Rick WhispersThis cat hails from the upstate parts of NY, around the Albany scene to be exact. I got much respect for Rick Whispers, he can truly appreciate good music. He is a avid follower of the hardcore and punk scenes as well as being into the hip hop community. You can find Rick in the park on his board, you can find him on the wall throwin' up or at a show laying down his emcee skills. Just keep an eye out because you might just catch him. Rick isn't on any of that bravado type shit, he just speaks on shit that he knows and lives. He reminds me a lot of Blueprint and all of that Rhymesayers/Definitive Jux shit. Usually I don't get down with Aesop Rock and all of their stuff because it's a little to spaced out for my liking but this shit is quality. Throughout the 17 tracks Rick touches on various topics (politics, relationship problems, girls, subsistence abuse,etc,.) with good use of word play and metaphors, you can tell my man gets it in on the poetry tip. There is mad fucking producers on this effort: Jack of all Trades, Mashie, Losaka, Atypical, Vinylcologist, Khil, Pj Katz, and Rob Viktum. With cuts from DJ Money Mike, Deejaygyro, J-Swift, and DJ Element. Usually when you get that many cats together it spells disaster but in a rare few instances you'll get an album chock-full of bangers. This falls on the latter. The beats have a great balance and continuity that holds this thing together. The beats, a lot like Rick's rhymes have a good mix of old school flavor and new school execution. I'm really loving the beat put down by Vinylcologist on the track, "Campaign Trail." That shit is screaming old school love, it's one of those summer time beats that feels like a breeze in the summer night. Some more old school sounds via a kick and snare can be found in the follwing track, "Growing" featuring AWAR but also kills it with some nice melodic highs. Another strong point on the production side of the things is the length of songs. They usually stick to the 2:30-3:30 mark with two tracks that break the 4 minute mark, very rare for a hip hop album, but that keeps shit fresh and doesn't allow you to get bored with the track. I'm feeling the layout. It's not over the top, but it isn't too plain either. The front cover has Rick lounging on a nice red velvet couch with his name stenciled on the wall behind him with a crazy picture of some mad scientist looking mother fucker in a lime green background. On the back of the booklet and in the tray features some shots of Rick in various moods in a lime green background with pictures of a girl with her mouth gagged and eyes scratched off with some permanent marker. Makes sense considering there's a good amount of lyrical content that deals with a broken reletionship. Inside the booklet it's pretty standard, it's got all the production credits but no lyrics. Shit, the only hip hop album I can think of with the actual lyrics printed is Cage's "Hell's Winter." I'm liking the little collage shit on the other side of the booklet with some random polaroids, some tattoo artwork and a dope drawing of a betty in a martini glass.
Rating: 4.5/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: Humming In The Sun, Campaign Trail, Umbrellas, Worth Ethic, Bettie Page
Thesis: This is one of those albums that you can get down with right off the bat, but after you give it a few more spins you'll start to put it up in your rotation and really start to love it. Dead serious, there are no "TRUE" weak tracks that will force you to get up and change to another track. From the opening intro to the final words in the Oceans of Ivory Remix this thing is good listening all the way through. Sure there are tracks that stronger than others but there is no filler. I'll be bumpin' this one a lot. Believe it.
P.S.-Damn does Shyste's lines in "Bettie Page" remind me of Eon.