Mr. Lif reviewed
Mr. Lif
Mo’ Mega
(Definitive Jux)
For his third album, Mr. Lif’s conscious hip-hop skips around from high-minded economics to the bedroom to the ultra-personal.
Lif has never been one to shy from ambition (his Emergency Rations was one of the first hip-hop records to question Bush policy following 9/11), but his ideas outpace him on Mo’ Mega. Still spraying rhymes in monotone like an automatic weapon, the first half of Mega is textbook reading of every financial injustice facing the lower classes today. Heady and frequently hard to piece together, it’s here the reckless comparisons to Chuck D and KRS One fail; Lif’s style isn’t nearly as impactful. But when he digs inside on the final two cuts, “Lookin In” and “For You,” both of which are addressed to his son, he hits black community nerves that require his personal insight. Strenghtened by personal ties, when begging “Please don’t be like your grandpa/stand tall,” the brain convinces us there is a heart.
— Kevin Keegan
Appearing: June 24th at Abbey Pub in Chicago.
