If you're looking for street-certified rap legitimacy from the school of hard knocks, you won't find it here. But this recording is not Vanilla Ice Lite either. These are well crafted, intelligent, heart-felt rhymes-jazzy gems from multiple artists that boldly delve into the inner workings of the unconscious while offering deliverance through Jesus Christ. I will discuss the high points on this compilation, and there really aren't very many low points.
Remember "The First Cut is the Deepest"? If you're old enough to remember that one, your memory is pretty good for your age. I'm not sure the first cut is the deepest in the case of Night Owls 2, but it certainly could not be described as shallow either. In "Black Keys and Ivory," Wordz's self-proclaimed "slaves to rhythm and righteousness," delivers the first blow, and it's all about rhythmic flow. Content-wise, it is a bold summary of the gospel according to Wordz, one that is every bit as action-oriented as it is loquacious. Wordz to the mutha -- keep up the vitality!
Chuck Dimes could learn a lesson from 50 Cent. Dimes' offering, "Apples & Oranges," relies on an extremely dull rhythm loop. A few mercurial changes in the melody and rhythm of these "lines carefully crafted like landscapes" are all this tune is begging for. Lyrically, it is every bit as fruitful as the title promises it will be.
Stylistically speaking, "Dramamine," by Sintaxtheterrific, sounds a little like new age. It includes some nice vocal contrast and showcases some great humility in lines like, "Every time I took up my bed and walked, I fell," and some pearls of wisdom in lines such as: "It's not what you find in this life, it's who you seek."
With lines like, "Do you stand for somethin', or do you front for nothin'?" and "Do you fight back or fall back?" on "Backbone" by Science Project render the song rap's answer to Bob Dylan's "You Gotta Stand for Somethin'." These guys have really seen the light. If the Apostle Paul had become a rap artist, these are some of the lines he would have thrown down during his brief period of incarceration. Science Project is a group of rhythmic, spiritual chiropractors. If your spirit has slipped a disk, this song should easily slip it back in place.
The starting point in "Shocking Truth" by Future Shock is the same as it is for any psychologist: "Let us begin with self-examination." There's no real shock therapy offered here, but the song leads the listener into an invaluable four minutes of introspection that will leave you more psychologically balanced and more spiritually grounded.
Kaboose flocks together like birds of bad weather in "Leaves in the Wind" (and I mean that in a good way). The scratchy record effect helps to usher in a weathered element to the overall sound. Some valuable clues as to how to survive spiritual and psychological storms are offered in this, clearly one of the best cuts in the collection.
Adeem & Shalem's "Believe" offers a great deal in terms of pithy rhymes, but the dizzying celerity of the tempo makes it hard to take advantage of the words of wisdom in this piece. Generally, psychiatrists -- not psychologists -- are the ones to offer advice on medication issues, so I won't suggest Ritalin. However, I will offer this bit of advice to the team: a change of pace may be your saving grace. I found myself singing a speeded up version of the theme to Gilligan's Island along with the song when I should have been paying more attention to the musical and extramusical characteristics of the song.
"Broke Wind RMX" is by the members of Nomadic The Journeyman. If they have learned anything, it is how to have a good time and not take themselves too seriously. This is abundantly apparent in Broke Wind Remix. Think loosely structured Digital Underground with a bit of a Cake flavor.
"Jail Cell" by Overflo is, without a doubt, the strongest song on the CD. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it is Christian rap's answer to Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues," but it comes close. Embedded in jazzy silhouettes of solid sound, the song cuts deeper, both psychologically and spiritually than any other number in the set. No, wait! I forgot about "Drowning in my Dreams" by Luke Geraty. Freud said that forgetting is never accidental -- always planned by the unconscious mind, and perhaps this one was even a bit too threatening for a shrink like me to face.
This project begins with the voice of the host of a TV show from the 60s featuring psychologists or other mental health professionals. "What do children worry about? Well, that's what we're here to find out." The introduction is entirely fitting for the song that follows. Luke offers himself as a patient with lines like, "A few screams echo through the halls of my mind. How am I defined by the rest of mankind?" He continues, sporting his refreshingly unusual voice, "I can't relax 'cause I'm drownin' in my dreams . . . stashin' my emotions in an underground box of hip hop that won't drop until all my dreams stop . . . My dreams are so young, but my life is getting older, misunderstood, plus I've got a chip on my shoulder." Psychologists could feed off this stuff for days. It's amazingly rich. It is as honest as it is vulnerable, with disclosures that I generally only get from my patients after weeks of cultivating the psychic soil:
". . . I'm honestly gonna possibly remove cautiously all that's costin' me . . . I might as well, as far as I can tell, find another heaven, cause this feels like hell . . ." Sounds like he's near to a psychological and spiritual breakthrough. Sleep is not always the safest way to escape. Sometimes you have to go through hell to get to heaven.
3.5 tocks
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