By Niki D’Andrea
A couple of months ago, I posted a blog in response to local bands that have complained that we’re not giving them any coverage. I vowed to review every local CD sent to me (in the order they were received) in this weekly “You Asked for It” blog.
If you’re in a local band and would like to submit your Cd for review, please send it to:
Niki D’Andrea ATTN: YAFI c/o Phoenix New Times 1201 E. Jefferson Street Phoenix, AZ 85032
This week’s review is High Speed Chase, an album from local hip-hop group Bomb Legacy.
Bomb Legacy High Speed Chase (Self-released)
Some people complain about the negative messages in hip-hop lyrics -- bemoaning references to gang bangin’, drugs, womanizing, etc., and expressing a desire to hear more “positive” messages. Valley hip-hop group Bomb Legacy raps about something universally positive: sex. The 18 tracks on this album (released in conjunction with BL’s Hardbody Daily) are mostly all seductive missives, whether the MCs are rapping about eating strawberries off a hot girl’s belly against a slow-moving groove (“Get Low”) or more directly, proposing “Let me put my hand in your gut” and “Let me put my love in your gripper” (“Back It Up”). Cheesy and less-than-sexy innuendos aside, Bomb Legacy does a good job of setting such spits against club banger beats. On “Dip It Low,” for example, a synthesized, Knight Rider-ish hook lays the foundation for lines like “I’m addicted to big hooters/When I’m done, you’ll wanna smoke some of that Buddha.” On “Up in the Club,” an exotic female vocal sample straddles another trippy synthesizer hook and hand-clap beat while the MCs rap “I’m talking about the feeling/Try to take her when she’s kneeling.” But my favorite track is by far the wiseass, confrontational “Blah-Blah,” which boasts a catchy chorus hook and vocal samples of a kid going “blah-blah-blah.” Yep, that’s pretty much the bottom line.
Next week’s review: Mark Zubia