4 out of 5

Label: Rhymesayers

Produced by: J Anderson, co D Parker

Out of the small cache of Rhyemsayers releases I own, Prof’s Liability has the owner of including a fare share of Most Likely To Be Mistaken For a Radio Hit tracks.  It’s a surprising release from the on-the-cusp Rhymesayers, who, although probably the biggest and most influential of the indie hip-hoppers, have maintained a generally backpacky vibe to their roster, with breakout artists like Atmosphere or P.O.S. or Brother Ali making their names with more defined poetics or politics.  The albums are generally riotously fun, overall, with mainstays of the genre like bragging and battle tracks still inevitable, and by no means avoiding talking about niggers and bitches on occasion.  But Prof still stands out.  Because almost every song on here has a reference to… less contemplative stuff, using the kind of crass slang we’re used to hearing bleeped out on the radio.  The other artists mentioned above are clearly indie, despite delivering completely accessible goods.  But spin up Liability and it won’t be just the scenesters’ ears pricked up amongst the listeners: it’s impossible not to be drawn in, and if I had any idea what clubs were like, presumably to start dancing as well.  I’m not sure how Prof isn’t an all-star at this point, if perhaps simply due to lack of exposure.

…And that more dedicated listens and reading of the lyric sheet do open it up a bit.  I mean, the production and beats are just sick.  The range of sounds and mixing on the album are up there with Ecid’s ever-expanding creativity of aural delights (which, sidenote, makes Ecid that much cooler since it’s one dude versus the gaggle of people who worked on Liability).  You can just coast by grooving on the driving beat of each track, but put it on some headphones and the amount of bells and whistles going on on almost every song is intensely awesome, and absolutely enriches the listen without distracting.  But Prof’s tendency to rhyme with swear words and talk about titties distracts from how quick-witted and varied his lyrics are, taking a note from Kool Kieth and letting his mind swerve into babble if it serves the beat and yet still, somehow, maintaining his general direction (although, yes, that direction is normally pointed out with his wiener).

The thing that seals this all together, though?  Prof sounds like he’s having an insane amount of fun.  It’s infectious.  As P.O.S.’s energy overcomes his sometimes eye-rolling political leanings, so does the laughter and joy burbling ‘neath this recording carry over and make all the crassness and props enjoyable.  The flipside of this is that the sequencing is completely tarnished by the disc’s last four tracks, which all seem to take a stab at being a bit more serious.  Taken separately, any one of those tracks could’ve closed out the album, but strung together it’s an incredible downer.  I appreciate having too much material, but in this case, spreading out some of those tracks or dumping a couple to keep the pace going could’ve made this a perfect listen from start to finish.