Thankfully, producer Iggy Ignotius and part-time Abolitionist crew standouts Tenacity and SA, know how to hold down an album, and keep hip hop progressive.
From the first eight bars, this album attempts to chart a new course for Michigan’s underground sound. The surprisingly ill Micro-Korg effects and bugged-out electronic beats being rapped over by Tenacity and SA come off like a cross of Rhymesayers and Prefuse 73.
One by one, the tracks gleefully unfurl as the group’s heinous plot to wipe hip pop off the map are revealed: from the surging “Word Them” and “You Ain’t Shit to Me” to the scathing “Oooh,” these cats are literally trying to shame wack emcees into permanently putting down the mic. In fact, one of the album’s few glitches is that it’s almost all battle raps spewed over tight beats, which grows tired.
With appearances from the rest of the Abolitionists and the Almighty Dreadnaughtz fam, Blunt Raps works as yet another testament to the new blunted sound continuing to emerge from Ann Arbor’s underground releases. And don’t let the blunt rap package dissuade you; its contents are dope enough to entice even the saintliest of non-indulgers.
Send comments to [email protected].
