Most of the time, the first thing I notice about a rapper is their rhyme scheme. I'd even go so far as to say that it is the single most important thing about lyricism, and those artists that do go above and beyond in that aspect (MF DOOM, Tonedeff, Sadistik, Gift of Gab, Earl, Big Pun, etc.) make up almost all of my GOAT list. However, there are some artists that can get away with a shoddy rhyme scheme on the grounds of strong storytelling and emotion. And I'm happy to say Grieves fits right in with this category.
Many people are quick to label Grieves as emo-rap, but I, a proud resistor of labels, prefer to group him into whatever category you'd stick late-Atmosphere into. Indeed, at his best, Grieves sounds a lot like Slug in that he's more interested in putting together concepts and stories than having consistent rhyme patterns. Something he also does very well is something I'd previously only seen Tonedeff accomplish; he basically sticks several metaphors end-to-end and runs through them to produce a larger theme.
Really, my only complaint about Grieves here is that sometimes he tries to bring his production to the forefront, instead of letting it slip into the background where it belongs. Still, most of the time it fits his style of writing beautifully, although I would love to see him team up with Ant or Kid Called Computer to see what they could do.
In conclusion, you should go out and buy/download/steal this album as soon as possible, especially if you're a fan of The Family Sign. It's a strong contender for album of the year, and a more-than-worthy successor to 88 Keys.
Final Rating: 9.5/10
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By Crakpot
http://crakpothiphop.blogspot.com/
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