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4.0 out of 5 stars
A Super Group With Limitless Boundaries, March 31, 2008
This review is from: The Prelude (Audio CD)
The Mighty Underdogs are a super group comprised of Gift of Gab (of Blackalicious), Lateef The Truth Speaker (of Latyrx) & Headnodic (of Crown City Rockers). Appearances are also made by DJ Shadow, MF Doom, Ladybug Mecca (of Digable Planets), & Raashan Ahmad (of Crown City Rockers). Running in at only 21 minutes, "The Prelude" as an EP to get the listeners salivating for the full-length LP "Dropping Science Fiction" that's slated for release later this year. If the album sounds anything like this EP, hip-hop heads are in for a treat.
1. UFC: United Flow Champions (featuring cuts from DJ Shadow): The beat produced by Headnodic on this one is straight fire. Gift of Gab is spitting bullets like back in the "Melodica" days. The scratching from Shadow is airtight. Lateef delivers the goods as well. A perfect attention grabber.
2. Gunfight (featuring MF Doom): This one features excellent rapping from Lateef over crunchy production from Headnodic, which includes Bass, Guitar, Drums, Moog, and extra percussion from the man himself. Extra guitar is also by G Koop. MF Doom makes a solid appearance here. Gift of Gab is in top form. A nice high-energy banger, and stands out big time.
3. Love Life (featuring Ladybug Mecca): This one changes the EP up a bit with a slower head-nodding beat. Ladybug Mecca comes with an excellent appearance. Gift & Lateef's lyrics match Headnodic's slick production, which includes piano, guitar, keyboards, clavinet, phaser bass & ARP strings. Honestly, it's not my favorite track here, but still very solid.
4. Status Symbol: Gift of Gab rides the beat with excellent rhythm. Headnodic's beat is uniquely enjoyable. Lateef picks up right where Gift leaves off, weaving through the beat nicely. Doesn't quite pack the punch that the first two do, but it's still very alluring.
5. Get Out Of My Life: I love this track. Gift works great with Headnodic's soulful backdrop, which is instantly infectious and unique, thanks to the inclusion synthesizer & ARP strings & moog bass rhythms. It's really quite memorable without coming off pretentiously different. One of my favorites.
6. Bring Me Back (featuring Raashan Ahmad): This is my favorite track. I could listen to this beat all day long, it's that excellent. It's a Headnodic beat, but features excellent cuts from DJ Platurn, and even more excellent vocals from Solas B. Lalgee. Gift & Lateef are in top form. Raashan Ahmad (also of Crown City Rockers) lends one of the dopest verses on the entire CD. I'll be keeping my eye out for this cat.
Overall, this may be the best hip-hop super group you'll hear all year (right along side of eMC). Many of us had heard Lateef & Gift of Gab perform alongside each other several times. But with the inclusion of Headnodic, I'm really digging this new direction of production. It's unorthodox, unique, and highly infectious. And like the name says, he'll definitely keep your head nodding. Needless to say, I'm anxiously awaiting the full-length after this very promising debut.
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