I don’t care what anyone says…the pop singers of the 90’s were far superior to whatever the hell the kids are listening to today. A greatest hits album of The Backstreet Boys s#### all over anything that One Direction, Selena Gomez, or The Jonas Brothers have released. I’ll admit, if God put me in a cave and gave me 24 hours to think of the name of a song by either of these artists, I wouldn’t be able to. (I do remember that One Direction had a song a while back that was all over the radio, but I can’t even remember the name of it at the moment, honest to God). Why don’t I just Google it right now, you ask? Because my mother taught me not to waste time looking for waste. Whatever it was, I’m 100% sure it couldn’t hold “I Want It That Way’s” metaphorical jockstrap. Which, if you think about it, is the ultimate diss. Not a lot of people would want to hold another person’s jockstrap even if they really could carry it, but not being able to hold something that doesn’t really exist is the lowest of the low.
Honestly, the previous paragraph (or rant) is 1 degree away from being a non sequitur, or maybe less, as it doesn’t have all that much to do with superHero. But unlike a lot of 90’s babies, superHero definitely don’t take themselves too seriously, and their debut album, entitled The Middle, is reminiscent of Kidz In The Hall combined with Madvillian MF DOOM and a splash of Madlib during the Quasimoto days. I won’t lie, when I first saw the video of “Lifted,” I missed the dope music being played because I was so distracted by the outfits. However, these dudes, hailing from Hotlanta (the birthplace of some of the most unique acts of the genre) have skill. Stripped down lyricism with a few flashy frills, superHero has, appropriately enough, a superhero theme, with the duo never hesitating to sample from classic superhero movies and share their love of the genre. It makes for cinematic listening a la early Wu-Tang records, and adds a further degree of pizzazz to the duo’s arrangements.
Beyond the pizzazz effect (after all, what really is pizzazz?) superHero are brashly pushing the boundaries on what hip hop can be by ushering in an extra level of aggression to make their beats all the more engaging, and furthermore, inspiring. With The Middle, essentially, superHero have optimized their lyrical content and implementation of hooks to put together a package the world has yet to witness. There is something strangely gravitational about what superHero do on The Middle, making for some of the most enjoyable hip hop I’ve heard this year.
You can stream The Middle below:
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As always, if you are feeling superHero, make sure to track their movements on the interwebs:
Websites:
Official: http://trt-music.com/
Twitter: @blckkevin, @Protege_AoS
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trtmusic
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/trt-music