Them Girls,’ co-starring Chris Brown and Sean Garrett, and ‘Stay Together’ where he pleads for all broken Hip-Hop crews to set aside their differences, bury the hatchet, and reunite.

Ludacris’ sixth album is another well-put together project with the MC having no trouble navigating his path right past imitators in order to stand alone. Usually when an artist has an album that features, or in this case “co-stars” so many other established acts, the host can sometimes get overwhelmed and out shined. But that doesn’t happen in this case, with Ludacris holding more than his own on every contribution. Filled with funny metaphors, original material, and solid production; Theater Of The Mind is a flick definitely worth checking out.

Ludacris on Def Jam

Ludacris on Myspace

Rakim - "The Seventh Seal" Album Review

Rakim - "The Seventh Seal" Album Review

Before Rakim there was no rap. Or more accurately, there was rap, but not in the form we know today. In the early ‘80s hip-hop was dominated by DJs, with emcees a distant second, but then Rakim and his partner Erik B. dropped the seminal album
Paid in Full

, almost single-handedly introducing the concepts of lyricism, metaphor, and flow that became the pillars of modern rap. It’s crazy to think that there was a time before rap, but there was, just like there was a time before cars, electricity or the internet. There’s a reason Rakim is called the God emcee.

So how could Rakim’s new album The Seventh Seal be so average? As I’ve written before, unlike athletes there’s no inherent reason for a rapper to lose their flow as they age, so why is it that I’m so thoroughly unimpressed by The Seventh Seal? Rakim’s skills couldn’t have simply diminished, could they? Actually, no. In many ways Rakim is the same rapper he was more than 20 years ago, and that’s exactly the problem. Unlike other old school rappers like KRS-ONE who stayed active in the game, constantly tweaking their delivery as hip-hop evolved, Rakim has been almost completely absent, releasing only a meager three albums over the last 17 years. Think of it this way: in 1903 the Wright brothers flew the first functional airplane, an invention of almost unparalleled magnitude. But now, more than 100 years later, the Wright brother’s early aircraft simply couldn’t keep up with the modern jet. Does that diminish their genius or accomplishment? No, not at all, but the field they created inevitably surpassed their original vision. Now substitute the Wright brothers for Rakim, and airplanes for rap.

Back to the lesson at hand. To clarify, The Seventh Seal is only average by Rakim’s lofty standards, and in fact it contains more than a couple tracks that, while not instant classics, sound like the work of a legendary rapper, starting with Documentary of a Gangster, a cinematic track featuring Rakim at the peak of his storytelling powers. While a piano-laced beat courtesy of Y-Not bumps in the background, Rakim tells the tale of a young and reckless gangster with carefully crafted lyricism and a deceptively complex delivery. To put it bluntly, do not f**k with Rakim on Documentary of a Gangster. While some would prefer for Rakim to leave his religious views at home, I’d also throw Holy Are You into this group (his fearless rhymes more than makes up for the track’s shaky production), along with the celebratory Satisfaction Guaranteed, a pacing cut featuring Rakim flowing over the shaking production with ease. The man’s still got his fastball, even if he doesn’t throw often.

Unfortunately, moments like Documentary are the exception, not the rule, on Seventh Seal. The average Seventh Seal title track could be described as sub-par production paired with good but not great vocals and rhymes from Rakim that, while impressive, certainly don’t feel like the work of a hip-hop deity. Just take Won’t Be Long, a track whose beat sounds unfinished, a shaky sonic backdrop that Rakim uses to complain about the current state of hip-hop without any real creativity. On the same tip is the failed love song Psychic Love and the mismatched You & I, a track that swings but never connects. I’d actually put Walk These Streets among the best of this disappointing group. Now a lot of purists have decried Maino’s appearance on the track – no disrespect, but Rakim has one guest rapper on his album and he goes with Maino? Really? – but Maino does fine, but more importantly, on Walk These Streets Rakim sounds almost like he’s intentionally dumbing down his flow, making his anti-hater proclamations sound like a dad who tries to copy his kids’ slang. And yes, it almost hurts me to write about Rakim like this.

To keep the analogy orgy going, when Jordan came back to play for
the Wizards

he was still an above-average NBA player, but the distance between “greatest ever” and “above-average” is enormous, and it was painfully evident to anyone who watched Jordan that year that he was a shadow of his former self. This is by no means the final chapter for Rakim, he could easily become an elite rapper again, but for now he’s more of a living piece of hip-hop history than a current contributor to the culture. Take it or leave it, but that’s the truth. All praise due.

Rakim Official Website

Rakim on Myspace

Eminem - Relapse Album Review

Eminem “Relapse” Album Review

Okay – so this album did drop a long time ago. And I am months behind on reviewing it. But being that Eminem doesn’t really fit HHL’s underground niche, I had no plans to talk about “Relapse” on the site. That was until a couple weeks ago when I posted Déjà Vu as quotable of the week and started reading all the negative responses toward it. And it immediately became clear that underground hip-hop fans are hating on Eminem right now – so I had to put in my two cents.

Eminem Official Website

Eminem on Myspace

Mr Lif - I Heard It Today Album Review

Mr. Lif “I Heard It Today” Album Review

I’ve got to admit, I’ve been a little disappointed with hip-hop’s lack of awareness recently. While everybody came together in support of Obama, we all just seemed to drop off in the months following the election – as if there was no economic instability, housing crisis or social injustice being done in this country. Luckily, Mr. Lif stepped up with “I Heard It Today,” an album intended to create dialogue about various problems that plague our nation today.

Mr Lif on Definitive Jux

Mr Lif on Last.fm

Brother Ali - Us Review

Brother Ali “Us” Album Review

This is probably the best album of the year. And that’s saying a lot – because a couple classic hip-hop albums have dropped in 2009. I’ve been listening to Brother Ali’s “Us” consistently for over a month now, and it is almost flawless from beginning to end. I believe this could be the definitive album of Ali’s hip-hop career. It appears to be the accumulation of years of hard work, sacrifice and growth. If you haven’t picked up a copy of Brother Ali’s “Us” yet, now is the time.

Brother Ali Official Website

Brother Ali on Myspace

Dead Prez - RBG Review

Dead Prez: RBG Album Review

Politically charged rappers Dead Prez follow up 2003's "mix tape" GET FREE OR DIE TRYIN' with another powerful statement, RBG: REVOLUTIONARY BUT GANGSTA. Musical revolutionaries in the tradition of Gil Scott-Heron and Public Enemy, Stic and M1 are as concerned with educating as they are entertaining. This time around, the duo's main goal is to widen the appeal of their politically conscious vision by embracing a more mainstream sound. "Hell Yeah (Pimp the System)" recalls the frenzied tracks of Atlanta's Organized Noize, while "I Have a Dream, Too" captures the laid-back groove of Dr. Dre. But instead of merely dropping clever rhymes and tall tales, Stic and M1 use their time in the spotlight to discuss controversial, hard-hitting issues, such as police brutality (the aforementioned "I Have a Dream, Too"), employment ("W-4"), and racism ("Walk Like a Warrior"). In a climate that normally distracts listeners from the sobering realities of everyday life, this duo continues to provide a refreshing, albeit challenging, antidote.

Recorded at Chung King, Street Light Studios, New York, New York and Warrior Studios, Brooklyn, New York.

Dead Prez is: Stic, M1 (rap vocals).

Featuring Artists: Jay-Z, Krayzie Bone.

Dead Prez Official Website