Crate Digging: Rip the Jacker

by Canibus

Rip the Jacker, is for me, a seminal album. Listening to it today for the first time in years, it puts me right back to 2003, when I saw it as an example of some of the best hip-hop I knew at the time.

Now is the part in most reviews or write-ups where it becomes necessary to talk about how inconsistent an artist Canibus is, or to talk about his history of very public beefs with other, more established people in the industry. I'm not going to bother with that, preferring to talk about just this album, as if it were the only thing the man ever released (which means I can stay positive throughout).

Canibus is a gifted lyricist, which is clear at just about any point on this album. He name-drops from a wide variety of circles, and mentions people like Stephen Jay Gould and Thomas Kincaid, both of whom have probably never been mentioned on any other hip-hop song. He shows knowledge of history, politics, science, and literature in ways that don't usually exist in hip-hop, and he delivers it all in quick, grammatically complex lines.

The true star of this album though is Jedi Mind Trick's Stoupe (The Enemy of Mankind) whose production sounds as fresh today as it did seven years ago. He provides Canibus with a rich sonic background, even switching up beats as needed on the incredible 11 minute 'Poet Laureate II'.

This is a great album, and remains one of my all-time favourites.
- 2-3 - biblical stuff; self-involved
- 5 - story telling; bouncy beat
7 - awesome beat

A History of Violence

by Jedi Mind Tricks

You have to love these guys. They have become so talented at giving their fans exactly what they want that listening to one of their cds can take you straight back to the early 00's.

Vinnie Paz is hilarious. His voice retains its usual deep, menacing growl, as he spits out violent and intolerant rhymes on one song, and gets all preachy on another (this time railing against media images of women and how they influence young girls - because I guess he'd be a hypocrite if he talked about violence on TV). He loves to shout out people's names, and he can ride a Stoupe beat like no one else can.

As for Stoupe, his beats are still wonderfully barocque, creating a dark, threatening atmosphere, but sounding rather beautiful at the same time. This album avoids some of the excesses of his more recent work, as he instead focusses on providing Paz with lots of space to fill with his large voice. The interludes on this album are not as pretty as some of his past ones, and 'Those With No Eyes' strangely includes a long audio sample of some guy ranting about how bad things are now, which was also used to intro a song on Erykah Badu's most recent album.

This album features the return of prodigal Jedi Jus Allah, sounding one thousand times better than he did on his own boring solo album. It's nice to have him back, as his voice balances Paz's, and keeps the songs from becoming monotonous.

There are the usual Army of the Pharoahs guests, and as usual, they sound pretty good too. This is a great album for the hardcore JMT fan, but it's also got lots to interest more casual listeners. Now we just need Stoupe to drop his solo album (hopefully it's just instrumentals).