By Kyle Kiekintveld
GENRE: HIP-HOP/RAP
LABEL: LA FAMILIA MUZIK
RELEASE DATE: APRIL 20, 2010
RATING: 4 OUT OF 5
La Familia Muzik’s newest release Greetings Earthlings is an album featuring the best of their line up (SYD, Foolish and Ryan Horton) and introduces a few new faces listeners might not be familiar with. It is being both released online and in hard copy, with the hard copy having a bonus disc which is not being reviewed. It is an eclectic high-energy album that resembles the current tastes of secular music, mainly club-style anthems. These are fast pace songs along the lines of Kid Cudi, and Kanye, which unfortunately makes the lyricism feel overshadowed by the house style backdrop.
SYD’s track “Let Us Go” is a perfect example of the vibe of the entire album. It features an addictive beat right out of the house/club scene and lyricism that occasionally pokes fun at the bar/club scene. It doesn’t feel hypocritical but with hindsight being 20/20 it should. It is just a fun song about trying not to live in the material world but living in the spiritual world, trying to strive to be Godly while being surrounded by modern temptations.
Foolish’s track “Crash Me Down” is a strange addition to this album as it is completely down tempo, it is a modern worship track. It is not bad but being on this album, in the midst of modern club songs (Christian or not) it totally destroys the feel of the album. It does have some electronica effects, it is not quite completely acoustic, but it feels woefully out-of-place. That being said it is a beautiful, amazing track that should be listened to, it just feels tragically misplaced in this album.
G-86′s track “Alien” offers some fast, tight lyricism with just one fatal flaw. The track centers around the line ‘Me and the world are not the same I’m an alien’ which feels superficially a bit too close to the Lil Wayne line ‘We are not the same I am a Martian’. Similar lines are a common occurrence in rap but if Tha Carter III is constantly being bumped in your car stereo it might be a bit hard to listen too. Once that hurdle is ignored, forgotten or not noticed the track is pretty tight, it features a great beat, a terrific flow and some real Truth.
“I Give It To You” features the most obvious club beat on the album (which is filled with club beats) and it features the entire cast of La Familia Muzik. It is a solid track with everyone performing at their peak. If one song is sampled before this album is purchased it should be this track. It gives the overall sense of the album and introduces the group and label very well.
Greetings Earthlings is a solid album that is well worth checking out. It is enjoyable from beginning to end (but it does feel like a big hiccup to have “Crash Me Down” on it, as great as the track is) but the whole Christian club anthem thing is hard to grapple with in hindsight. The quality of this album is apparent, the lyricism, the production value is top-notch but it begs the difficult question of is when is a song too Club to be Christian? Is it possible? Test out this album and be tested.
Review title sent courtesy of La Familia Muzik
