Lampmode Recordings The Church:Called & Collected Review

Label- Lampmode Recordings

The Church; some define it as an institution, some define it as a building and some call it The Body of Christ. Some even look at The Church as a living, breathing being and call her The Bride of Crist. So who’s right and who’s wrong? Well listening to Lampmode’s compilation should offer a lot of helpful answers.
One of my favourite TV shows is Lost and I’ve often imagined what I’d do if I was stranded on an island with a bunch of strangers. Well aside trying to get all of them saved assuming they aren’t I’d love to have my Bible and this album so I’ll organize them (even better than Jack Shepherd or Ben Linus) and of course hear the kind of music I classify as “dope”. Trust me when I say this one of the few albums that’s got it all; five star production, tight emcees spitting truth and a theme that is both relevant and properly dealt with. Based on a book by Mark Dever called 9 Marks Of The Church, The Church is basically an album that lets you know what the church is and why what a lot of Christians claim to be part of might just be a cult or social gathering, oops!!!
Who better to feed us on the subject than the cats who are versed in the art/gift of ‘Lyrical Theology”? I mean, they’ve got a credible MO as far as such things are concerned and I wasn’t surprised they delivered a well packaged project.
Starting things off for us is the beautiful combo of God’s Servant (who I think is a monster) and Azriel on the song “Take ‘em To Church” a nice anthem making a case for belonging to The Church is necessary. From there on out it’s fireworks as shai linne’s two songs “Biblical Theology” and “Expositional Preaching” both get your head nodding but actually emphasize on sound doctrine as opposed to your pastor’s philosophy or his captivating style of preaching. On the latter song shai proclaims “Y’all should be mindful of this devout thesis/all of the Bible’s about Jesus, The Old Testament? Jesus Christ concealed, the New Testament? Jesus Christ revealed!” hmmm… also along for the ride is Trip Lee with “Conversion” a wonderful expose on the subject with relevant excerpts from Mark Dever sermons for the hooks. Flame weighs in with “Leadership” a flawless analysis on church administration/leadership structure from Christ down to us. Then of course there’s Hazakim with their signature messianic “uncut and raw” approach serving us “Evangelism” and “The Good News” two absolutely necessary gems. With all this quality you would think that’s about as far as it gets but you’d be wrong as the high points of this album are Stephen the Levite and “Church Discipline” a track exploring how to deal (in love) with erring members of the flock and it’s done over a sick DJ Essence beat and a beautifully sampled hook, his other contribution “Membership” is as good and is a very nice discussion starter as he examines the state of modern day church membership accompanied by the legendary sound s of Tony Stone. By the time we’re through and have gotten to the end of the album we’re bursting at the seams with so much to process but Evangel doesn’t seem to care as he rounds it all up with “Beautiful Church” an ode cum history lesson on the journey the institution we call The Church has made from the tower of Babel to our present day. The beat for this was crafted by Big Juice and was just celestial and Evangel duly killed it!
The production on this project borders on illegal, yes we’ve come to expect quality production on Lampmode projects (from the Tim Brindle days to Jas Knight) but Alex Medina, Big Juice, Tony Stone, DJ Essence (my favourite producer) all contribute the kind of beats that are masterpieces on their own and yet do not take anything away from the featured emcees, they are just skillful anointed fellows who deserve much props.
There’s one little issue though, Tedashii’s song was a little to mediocre, not bad but we’ve heard him at a much higher level. That aside this album is one I’ll like to play to my grandkids (alongside a few Cross Movement albums) and say to them “this is what classic music sounds like”.

shai linne Storiez Album Review

Those of us that love Christian rap won’t mind it if you call us addicts. After all we yearn for the next single or album to drop like a crack head yearning for a fix. I daresay in this hunger we’ve somehow learnt to take anything that comes our way under the tag of “Christian rap” and we accept it substandard (void of Word) or not. This can be put down partly to the fact the emergence of “crunk” which I’m sure every “hip-hop head” sees as a headache and an adulteration of the original genre. Well, I consider my self one of such “hip-hop heads” and I still love crunk. Have I sold out? A discourse for another day, today’s discourse however, revolves round an emcee that without a doubt deserves the title “hip-hop head”, his name? shai linne aka “the lower case emcee”
I’m specifically talking about his third studio album Storiez. This is one cd I barely knew was out and didn’t even listen to for a whole year! Why? Let’s just say made it to the top of my hit list first… that aside we all know shai line has a signature that includes lyrical ability and spiritual depth (his previous projects attest to that fact) but even I have to admit that this time he hit us hard with quality stuff. This is an album that is very much what it sounds like, a compilation of stories complete with a narrator (Pastor Rick Warren of The Purpose Driven Life fame) and these stories like every other good ones have profound lessons to teach. In an era where the average song is 4 minutes long, our guy decides to do songs that average 5 minutes, some even go up to 8 minutes! The guest list consists of people you may know and some you may not, from Flame to Json, Evangel to Ant it seems both the “underground” and the mainstream of rap are represented on the project. Might I add there are kids on a couple of songs (I mean we’re talking about stories right?)
I believe I’ve painted a pretty good picture as regards structure, now let’s get to essence (and I don’t mean the Dj). Shai linne has always hit on the message of salvation from eternal damnation and the songs on this album more than subtly make that fact known. From songs like “As the hour draws near”, “letters from the grave”, “wake up you’re alive” to all the other songs on the album there’s always something on each song that you can relate to regardless of your viewpoint. There’s a song about the Passover in Egypt, one about the great Charles Spurgeon, one about love but I think the greatest story (song) is Martyrs. With a cast of Json, Evangel, Techniq, Ant and God’s Servant this song tells of different martyrs in different times that were cut down for The Faith and their refusal to renounce Christ. My verdict, craftily profound and it even borders on disturbing as it makes you ask yourself “what have I been doing all this while?” (Although I doubt you’re being asked to looking for trouble or an easy death in the name of martyrdom). One thing that grips you on each song is the vivid representation of each story that you often feel like you were present at the time of each of the narrated events (except you are for some reason “imaginationally challenged”).
Storiez is a keeper, that’s for sure. Probably won’t get 5 stars from everybody but it’s amongst the best albums ever made. As I am rounding up I guess it’ worthwhile to mention that this album debuted at no 14 on the iTunes rap/hip-hop chart when it came out, obviously an indicator of the power within.