by Blue ScholarsI came late to the Blue Scholars, finding out about them after their superb album 'Bayani' was released, but considering that they are from Seattle and I live in Toronto, I think it was a blessing of the internet that I've heard about them at all.
This, their first album, is incredibly strong for a debut. Sabzi's beats get better with each song, sounding a little low-budget at the beginning of the album, but achieving beauty and perfection around the half-way mark. Sabzi often lets his beats play for a while after the song is over, sometimes for as long as a minute and a half, and this helps to emphasize what a talented producer he is. I love the way the piano and drums continue after 'No Rest for the Weary', as I usually find myself repeating the chorus in my head.
Geologic deserves limitless praise as an emcee. The Blue Scholars don't use sampled choruses. If a song has a chorus or hook, it's up to Geologic to rap or chant it. His songs work just as well as pieces of spoken word poetry, and his lyrics belie a scholarly bent. This album gives the impression that he may be a Marxist, while at the same time making it very clear that he is a politically motivated rapper.
Together, the Scholars offer a blueprint for what hip-hop should be; they eschew the rampant egotism of commercial rap, and instead write about blue-collar themes: family, labour, education, and revolution. The best songs on the album are 'Motion Movement', 'The Inkwell' (a love song to Seattle), 'Burnt Offering', 'Evening Chai', 'Sagaba', 'Life & Debt', and 'No Rest for the Weary.' This last song can be seen as their manifesto.
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