Search - Various Artists :: Seditious Jewels

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
Enhancements include videos for MF Doom's "?" and "Dead Bent."
Underground rap label Sub Verse Music's compilation of remixes and rarities Seditious Jewels lives up to both parts of its name. Sub Verse artists tend to prefer the political to the party-hard, and tracks like the Hemisphere's "Run Aways 2," a first-person narrative of a runaway slave's trek, are as sharp and pointed as any political rap of the era. (They're not without a sense of humor, though, as illuminated by the sly wit of "Yikes!!!" by Scienz of Life, who recall the silly/serious vibe of the Native Tongues movement.) However, unlike some political rappers, who either go for the Public Enemy style of sonic overload or else keep their beats so skeletal they're practically non-existent, these 14 tracks use varied and interesting musical beds, from acid jazz piano riffs to MF Grimm's "I Hear Voices 2," which is built on what sounds like the sort of cheesy ARP synth riffs that were played over the introduction and end credits of '70s-vintage industrial safety films. Clever, committed, and musically rich, Seditious Jewels is the perfect antidote to bling-bling overload. ~ Stewart Mason