Reviewed by Steve Hayes

It is refreshing to get back to the roots of hip-hop with crafted beats, lyricism and an emphasis on the art. Boom-bap beats and scratching from DJ Sean P plus underground, astute and rounded rhymes from the excellent Denver-based Paradox create a project putting the hip back into hop and the hop back into your hips! There's the politically incisive "Here Lies" of political lies, propaganda of government. "Go Outside" and "He'll Come Back" (featuring an array of talent in Braille, Motion Plus and Freddie Bruno) are just a couple of examples of some creative beats and scratching, but pretty much every track drops some serious scratching skills and innovative dug up and re-fashioned beats. "Blessed Broken Shared" featuring Sivion and Sintax sees each MC spit similes and metaphors that track the title track words. "I Don't Believe Them" sees Paradox share some of his lyrical skills as he effortlessly raps and calls out people to clean up and to speak truth rather than the same old lies. "Don't You Know" has a funky edge to it (as does the well chosen end track to some extent, "Lift"), featuring JustMe and Ruslan. As if the vocals weren't enough, the project also features all the tracks as instrumentals. Fans of underground hip-hop and lovers of crafted beats and finely tuned rap will want to search this one out.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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