|
Denver, we have a rising star in our midst. After
just one listen of Input’s
third full-length release A Radio With
Guts, it’s hard to believe this
artist has been at this game called music writing
for only two years, having two albums under his
belt, including Poetry On Top Of Heart Beats
and Elusive Candor.
Teaming with UK’s Abstrakt
on production, from the lyrical contemplation
and reflection to the eclectic and creative lines
of soul, Latin, and heart-pounding hip-hop pulse,
the album’s overall track-to-track presentation
is completely fresh—not in a ‘what
up g’ kinda way, but in the way a crisp
dollar bill feels in your hand, in the way the
60 degree air feels when you open the door to
the street that’s wet from a recent rain,
or the first drink of an ice cold beer with little
slivers of ice floating on top.
This is the thinking man’s (or woman’s)
hip-hop, with an intellectual perspective taken
on a variety of topics that connect to our every
day way of living—“The World’s
On Its Last Breath” takes on the inconvenient
truth of the earth as it is today, or the cheerleading
track for music and its power to take us a better
direction on “Welcome Back.” Input
definitely has a way with those words, “We’ve
lost touch with the importance of feeling / We’ve
lost touch with our keen sense of hearing / It’s
up to music to alter its appearance and reinvent
itself instead of shopping for a clearance.”
While the musical element, the instrumental icing
on the cake, is a big part of any hip-hop song,
the artists that really lead with his or her words
has more pressure on the lyrics than other forms
of music. This is where artists like Slug, Immortal
Technique or Talib Kweli run circles around others
that rely on pop samples and bikini clad/Benjamin
flapping music videos, providing nothing more
than a backdrop for a night of freaking, ear-ringing
commercial radio tunes and bottle service, leaving
one regret, a headache and stench of the mouth
the next morning.
This is not to say that Input is all work and
no play, at least when it comes to the introspective
radar on his own personal day and night treadmill.
“I Don’t Know” puts it out there,
contemplating the numbing aspects of alcohol “I
don’t know how many bottles I’ve taken
part in while waiting for things to get better
/ I beg your pardon / I don’t know how much
whiskey I’ve consumed after splits with
women and waking up in the bathroom.”
Input has guts, there’s no doubt about
that. But without heart, soul and mind, guts only
gets you so far. With an entire embodiment of
what hip-hop is meant to be—a medium to
both inspire, analyze and entertain—Input's
current course will take him far.
dirtylaboratory.com
myspace.com/inputhiphop
-Kim Owens, October 10, 2007
See More Reviews at our
Music Review Archive
|
