Spring Break
Afro Dz Ak tries to play preacher on 'Elevation'
Joshua Aromin
Issue date: 9/19/08 Section: Entertainment
09/19/08 - If a man you have never met or heard of started preaching to you about society and influence, would you allow him to completely change your views on everything? I surely hope not. But that is exactly what Afro Dz Ak is trying to do.
The New Jersey-based rapper, also known as Pete Shengu, has an incredibly idealistic aim with his debut solo album. His goal, highly ambitious yet very unrealistic, is to try to change the minds of millions without having an established fan base to listen to him.
Laced with enjoyable beats and a jazzy influence, but overpowered by a surplus of anthem-like lyrics, Shengu raps with what often sounds like a personal vendetta against everything that is stereotypically wrong with the rap and hip hop scene.
Every song feels like an attempt to open the audience's mind to something intellectually better than what he supposes is intellectually bad.
The effort in trying to break the norm of rapping about cars, sex, and drugs is appreciated, but it can be done in a less overbearing way. The album feels like an effort to force feed large portions of virtue into an audience that just might not be ready to oblige.
In a way, Shengu is trying to act like Bono without having nearly the same social status.
Throughout the album, it seems the quality of some of his raps have been sacrificed in order to spread Shengu's personal message of changing the world. At times, the rhymes feel forced, unnatural and unoriginal.
The song "Lyrics to Grow" strikes me as a sort of paradox to Shengu's songwriting. In it, Shengu repeatedly tells us, "I've got lyrics to grow." Though the idea of the song is to explain why he writes and that he has so much to write about; the song itself sounds like a corny filler on an album without a true standout hit.
It leads me to believe that maybe he should spend more time growing those lyrics than rapping about having lyrics to grow.
While Shengu raps about his want for change and his desire for societal growth, he and guest rapper Mooks make a major contradiction in the song "Elevation." In one part of the song, Shengu says, "Leave your ignorance outside the club and get ready for elevation."
The New Jersey-based rapper, also known as Pete Shengu, has an incredibly idealistic aim with his debut solo album. His goal, highly ambitious yet very unrealistic, is to try to change the minds of millions without having an established fan base to listen to him.
Laced with enjoyable beats and a jazzy influence, but overpowered by a surplus of anthem-like lyrics, Shengu raps with what often sounds like a personal vendetta against everything that is stereotypically wrong with the rap and hip hop scene.
Every song feels like an attempt to open the audience's mind to something intellectually better than what he supposes is intellectually bad.
The effort in trying to break the norm of rapping about cars, sex, and drugs is appreciated, but it can be done in a less overbearing way. The album feels like an effort to force feed large portions of virtue into an audience that just might not be ready to oblige.
In a way, Shengu is trying to act like Bono without having nearly the same social status.
Throughout the album, it seems the quality of some of his raps have been sacrificed in order to spread Shengu's personal message of changing the world. At times, the rhymes feel forced, unnatural and unoriginal.
The song "Lyrics to Grow" strikes me as a sort of paradox to Shengu's songwriting. In it, Shengu repeatedly tells us, "I've got lyrics to grow." Though the idea of the song is to explain why he writes and that he has so much to write about; the song itself sounds like a corny filler on an album without a true standout hit.
It leads me to believe that maybe he should spend more time growing those lyrics than rapping about having lyrics to grow.
While Shengu raps about his want for change and his desire for societal growth, he and guest rapper Mooks make a major contradiction in the song "Elevation." In one part of the song, Shengu says, "Leave your ignorance outside the club and get ready for elevation."
