S.U.N. – The One (Jamendo)
Consciousness Rap or Political Rap, or whatever you want to call it. Funny sub-genre really, supposedly a noble alternative to the tedious Gangsta musings which took control all those years ago but for the most part it’s all bland as fuck. There are few styles which are so hard wired into conventions, you can almost predict what the tracks will be before you start listening. Not that it can’t be good of course, or have interest to it, there’s a divide running through it with ‘nice’ standing on one side, talking about how lovely everything is and how we’re all beautiful except for those nasty types who aren’t. Then there’s ‘angry’ on the other, which generally just wants to shoot people in the face and kick off the revolution. Both can be good, even if the former can be a little dull and the latter a little comical.
Anyway, S.U.N. (Scientific Universal Noncommercial) and their single/EP ‘The One’, it seems to lean towards the ‘nice’ side of things, despite a few lines which flirt with the darker half. It’s not bad, really. So, not bad… yep… I’m actually shrugging writing this because I can’t be offended by what I’m hearing, but then again I’m having a hard time caring about whether I hear it or not. It’s a conventional piece, does exactly what right on Hip Hop is supposed to do, what it’s always done, a few reasonably intelligent lyrics, the obligatory mix of muted politics and niceness is balanced perfectly, all alright really. It’s been done before though, lots of times and I’m not sure what’s new here, if anything at all.
The music matches the words and the overall feel, there’s nothing remarkable here, just the routine beats of Hip Hop by the numbers, the kind of stuff that could be compared to a 10-15 year old album without any notable evolution between the two. Again, I’m shrugging.
When would you listen to this? I have no idea. If you’re hard on your politics grab some Dead Prez or Immortal Technique instead, if you want beats worth spending time on just look through this blog (Dockta Valkus, Professor Kliq, Ghostown etc). I suppose if you wanted something to play to a crowd of polite Liberals this might tick the boxes but it certainly won’t be fuelling the revolution any time soon.
*Shrug*
Final Rating – 60%