Rebirth of a Nation

Another early 90's blockbuster revisited. And with wildly different results. Smooth rhymes and beats. You can tell these guys did their time in rap battles honing their chops. No sloppy matches or awkward forcing here. Flavor is just Flavor. Fame, fortune, and Brigette haven't gone to his head. Chuck is as mad as ever, if not more so. Heavily political and appropriately so PE calls for people to rise up against the oppresion of the government that brought you the Patriot Act and illegal wiretapping. Plenty of references to their earlier hits, but they flow so well and are recast in a modern context nicely.

A lot of the music has the heavy production and minor chord keyboards that are de riguer for hip hop today, but you can't change Chuck D's rap style and you wouldn't want to. What's interesting is that the lyrics are all the work of Bay Area rapper and producer Paris. Known for being outspoken on politics and corporate culture, the fit is an obvious one. One of the best tracks is a declaration of self pride called Can't Hold us Back "I may be poor, but I am somebody, I may be on welfare, but I am somebody, I may be unskilled, but I am somebody."

I've always been a fan of rap as social commentary and the more intellectual side of the scene, and I'm glad to have another awesome album to point to as an example that rap is about more then bling and bitches and booze.