reviewsqtor

Hip-Hop Reviews - Q to R

Please note that the reviews are ordered by Artist first name..

All reviews are opinion, a guide only. Some are short and to the point, others go into more depth. No real reason why other than when the reviews were written! For other fantastic reviews, check out trailblazinministries.com, sphereofhiphop.com, gospelflava.com, hiphopforthesoul.com and jydist.com. Cross Rhythms has some good reviews too, although limited in content.

Please note if you see any of these reviews elsewhere, it is because I have done the reviews for others. These reviews are mostly for Cross Rhythms, although they edit the reviews. The reviews on these pages are my full reviews.

Raphi - Cali Quake | TOP

One of the Tunnel Rats, Raphi has played the UK and features with Propaganda and the TRZ heads on the 'Battle for the Streets of LA' DVD (out in the States only). This has got some real hot tunes on which you can also get on vinyl from the sphereofhiphop.com store. Starts with an intro from the streets of Cali to give you a flava of what to expect on the album, dropping a West Coast feel with some double-timing and rhyming on the lyrics aiming to 'shake it up.' A fantastic groove and rolling break underpins one of the lead tunes on the album, 'Connect'. In 'Welcome', Raphi reminds us that he 'rised in the west I've been grounded in the east..' pointing us to the mix of the 2 flavas prevalent across the album. A dope flamenco guitared riff on 'Then and Now' is one of my favourite tracks, where we hear some of Raphi's hip hop history, reminding us there are many seasons in an emcees life, watching the hip hop scene change. The album is laced with some fairly heavy beats and has a fairly hard edge flow and beats, repped by songs like, 'It Goes Down' - 'Stop-Look-Listen' and by the mock-up 'Beat Battle' rapped over a near drum and bass paced beat. A head nodding and catchy 'Foolin' rolls along - 'this life is full of shackles and chains..' My favourite track is 'Street Chronicles' which mixes a riffed guitar tab, over a rhodes sound, deep bass and nicely EQ'd beats, with a great flow from Raphi, some ill and thought-provoking lyrics about street life and a beautiful hook and chorus. Great album. Dope production too. Run Time - 68.09.

Readyrok - Soul Grind | TOP

Readyrok (Britton Keeler) is an up and coming artist hailing from Florida, with a background in gospel and in audio recording technology. With his own studio, Readyrok, he interlaces hardcore baselines with his heartfelt melodies, “The O” and “One” among others. His style is best described as dirty south, Florida style. Think sub-bass kick drum grooves, claps and tingling hi-hat patterns rolling underneath a laid back and laid back flowing delivery. The main exception to this is “Soul Grind” with some heavy guitaring and hard beats – a nice change up on the album. Readyrok shoots from the heart in a varied album of positive and conscious rap. Mostly Readyrok brings a delivery that flows with his beats (“Eternal” featuring Analyze). Other times the flow is very repetitive, as are too many of the beats. Not so much a criticism, as an inspiration for us all to keep moving forward. This debut album by ReadyRok looks at sacrifice, war, personal struggles, opportunities, and love, but most importantly it brings the message of Jesus to the lost soul with the promise of eternal life. “I’ve got to reach out to the streets with this fire,” he says with sincerity. We end the album with “I’m Yours”, a more up-tempo and chaotic mix that works. This takes a few listens to appreciate Readyrok’s style but overall an OK project - in need of growth, especially in terms of delivery and beats. Run Time - 47.14.

Reconcile - Chronicles: The Lineage, Life & Legacy | TOP

Big Rec delivers his first solo album with a screamer. This crosses the life, legacy and lineage of Reconcile - his roots, his fam, history and future. It's a hip hop timeline. Rec delivers some very very tight lines, with clarity that you don't always great (great production, articulation and mic). This veers from dirty south to a very mid-west sound and reflects his life, where he's lived and where he's coming from. It starts up with the Intro in which Rec explains '..my existence is bringing the truth to light..' over high pitched vocals, beats and a 'spaghetti western' sounding trumpet! In 'The Antidote' Big Rec brings the heat explaining the 'antidote to promote life' over sampled piano and trumpet. Next up is 'Many Waters' which is an ode to Guyana, part of Big Rec's heritage. Also dropping on the mic is his first cousin, Omniblaze. 'Nostalgia' brings an awesome riff and hook with Reconcile bringing the vocals reminiscing of his memories of his childhood, activities and hip hop life back in the day, a track with a beat that reminds of Eric B & Rakim's 'Mahogany'.. 'it's hard to see where you're going if you forget the past, let's reminisce over good times..' Dope tune. With the beautifully crafted and delivered 'Split Decision' Reconcile brings his words of hope to those who have gone through divorce. In his case, he ended up being the method God used for reconciliation, 'all things work for the good of those who love the Lord.' Boom. In 'Stealth' we have one of the lead tracks over crunk beats and toms, conga drums. In this Reconcile identifies that he has been just below the surface in the game for 10 years - in his words, 'incubated by the Most High..' and '..the best kept secret is off the shelf'. In 'Process' Reconcile brings more heat, fast delivery mixed with passion about the cost of it all - 'life is a process.. live life, rep Christ, lay it all on the line' - featuring Drastic of Remnant. In 'Under The Influence' we hear from The Word that a double minded man is unstable in all (James 1.8) talking about the inner battle in our minds between the old and new self.. brought beautifully by Explicit and Vandal of the Mass Reality Crew. The 'just because song on the album' comes in the form of 'wRECshop' over a dope beat and hi-hat, mid-west combo big party track. 'Eleventwentyone' is a sweet number dedicated to his wife and their lives and how they met, aarrrhhh.. 'All In The Fam' brings some more vocalism and high pitched samples - it's a family thing as the Mass Reality collective bring the rhymes. In 'The Don't' we hear a cry to not be a clone MC. 'Slave Trade' brings a real nice 'slave' sample but Rec turns the concept of the horror of slavery to reflect the slavery of the mind that people have in religion and life. Jesus is the way out of slavery to true freedom. 'Good Newz' is a track reaching out to the homies on the block - Jesus reaches all. We then have an Outro with Rec thanking everyone, 'challenge you to examine your own past, present and future' - moving on to 2 hidden tracks. Essential. Cop it. Run Time - 67.19.

REGIMENTS – Down Tha Hype | TOP

2 track EP from London grime MCs. The UK has often struggled to market its hip-hop in the face of the US market and a larger hip-hop market, especially in the Christian scene. However, Greenjade, MOD and 29th Chapter among others, have proved the UK scene is distinctive and a force to be reckoned with. The UK has also been responsible for new music genres such as jungle, drum’n’bass, dubstep, UK garage and now UK grime. Grime, which came out of London, delivers sub bass and fast gritty syncopated rhymes. Regiments (aka Deepman and A dot Angel) deliver 2 tracks of upbeat positive Godly grime, first and foremost representing the Most High God. Bring it. We need more Godly urban artists – in hip-hop, grime and r&b. Bounce, bounce.. UK represent, lookin' forward to the full album!

Revolution - The Hip-Hop Matrix | TOP

Uk hip-hop represent! This great album is quite conceptual, with the artwork and the album title basing itself on ‘The Matrix’ movie, as evidenced in the intro track, “What is the Hip Hop Matrix”. Right from the off, we have a very creative album, in every sense – from beats & cuts from DJ Nightfall (Rob Hinds) - and vocals & delivery from Otty Warmann. Track 2 on the album presents the listener, “The Manifesto” cleverly lists the tracks on the CD explaining the meaning behind each. There’s some interesting deliveries across many tracks, including “A Story” with some rap and double tracking and “What’s Up Wit Society” with clear and varied flows. In “Imagine That” and “Choose”, Otty displays some very smooth delivery that just flows sweetly. There’s also some nice backing vocals on the hooks of a number of tracks (“Party Right”), broken up by tracks like “Between The Stars and The Grave” with samples carrying the hook. We strip down to a beat and delivery on “The Music” which works very well. Content wise we have rhymes about God’s work in Otty’s life, conscious rap, looking at our messed up society – and offering hope in God. We end with “The Altar Call” – a nice roller to end. I genuinely look forward to the future for Revolution as no doubt they step it up further.

Revolution - Life On Five Inches | TOP

Otty Warmann aka. Revolution is back with a new product and the step up we hoped for is evident. Production levels are upped, as are beats and delivery in every area. This album is a mix of life exhibited to bring God to life, with an album combining r&b and rap. We intro the project with an overview of the album, encouraging people to hear the words, open their hearts and hear the spoken word, rap - can you handle that?! Track 2 is 'Refiner' and over a sax lick, r&b vocals and some beautiful harmonies gives us a glimpse into how God has used Revolution's life experiences to change and refine him, 'my Lord is refining me each day'. I was definitely feeling the wordplay around the difficult times being when God chooses to shine and refines us - offering God praise. Word to that! In line with Revolution's cry at the start of the album, seeking revolution not religion, "Change G'on Come", Revolution preaches that the revolution is already here - as God's Spirit and love is manifested. This is a challenge to the world that its values and materialism are only temporary. This is another sweet track, with a nice piano track and live-sounding drum patterns. Revolution flows incredibly smoothly with an energy and passion. Great hook. "Dreamin" is another r&b styled and highly Biblical track where Revolution expresses his belief that there will be a brighter day - quoting Scripture through the track, 'keep pushing for a brighter day.' A positive uplifter. We take a trip down memory lane in "My First Love". A nice track with piano riff and heavy bassline, over a minimalist track and slightly darker, slightly muffled beat, giving his love to God. "What is Peace" is a quality piece of wordplay, over a gentle background flow. This is a discussion about peace and what it is, where to find it - "I find it in me when I'm doing what the Lord has purposed me to do.." We cover many bases across life. Revolution concludes that "The Lord is peace." Amen. A fresh ending comes with an acoustic guitar based remix of "Change G'on Come" which is a very dope piece of work. A quality project from Revolution, I'd encourage someone to sign him up! Revolutionary education indeed!

Rob Hodge - Born King | TOP

We fire up over piano melody recounting the birth of Philly's Rob Hodge, with a purpose birthed over his life. This spills over into the first track, 'I'm here' which brings some of the history of Rob Hodge, over simple break and strings/harp riff. Rob Hodge is here to bring the antidote, Jesus. 'Revolution' is underpinned by a airy and sweet beat from Kid Classic. Revolution is about making a permanent change in people's lives beyond the now and the bling - 'hold tight cos we're gonna change the world.. prepare for the revolution'. The album is laced with humour throughout by the fictitious 'Rev Tithe' which is a nice touch and a call out to some pastors and their ways. 'I'm Rich' is a big crunk bass-drum banging monster, easily able to sit alongside anything in the charts. Lyrically, Rob Hodge is on top form and brings a life and depth to the track. As you'd expect, the album is full of references to contemporary culture, figures and events. 'Conflict' is a more downtempo track looking at conflict and pain, 'enough with the conflict.' Another dope beat with 'The Suffering' dedicated to all those suffering, pointing to trust in Jesus, the one who will care, 'who knows you're suffering'. It encourages us to think about those less fortunate, and about the blessings God has given us. Another synth riff and vocal hook over big beat sees 'The Hurricane', where Rob Hodge brings another smooth drawling track. 'Determination' is one of the standout tracks on the album in my view. This downtempo, smoothy is really quite beauiful. This is about moving on, being determined, doing your thing. This is about the hard times and never quitting. Nice hook, great storytelling and powerful with a word from Rob Hodge over organ and inspiring riffs. 'Tears' is another powerful testimony track, featuring Japhia Life. In 'So Far' we find just how far that Rob Hodge has come through his life to the present, as he recounts his life story. in 'Most Hated' we have a more east coast hip-hop feel, which changes things up nicely. This is a track about the haters and enemies that Rob Hodge and his crew have faced. 'Thank You' is a shout out to God for a life that can be lived intact. A tightly compressed beat with vocal elements (a common element across the album), sees Rob Hodge ride the beats with insight and a tight flow. Another standout track. 'Outcast' is a track from God, speaking to those who feel down and out, the outcast. Janae provides the hook. The chilled 'Red Carpet' tells us that no matter who you are, you're a star on the red carpet of God's eyes, in Christ Jesus. 'Pretty Ugly' takes us on a Jamaican ride through some ragga as we see the ugly side of life. 'Look At Me Now' provides a tuneful roller of a beat. Rob Hodge spits a nice rhyme scheme about where he is now, compared to some of the guys who used to run with, urging people to look at where he's at now. 'The River' is another highlght, as Rob Hodge encourages us to take to take a trip to the river, where God can fill us up and wash us clean. Nice vocal hook, smooth delivery, simple and deep. Yet another standout is 'Free' with a piano riff and light yet bass drum heavy break / sweet vocal hook. We can all be free - as Jesus can set us free if we come to him and live the life he has for us. 'I'm Ready' ends with a gentle tune, but with a powerful message of being ready for God. Wicked tingz! Run Time - 76.42.