| Labtekwon's biggest problem appears to be the fact that no one knows who the hell he is... and they should. It can be argued that this Baltimore MC is the most unjustly slept-on rapper in underground hip-hop. With Song of the Sovereign, Lab's Mush Records debut, he has the potential to expand his audience tenfold. The ironic thing is, Song of the Sovereign is a compilation album, a career retrospective that reflects material he's been recording since 1993. Labtek's delivery is varied, coming at you hard and knowledgeable like KRS-One one moment, laid back like Q-Tip on the next, and ruminating like a beat poet at others, dropping verses replete with "Five Percent" ideology and "Labteknology." "Why all my role models get assassinated / Why was my forefathers castrated / As the ozone thins, it gets colder / I don't belong here / I was stolen / You're goddamn right there's a chip on my shoulder." To his credit, however, Lab doesn't alienate listeners with his black-man-as-original-man rhetoric, appealing instead to anyone willing to listen through his scholarly approach and intellect. And unlike many emcees with a lot to say, he uses the sound of his voice and the ebb of his flow to add to the musicality of his songs. Musically, Lab keeps it sparse with simple, heavy basslines and between-verse embellishments. This Sovereign's words don't get lost. - CMJ |
2XLP/Out Of Print