Published on Jul 15, 1999
These days, it seems like everyone wants to be Rage Against The
Machine. They might not have the strong political messages like
Zack De La Rocha writes, but many bands are striving to mix the
worlds of metal and hip-hop together into one happy family. (I
wonder if anyone would have tried this had the collaboration
between Anthrax and Public Enemy been a failure.)
For the group Rhythm Trip, such a merging of styles is
completely natural, and their latest album,
Return Of Da’ Dragon, is all the evidence you need. Although
the language gets a little strong at times and the reliance on
guest rappers is way overdone, the final project is a surprisingly
fun album to listen to, and may just lock you into a groove that’s
hard to break out of.
This New Jersey-based sextet (which was co-founded by former
M.O.D. guitarist Tim “T” McMurtrie) works in original music with
only the slightest reliance on samples (most of which are for vocal
pieces only) – a refreshing change of pace in the rap/hip-hop
world. Where the band’s strength lies is in creating a song that is
not only lyrically solid, but has a strong musical foundation as
well. Tracks like “Illznik,” “Warpath” and “Da Good Life” all
impress on many levels, occasionally working in touches of funk as
well.
While it’s hard to tell when the guest vocalists come into the
mix (especially if you’re not looking at the liner notes), I still
found myself wishing that only the band, with maybe the occasional
female vocal on choruses, had led the lyrical charge on
Return Of Da’ Dragon. This is something that bugs me on
almost every single album in this genre that I listen to, possibly
meaning that I should just get used to it.
While I am no prude when it comes to language, I do have to
wonder if the constant use of profanities on
Return Of Da’ Dragon was absolutely necessary. Had it only
been a few instances, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought;
the problem was, there were a few times I almost thought I was
listening to gangsta rap the way the words flowed. Rhythm Trip is a
killer musical unit with excellent songwriting and lyric writing
skils; reliance on the obscenities is too easy.
All of this said, good luck trying to control yourself on tracks
like “Goddess,” “Boogie Da Bang Bang” and the title cut; all of
these are evidence that Rhythm Trip has the skills to become a big
player in the field (especially with the continued wait for the
next Rage Against The Machine album; a few more albums like Rhythm
Trip’s, and we might not notice the new RATM when it does come
out.)
Return Of Da’ Dragon is a wonderful mixture of hip-hop
culture with the power of metal and funk – though it’s not an album
for the kiddies.