If you are anything like me the current state of hip hop has left you empty...and in need of serious satisfaction.
Gone are the days of the hypnotic beats and rapid fire prose of RZA and his clan of prophetic poets...machine gun blasts of lyrical mysticism wrapped in an unmatched ability to grind the street knowledge into the kung fu stylings of the ancient clan.
The East Coast, West Coast feud that fueled the up rise to such heavy weights as Tupac, and Biggie Smalls have seeming been relegated to the remix shelves...fodder for so many up and coming You-Tubers trying to splice bits of the past together to recapture the glory days of old.
Now we have the Hip POP industry...money making super machine...void of creativity...building "tunes" that are easily consumed, for a download generation who have been taught to do nothing more then chew on that which they are told is "best". Sure we have faces from the past still in the mix...Jay Z, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and up until recently Gang Starr (RIP Guru)...but are they the same...the pathfinders moving the style into new and exciting places never imagined until THEY brought it! Terraformers, clear cutting the old to make room for the every expansive future.
Well, the future has arrived and boy is it disappointing!
Enter...
Jedi Mind Tricks!
In the hay day of the surreal crews JMT slides in matching and surpassing not only the power but the lyrical prowess of any top draw of the time. Since 1996 Vinnie Paz and DJ Stoup the enemy of mankind have ground out a gritty style matched by no other artists in hip hop history. They're use of classical movements in a mutated deep base back beat put DJ Stoup on the same level as RZA when it comes to creative production. While Vinnie Paz's harsh and guttural delivery put him in a class that has not existed in hip hop's past present, and I dare say future.
Beginning with The Psycho-Social (1997), and culminating in the recent release of A History of Violence (2008), this masterful group has perfected the most unique and refreshing style that this writer has ever heard.
Lyrically, musically, stylistically...this crew IS what hip hop is all about. WAR rap lives strong with JMT. It is my humble opinion that without creative risk takers like JMT the Hip Hop industry would be devoid of any sort of creativity.
If you are in need of REAL Hip Hop...look no further then Jedi Mind Tricks!
www.jmthiphop.com
