Xrabit + DMGs- Hello World
7/10

Producer Xrabit teams up with Trak Bully and Coool Dundee to create some mad hip-hop straight outta Texas. If you thought The Cool Kids redefined hip-hop with The Bake Sale then think again, Hello World rolls up to the bakery door and walks right on in, belting out fresh cocktails of old-skool beats and witty rhymes. There’s a hint of R ‘n’ B about opening track ‘Damaged Goods’ (which coincidentally is the groups original name) which initially rattles a few feathers, but once your hooked to the beat there’s no looking back. ‘Love Of My Night’ draws a similar reaction, opening with a fantasy style synth line, it sounds very mainstream gangster rap. ‘Are We Friends’ drops it back to basics with a cowbell banged to a classic 80′s synth tune. Afrika Bambaataa’s influence is mixed into the vocals, letting it bounce and flow. ‘My Stereo’ echo’s The Cool Kids and ‘Trak’s Promise’ gets sexy; a love song for the ladies that references Tyra Banks. The whole album can be pulled apart piece by piece, Trak with the old-skool rhymes and Coool with the fast polished raps. It’s lack of aggression in any direction is a tasty treat, despite exploiting some of the usual subjects. ‘Party In My Pants’ doesn’t need any explanation, and while it can quite easily be compared to N.E.R.D, it’s smuttiness is keep within the limits of good taste. Trak and Coool don’t seem to have the urge to bring sexual desire into their hip-hop, it exists in moderation, but it’s rarely a subject they explore in any depth. The final quarter of the album throws a lot of the old-skool techniques out the window, relying more on heavy bass notes and fast MCing than Xrabit’s production. Despite drawing comparisons to many hip-hop MCs and producers, Xrabit and the DMC’s hold themselves together to ensure Hello World becomes part of a new wave of hip-hop artists, taking hip-hop music back to it’s roots and away from the materialism and exploitation that modern hip-hop has become synonymous with.
Nick 

 

Posted by Nick Fulton under Album, Reviews
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