Heads for '80's West Coast hip-hop will recall Egyptian Empire Records. Although he didn't tell me with which act he recorded on the label best remembered for "Egyptian Lover," Derek "Mista" Taylor found his way from that scene in the Reagan decade to recording hip-hop with his missus, Teresa.
The results have little to do with Derek's electro hip-hop past. The tracks the couple uses for Love, Joy & Pain are organic loops replete with loads of piano, bassy funk and a throwback to a simplicity that almost sounds underground.
But the Taylors aren't all that cerebral and abstract, as befits indie collegiate rap acts. If Mista isn't celebrating a good day in a cleaner way than Ice Cube has ever seen fit to chronicle ("Sunny Dayz"), he's all about love for Mrs., ("Beautiful") and his grandma who raised, and prayed him into salvation ("I Ain't Going Back"), or simply having fun in the One ("Get Yo Hands Upp!!!").
Neither are they sentimental party starters, however. "Member Dem Days" brings insight into bygone days with a sample from '90s Cali rapper Ahmad; his current band, 4th Avenue Jones, gets represented as bassist Phat Al guests on "Ride". Even more seriously, Fros'T assists on a rumination on Romans 7, "Why Do I Do?," and "Poppin' Lids" takes aim at believers' often wussy response to false religions and cults. A simpler ode of godly devotion, "Bow Down," gets spiced by some reggaeton heat.
Though the Taylors show promise galore here, including Mrs. Teresa's solo turn on "More To Life," production values sometimes do in the duo. Caught between slicker poppiness and a more subterranean low-end vibe, the compromise often sounds a mite blah. I'd wager that's nothing they can't fix in the sequel, however.
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