Label- Cross Movement Records
We all know him (ok most of us do), father, producer, rapper and very importantly Christian. K-Drama ladies and gentlemen, the dude from Ohio who literally changed Christian Rap with his song “Air Jordan” the official “I want to remix it” song of last year (in case you didn’t know, that song has more remixes than Phil Jackson has trophies!!!).He’s got the love and respect of many and rightly so, his previous albums are good examples of consistency and he’s been rewarded so to speak with a recent record deal on the Cross Movement label!! Now he’s given us a “workout plan” to help us “get fit”.
How many of us remember the John Wells (Tonic) jam “The Body” from his “the Dash” album??? Now imagine a whole album with many more analogies on “body building” and “Godly exercise”, some beats that’ll make any of the vintage Jane Fonda fitness tapes go green with envy and then some amazing lyricism and you are ready to experience this album. Clocking in at 17 tracks K-drama doesn’t hesitate to show us he’s really got his weight up since 2008’s Boombaptism. This is quite the album considering it’s an easy contender for one of the top five albums of the year in a year that was extremely explosive for Christian Rap. Some of the tracks are literally workout tracks, perfect for playing while you jog or go through some regimens in the gym, take “holistic” or “This Waste” as examples, high tempo songs that talk about pushing one’s self to go above and beyond... this album is a “DIY” manual by rap that generally shows a Christian how to grow in The Faith. Nothing short of the best we hear a whole new level of maturity and even diversity exhibited on this project as opposed to Boombaptism (which can hold its own by the way). The beats range from heavy drum synths to techno sounding tracks with a few mellow tones present.
The intro as is always the case with K-Drama is on point, “Bodybuilders” gives us an overview of what the whole album’s about, then the fast paced “Holistic” tackles the ‘work out your salvation with fear and trembling’ tip and from there on out it’s blast off mode. A bunch of different themes are touched on and done justice to. “Don’t look down on me” with AD3 and Sean Slaughter kicks against judgemental stereotypes, “Stronger on My knees” emphasises how essential prayer is and “Spot Me” addresses the importance of building with other members of the Faith. Other strong tracks include “Get Your Weight Up”, “You doing too Much” (funny song), “DIE-IT” which features Humble TIP and a pretty neat D-MAUB sample and one of my favourites alongside “ This Waste”, “Hope They Aint Lying” a pretty good social commentary on the state of things right now(listen to the first verse on this one).
I’ve been all praises right? Any weaknesses? Well for starters some of the featured artists didn’t come hard enough. Although I understand discipleship and encouraging upcoming emcees, there’s often no need to throw a rookie on to the pitch if more “consistent”, “star” players are available for selection. Secondly(and finally), at 17 tracks the concept of “Building the Body” seems almost akin to flogging a dead horse, it’s almost as if the best songs are at the beginning of the album.
This project overall is a contender for the top 5 albums of the year. The balance between basic yet pretty much overlooked solid concepts, memorable beats and K-drama’s lyrical ability and wit make for an album that easily rubs shoulders with Rhema Soul’s Fingerprints or Json’s City Lights. Hopefully listening to the latest from the recently signed Cross Movement Records rapper will help you prayerfully get your “Weight Up” and get you as “ABnormal” as possible(pun intended). Just remember, “be like the cricket, hear from your knees, with Faith as eyes and knees as ears” (how deep is that?) actual words from K-Drama himself. I’ll give this a 4 star rating without flinching. Yeah it’s that good....
P.S. a Nigerian actually produced one of the jams on this project!!! Yup, a Nigerian.
No comments:
Post a Comment