Review: Deep Thinkers "Necks Move" Album



Recently in XXL Magazine, 50 Cent talked about how he doesn’t care about the art of hip-hop; for him it was all about the cash, nothing more. Recently, RIME Magazine had a theme of hip pop vs. hip-hop. On one side of the spectrum are the rappers like 50 who rap about money, clothes and hos, and on the other side of the spectrum are the 4 elements-the graf writers, the MC, the breaker and the DJ.

Whereas 50 is all about the money, clothes and hos, Deep Thinkers are all about the elements. Listening to this album, there is so much to take in. Complex jazz grooves and exotic sounds dominate as there is much more to this music than just the beat and who produced it. The rhymes and messages that lay within the mix are such that I wish that in this day and age of Bush’s Pax Americana, all MC’s should be talking about such subject matter.

Deep Thinkers come from Kansas City, but they are far from the thugged out hardcore gangstas hyped up Murder Dog magazine or Vell Bakardy. They also are not like Tech Nine, the other MC who has come out of Kansas City as well. Unlike Tech, these artists are part of a bigger movement; a bigger scene of Kansas City hip hop. In their first song of the album, “Building”, they talk about the building of this new scene.

The lyrics are very real for this day and age, like in “Bottled Slaughter”: The rich go on vacation, poor on parole, probation or prison”. I like this lyric in “Stand Strong”: “Try to sugarcoat slavery and the land they stole” The themes of the songs are deep as well; in the song “Here 1 Minute” they rap about the temporary nature of life especially in the hood, and “Stand Strong” is a jam about doing what you gotta do despite the problems that you run into.

This is great underground hip hop especially for people who are mad about the state of hip hop and even the state of the world today. I like this group because they strive to be different and to make music that is complex and goes beyond the Lil Jon krunk beats, the Kanye West sped up voices, or the imitations of big name producers so popular today. Not only that, they pratically shyt on all the trappings of today’s hip hop, rapping against what they call the hip hop “fashion magazines” like the Source and XXL, and the retail stores like Sam Goody. I hope that this group keeps doing what they are doing, no matter how unpopular it is, and in the end, hopefully, people will catch on.

Check out the Deep Thinkers Blog at www.myspace.com/deepthinkers
Check out the Deep Thinkers record label site: www.daturarecords.com
Download the album off Emusic!
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Thanks to Willis at Datura Records for giving me a copy of the CD!