Akrobatik
Absolute Value (Fat Beats)
ESSENTIAL "Kindred"
For the past decade, Boston-based MC Akrobatik has combined fiercely introspective lyrical finesse with supreme musical bounce. "Absolute Value," his confident new album out today, reaffirms his place among hip-hop's best.
He once again brings a progressive socio-political agenda while nodding to the clubs and the streets. Unlike so many peers focused on creating ringtone riffs, Akrobatik has made a coherent, multidimensional album where the songs inform one another and contain recurring themes. He laments the self destructive tendencies of glorifying thug culture and decries government indifference in a Bush-whacked era. He's merciless on the limp state of hip-hop, where the search for weed and paper outstrips the one for truth.
Almost all the tracks work, but a few are simply killer, including "Kindred" featuring Chuck D, which mirrors a slave narrative with a post-Katrina tale. "Rain" is the MC's own inner city blues, while his flowdown with Little Brother, "Be Prepared," is incisive and beat happy. Fellow Perceptionist Mr. Lif shows up for "Beast Mode," and it's a patently insistent, lucid track outside the Clipse, there's not a hip-hop duo with more technique and chemistry.
Some high-profile guests, including Talib Kweli, appear, and there are a number of dynamic producers giving these tracks vision and vitality. Akrobatik often gets overlooked, but hip-hop this good can't be denied. [Ken Capobianco]
Akrobatik plays a CD-release show with Mr. Lif and others at the Middle East Downstairs Sunday.
