A tasteful and fundamentally authentic hip hop album.

Hip hop icon Chuck D is no stranger to the rap game. After 40 years there’s not much the lyricist hasn’t covered, until he married the idea of the rebellion of rock ‘n’ roll with the in-your-face style of old school hip hop. The message he presents is clear: We’re in a cultural, social and political apocalypse, the end times if you will, and this album serves as a wake up call or alarm.

In our opening song, “Radio Armageddon,” we enter this apocalyptic world that takes us back to that classic old school hip hop sound with the drums and record scratches, as well as inserts from radio broadcast, bringing us to this end-of-times scenario that takes us into the Radio Armageddon. Rock ‘n’ roll and old school hip hop and rap are almost cousins in music. A sort of same word different- font scenario, so it’s fitting that the rapper pulls elements and themes from the rock world to further fuel his rebellious armageddon alarm. Challenging the listeners with the question of “What is rock?” he plays with the idea of exploring and mixing major genres stating, “We’re not listening to your definition.”

Altogether the rap pioneer uses his albums to convey messages of a world blinded by noise and distorted by division. Using songs like “New Gens” to speak to hip hop artists of today, he tells them how he loves them, but confesses his knowledge of the fact that rappers today do not have the same respect and love for the rappers of the past. He critiques the messages they share and states that “he’s weird but they’re weirder.” He plays around with these disc jockeys like narrations and breaks in the music to almost recalibrate our brains into this radio armageddon theme to remind us that this isn’t just music for entertainment, this is a message to the masses.

Chuck D flawlessly does what many mainstream rappers attempt but sadly fall short of. He has curated a tasteful and fundamentally authentic hip hop album, while holding a central and clear message throughout the piece. As a result, we’d spin that record again and again.