Truth Universal

With Dilla-esque beats and X-Clan-ish lyrics, the potential for Truth Universal sounds certain, but he unfortunately misses a great opportunity to make fresh, freethinking, positive hip-hop. While his desire is to educate and to inspire, he comes off as self-righteous dilettante. His verses on "Angola 3” are so pedantic and rhythm-less that it sounds like he’s got a Wikipedia window open next to his word processor. The same vibe is emanated off "Black Culture” (featuring Cee-know the Doodlebug and Wise Intelligent). It’s as if an Afro-centric rapper was cryogenically frozen in 1990 and unfrozen 18 years later in a modern day studio. He preserves the same talky-flow that raised rap when it was still a baby, unadjusted for the polysyllabic style of today, still bent on simple rhymes at the tip of each bar. It’s a shame too, because the beats and scratches he gets from his compadres are straight heat.