Get To Know H.E.R.

Hits: Voyagers, Mudgreen, L.A.V.A., Sirens, Chrono Trigger, Lunar Illusion, Treasure Hunt, A Mind On A Ship Through Time

Strikes: Mustard Seed Celebration

Balls: Introlude, Speak-O-Vision, Vandalism, Orange Penicillin

Last year, Panacea, which is comprised of Raw Poetic and K-Murdock, dropped what I consider to be one of the finest releases of 2007. I’m sure that I wasn’t the only one that thought so, since blogworld was full of praise for this underground duo from DC. As such, I was surprised that this album dropped as quietly as it did. No promotion whatsoever and one day it was just there. But that’s beside the point because, quiet release or not, what we have is a new Panacea album on our hands and that’s always something to be grateful for.

As far as Raw Poetic goes, his rhymes are what you would come to expect from him by now. I wouldn’t put him near the greatest, but he gets the job done and he has one of the more enjoyable flows of any rapper out today (IMHO). However, as good of a rapper as he is, he does need a captivating beat to be engaging to the listening audience. This of course, is where K-Murdock’s production comes in. Before I say anything else, I will say this. K-Murdock’s beats are absolutely beautiful. They have a futuristic sound, with touches of jazz here and there and the resulting sound calms the mind and takes it into another plane. Genius.

However it is also in the production where this album’s minor problems lie. The beat may be fantastic and the rhymes may be on point, but sometimes it feels like the two are completely out of synch. There are some songs (Mustard Seed Celebration in particular) in which the beat totally overpowers the rapper. Then there are songs such as Speak-O-Vision in which the Raw Poetic’s energy doesn’t match with the calm soundscape of the production (although the beat does pick up in the end). Individually, the two artists comprising this duo are very talented and more than capable of creating great music. However, when together, they do need to work around each other and do need to fix their chemistry on a couple of songs.

All in all though, I did enjoy listening to A Mind On A Ship Through Time. Its calming sounds are very different from most hip hop coming out these days, and it provides for a refreshing 46 minutes. If you enjoyed their 2007 release, there’s really no excuse no to give this one a try. I look forward to future releases from this group.