The Beat Surrender

This new kid on the Hip Hop block is beginning to make some serious waves in an industry that doesn’t usually take well to white, chubby Canadians. That fact alone shows the skills this young MC must have to be accepted and it can’t be much longer before a major signs him up with Eminem sized dollar signs shining in their eyes, it’s probably already happened!

As it is, independent or not this is a solid and quality debut album with fresh beats and some smart guest appearances.

The slick production is handled mainly by his mentor Domingo (KRS One, Masta Ace) and it all flows along in a classic Golden Age kind of way. Hailing from Montreal, RI has been compared to Rakim and even The Game but his multi-lingual descent and relentless rhyme schemes set him apart from anyone else, and that’s always good in any genre, especially Hip Hop.

His live pedigree speaks for itself from being a finalist at Madison Square Gardens’ unsigned MC battle to opening for Ice-T, De La Soul and the original block DJ Kool Herc among many others. It’s an incredible resume that is virtually unheard of for an underground artist. The album begins with a funked up scat and then into the obligatory ‘rise from the gutter’ introduction on ‘It Is What It Is’ with incessant rolling rhymes that don’t let up.

Rock of Heltah Skeltah joins him on ‘Guaranteed’ with some rugged and rough interaction. Some good use of samples gives a cool old school feel until the chipmunk vocal on first single Biter’s Block. Not sure why it’s used so much these days.

‘DBA’ features The Rugged Man whose holler comes on like Method Man and they both dedicate a nod of De La Soul’s ‘Girls’ to all those “Dirty bitches”. The West Coast sound is in full effect and the colour of this guy’s skin or nationality is irrelevant when spitting joints of this much class, even adding flutes to skipping beats on ‘Gonna Move’

Underrated MC Kool G Rap guests on the successful lead single ‘All Fair’ and they relentlessly attack the vocabulary between them whilst giving nods to classics from past and present. There’s an eastern flavour running through the gangster rap of ‘By Any Means’ giving it originality from your usual street brag. The impressive musical side of things continues but RI’s vocals do tend to be quite monotonous on the second half of the album. His lyrics still hit home but the delivery doesn’t carry enough variation for me.

Continue