C.R.A.C - The Piece Talks (Album)
By definition, you'd expect that a rap record would have something to say. In the first 8 minutes of C.R.A.C.'s (pronounced crass) The Piece Talks there is nothing but exactly that: talk. A whole lot of fronting, bad skits and an inexplicable piece of cutesy indie pop thrown in as a backing to their mission statement ("get paid!"). Track 3 is driven by a Jaydee style Detroit beat that chews up another 4 minutes with only two short verses. Next track, Major Way has a great beat but it seems to be wasted by more egotistical name checking, lacklustre rapping and so the sketch is filled out.
C.R.A.C. stands for Collect Respect Anna Check. I haven't seen the latest data on what gets Respect and maybe there is some new style of hip hop where it is sufficient to tie together a bunch of short instrumentals, interludes and a couple of half decent tracks and call it a record. Even on the Madvillian record, where the tracks are also brief, the quirky MF DOOM does not waste any time and fills all the tracks with his unique lyrical perspective. Not here: the longest track is the Credits.
What is good on the record? Among song "street" elements (drug dealing and pimp references) you're spared from T.I. blips or Dr. Dre synths. The beats are nice. Toward the end it picks up a little with the tracks Pop Dem Boyz channelling Big Daddy Kane and Chill which recalls some early ninties Pete Rock/C.L. Smooth. Some interest is also provided by Bullet Through Me which sounds like a gangsta George Clinton/Funkadelic out take.
I probably don't like this record because it has no relevency to anything in my world-view. On Cotton they describe the typical C.R.A.C. listener as "2 percent Jewish, 98 percent doofus/ white wash surburban/trying to tell a nigger in hood how to be conscious, neo-soul novice" and so on. Tongue in cheek? First drafts of this review had a whole paragraph dedicated to moralising the lyrics. But I know nothing of what goes on in the life of C.R.A.C. and don't want to tell them how to collect respect. Could I just throw this CD in my car and jam it? As good as the beats are, because of the length of the tracks, everything sounds quite disjointed. So, in the wash up, this piece may talk but not to me.
