Search - All Natural :: Second Nature

"Keepin' it real" might be the most horrendously overused phrase in hip-hop, but All Natural are one duo who could hold their heads high should they ever choose to use it. Born and raised in middle-class Chicago, college-educated, and happily confined to small labels, rapper Capital D and DJ Tone B. Nimble never pretend to be anything other than socially aware hip-hop fans from the right side of the tracks. In fact, the only guns 'n hos clichés to make it on their second album are in Capital D's mocking snipes against big-bucks rappers who favor them ("Mr. Sexy," "Elements of Style"), and gold-digging ladies who only give big-bucks rappers the time of day ("Queens Get the Money"). For the most part, though, Capital D puts his extensive vocabulary to the more pressing issues of Chicago and America's social decline ("Ill Advisory," "Chatham," "Uncle Sam"), firing off some spectacularly articulate assaults in the process. Sometimes he over-intellectualizes, rendering rhymes fast, complex, and impossible for even the highest of IQs to unravel. But even when the lyrical flow seems impenetrable, Nimble's sublime selection of down-tempo cinematic backdrops--some sinister, some smooth, some jazz--remain stirring enough to keep the ears and mind totally hooked. --Dan Gennoe