The Truth About The Ugly Truth

In light of my recent rant concerning the "death" of good rap lately, I was particularly intrigued by the call to arms from the PR department of Prolyphic & Reanimator.

"Your favorite emcee fell off years ago and since, rap music has been trying to sell you everything from SUVs to happy meals. Major labels rush to clone 2Pac's DNA with increasingly lame results, while former prophets of rap cash in their chips to declare the art form "dead." Prolyphic & Reanimator step into the wasteland with a fresh spark, a chip on their shoulder, and an edge sharp enough to scrape the make-up off with their debut LP, The Ugly Truth (buy)."

Well, I'm not sure if I'd go quite as far as all that, but the couple of tracks they sent over for my listening enjoyment were pretty damn snazzy. "Survived Another Winter” is an urgent, frantic track that does, indeed, have lyrical content well beyond what clothing to wear or champagne to imbibe. The only "problem" is that the sense of urgency, to my ears, is a bit unsettling. This is not a sit back and chill track. This is what one might listen to before training for an upcoming boxing match or maybe the Magic the Gathering world championships. Something like that. If those are the kinds of challenges you find yourself facing these days and you need a track reminiscent of something from the 8 Mile soundtrack, this album just might be for you.

Survived Another Winter