Lumumba "Professor X" Carson made his solo debut at the age of 35 years old. A couple of years ago he tries the success along with Claude "Paradise" Gray as the duo Unique and Dashan releasing "Black to the Future" LP through Warlock Records, disk fell flat and that was ignored by critics and fans alike. Son of an activist, technical shoulder of the X Clan, he tries to repeat the success that the group had had with the debut of the previous year, however it doesn't affect: his political, socio-conscious, philosophical and pro-black speeches are missing of verve, also due to an inadequate production.
The funky rhythms chosen by X Clan for the preacher are tight, skinny and all too simple, the drum machine is never seriously busy and its spoken delivery soon becomes boring, not even that hip house filler halfway through the album ("Vanglorious Crib") revives it. The last joint, which presents Afrika Bambaataa and other choristers in the background, although not credited, deserves an honorable mention: simple rhythm, lean and tight like the others, but here cheerful, festive and slow, with a female soulful hook and an extravagant bridge. One between Lisa Figueroa and Sandy Leonard, but I really can't say who, she allows herself the only rapping lines of the whole project.
Released by 4th & Broadway, distributed by Island Records, this tape, as happened with that of his duo Unique and Dashan, goes basically ignored and does not allow him to start a solo artistic career, even though the boy tries again a few years later by publishing a second solo LP, this time with Polydor, but with the same commercial and critical results.
Rating: 6/10.
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