Singular debut for the X Clan, a hip-hop group from Brooklyn, New York, composed of MC Jason "Brother J" Hunter, the hype man Professor X, and the producers Claude "Paradise" Gray and Anthony Hardin. The music set is provided by X Clan members.
The production is based on skinny and tight, simple and minimal rhythms, composed of a skeletal, syncopated and vibrant drum machine and refreshed by excellent funky samples from George Clinton music Zapp, and Roy Ayers, as well as some external elements such as Christmas bells, witty scratches or guitar riffs. On these rough boom bap jazzy beats, sometimes obscure, Brother J spits honest, positive and intelligent bars including a wide range of socio-conscious and political topics, focusing especially on Afrocentrism and pro-black themes, inspired by Public Enemy: the rapping of Brother J presents a varied and irregular style, fresh, crisp, flowing, sometimes dope.
The group gains notoriety for the lyrics that heavily promote Afrocentrism, denouncing systemic racism, socioeconomic racism against African Americans, and incorporating references to African-American revolutionaries, as well as Egyptian deities and places, into their writings. Fluid and cohesive political album, whose simple rhythms that recall afrocentric sounds are heightened by the excellent deep lyrics of the group.
Released by 4th & Broadway, distributed by Island Trading Co. (Island Records), towed by the main single "Raise the Flag" #12 on the rap chart, the disk peaks #11 in the rap album chart and enters the pop chart. It's received with suspicion by some music critics, and praised by others, sometimes even achieving perfect scores upon release, being happily rediscovered by retrospectives as one of the freshest albums of the season and then included in The Source's list of the 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time in 1998.
Rating: 8.5/10.
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