The Mighty Underdogs
BY Chris Randle
November 19, 2008 09:11
A backpacker alliance comprising Lateef the Truth Speaker, Gift of Gab and producer Headnodic (of Crown City Rockers) is an intriguing proposition, especially as both Lateef and Gab have mostly kept their heads down for the past few years. But the results suggest that this is one of those super-teams with no animating purpose beyond a shared gimmick (like “have wolf powers” or “are Canadian”). Way too many songs come off as bad parodies of themed indie-rap records, from a rubber-creature rampage (“Monster”) to Wild West shootouts (“Gunfight,” seemingly drawing upon late-period Will Smith). MF Doom’s guest verses on the latter only underline this disc’s surfeit of cringeworthy play-acting — a few joints here just sound like stunted clones of entire Doom-related concept albums. The principals don’t completely embarrass themselves, but they don’t connect much, either — Lateef does his unruffled lyrical resolve thing off in a corner somewhere, while Gab performs the verbal equivalent of silly walks. It’s an irresponsible waste of their mutual powers.
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