Customer Reviews

Pulse Of The People

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dead Prez are the last of a dying breed in hip hop and for those that don't know they have been putting down politically charged records since their classic debut album Let's Get Free almost a decade ago. Most receently you could hear Stic.Man's production on Nas' Untitled record where he also helped write some songs and choruses. You could tell that album had a Dead Prez feel to it couldn't you???

For comparisons sake (because that's what we do in America...rate and compare things) Dead Prez is most akin to early Ice Cube and Public Enemy (Chuck D ironically appears on this album). They rap with passion and skill looking to enlighten and inspire posiivity and truth. Even though I can accept the message they do tend to come off a little preachy at times but like I said before M-1 and Stic.Man are highly skilled. The production is fitting on most tracks perfectly complimenting the themes and rarely overbearing and drowning out Dead Prez. The songs that I believe deserve the most attention would be the breezy Summertime (the single off the album, NYPD, Running Wild, Life Goes On, Gangster Gangster, and Stimulus Plan. The guests appearances from excellent artists such as Chuck D, Avery Storm, and Bun B surprisingly come off as an afterthought...and rightly so...Dead Prez needs no help whatsoever lyrically on this album.


Overall, this is a very good cd from Dead Prez. Although not mindblowing like Let's Get Free was, it's still a return to form for the group. You should know that this is borderline riot/revolution music as well and is strikingly different from anything you would hear on mainstream radio. This is not safe music. What it is though is one of the best albums of the year that you should definitely check out if you're a hip hop fan. Wake Up.

you can't go wrong with the knowledge you'll recieve from this album and any of their other albums. don't just listen - learn!

"Stimulus Plan" is the song that stands out the most to me. The lyrics are still hard-hitting/gritty and the album sounds more sullen than previous ones. This one sounds like true (cliche, I know)hip hop. (Kinda like Immortal Technique...so I'm guessing DJ Green Lantern can have that effect). I went to the album release and I am not disappointed!

This LP has not only great music but amazing subject matter. This is what Hip Hop was meant to be. So many of us miss the hey day of PE. This LP comes close to that feeling. What I love about these guys they are so in your face with the subject matter.

Dead Prez are political rap's golden boys. They first made it on the underground rap scene's radar with their 2000 album "Let's Get Free," a manifesto attacking the public school system and materialism and advocating self-discipline and veganism, and they've still got the fire that made that a classic. Their latest is called "Pulse of the People," and while the uninitiated may find it a little, um, goody goody, fans will find it as a continuation of Dead Prez's stirring political movement.

On the first listen, some beats and choruses reveal the mainstream concessions DP has made since Let's Get Free. There are no light strings or flutes backing M1 and stic.man here, just heavy, even industrial-sounding base and electric guitars. And the choruses are increasingly simplistic and chanted ("Though things are getting tougher every day/When there's a hustle there's a way). If you can roll with that, you'll enjoy what they're doing on the verses. Same flow, same conscientiousness, same Dead Prez.

A breakdown of some highlights:

Summer Time is a Happiness type single, where our narrators take us through a beautiful summer day in the lives of the urban working class. It's all it should be: upbeat, catchy, and light.
Helpful is one of POTP's best songs, but it suffers from the pontifical leanings of the group. Where songs like Be Healthy and, of course, Hip Hop, hammered points home with a clever and catchy delivery, a lot of that is lost now, given background importance to make room for more self help advice. Even as a fan of Dead Prez's ideas, this pattern of KRS-One type moralizing can get me resentful.

$timulus Plan is political awareness done right. It feels good to hear a rap song about the economy by people who actually have some idea of what's going on. Of course, this song is mostly about the general economic troubles faced by the poor, cemented by the chorus of: "make your own stimulus plan;" maybe next time we can get a specific position out of the duo.

Check it out for yourself.

When you buy a Dead Prez album, you already know what you're going to get. Deep, though provoking and inspiring lyrics.

Check

Production by Green Lantern is dark, a bit gritty on this release. Normally its not a big deal for me.

However, this go round, a few songs could have benefitted from a more polished instrumental. A Dilla mix or two if you will.

Otherwise, because its the RBGs we're talking about, I'd buy their albums if they started spitting them acapella

Like I said, listen to the lyrics and prepare to get some education, strong perspectives on important social issues and very strong opinions with substance.

Like they say, if that's what you want and need, Turn off the Radio and go get this. I'm sure some DJs are going to get their hands on the material and mix it how they want to in the upcoming months.

Don't be surprised to hear some sick remixes and sound bytes showing up from this LP soon

I've never been this disappointed with a cd purchase; not so much because it isn't any good, but because I was expecting so much more. The lyrics are good(consistent with their old content) but DJ Green Lantern really F#%^ed this one up. The beats are hackneyed and annoying, and the short background-phrases are too repetitive. I feel like he tries way too hard and goes overboard with the beats; it's too much. Frankly, DJ Green Lanterns production sounds much more cinematic than geared towards the artists. Just imagine listening to a soundtrack for a movie trailer with Dead Prez lyrics dubbed over for an hour straight. Thusly, I'm sure Ill rarely ever listen to this cd. :(

Dead Prez has been underated and left for dead for years. He continues to put out quality music and get absolutely no fan-fair or airplay, unless you listen to XM/Sirus radio channel 40. Pulse of the People is an excellent album. "Summer Time" is an absolutely awsome and a track that you will keep rewinding over and over. With a Teddy Pendagrass sample, this song is a perfect jam. This should have been the summer anthem, like DJ Jazzy Jeff's and the Fresh Prince Summertime track from the summer of 1991. DJ Green Lantern's productions skills are all over the album. Cuts like "Don't Hate my Grind" shows gritty realism,and "$timulus Plan" hits home big time. Not all of the tracks are classics, but they are worth listening to.

The lyrics in this album are amazing! I mean really good stuff, what you'd expect from Dead Prez. However the beats are crap. And this being music, I tend to expect... well music. A lot of them aren't bad, for the first 30 seconds... but they are SO repetitive that it's annoying. A lot of the hooks are too. Annoying that is. I really did expect more from DP. As did the other two reviewers here, but they were to scared to tell the truth. I'm sorry, I love Dead Prez, but I hate this album. The two stars it DID earn are purely for lyricism. Had it been an acapella album like the other dude said, I would have given it 5 stars. But it's not, the beats are whack. And I keep listening to it over and over because I don't want to hate this album... but it speaks for itself.