Beats From The Sheets

Most Ron Jeremy look-a-likes can’t bring the funk the way Har Mar Superstar does. It’s just part of the Midwesterner’s package. He’s a rotund rapper who pulls off a swagger all his own without seeming disingenuous. His latest album, The Handler, continues in his tradition of good beats and good times – but without the standout track Har Mar usually offers up.Har Mar knows better than to take himself too seriously, but that does not mean he loses focus when trying to make a song appealing. The album’s third track, “DUI,” is the best example. “When it comes to closing time/Who you gonna crush with a drunken dial…That’s Dialing Under the Influence/When you come home at night/and you had a little too much to drink/This is one thing we all guilty.” Besides sounding eerily alike to Eve’s “Gotta Man,” the song is enough to keep people smiling and dancing at the same time.

Har Mar’s prior forte has been seriously heavy beats with just as serious innuendo laid on top. The Handler is a lighter side of funky from “The boy from Minneapolis.” There are traces of Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, and Madonna woven into various tracks. This album seems more suitable for group grooving out on dance floors rather than playing during less crowded interpretations of the no-pants-dance. And funk is best served in heavy doses.

Har Mar Superstar is about good times, but they don’t seem to come as effortlessly as they have in the past. Maybe it’s time to hang up the 70’s ‘stache. But while this album is no must have, Har Mar remains a must-check-out.