God Save The King
What happened to conscious hip hop? When was the last time you heard an emcee spend time on a record encouraging the economic, political and intellectual growth of the people? Producer and emcee Dume41 misses it too, which is why he couldn’t turn his back on the true school boom bap aesthetic he grew up on. Enlisting the help of the “Holy Ghost of Northwest Hip Hop” Specs One for two energetic appearances on the microphone and Seattle’s own deck masters, The Elefaders for all turntable work, Dume releases his thirteen track opus, “God Save The King” on December 1st, 2008. Production is handled by Dume himself, with three tracks produced by long time collaborator Rok Soulo.
In keeping the guest appearances to a minimum, Dume leaves room to write coherent songs that consistently deliver topical content. The album, stocked full of grime , chopped phrases and moving melodies, will be available for purchase from Amazon.com and CDBaby.com for $12.99.
The first of single “Lotus Throne” is available for free download at, soundclick.com , mp3.com, and garageband.com.
Dume41, who started crafting songs in 1990, is also working on projects With King Khazm (of 206 Zulu and Cyphalliance) legendary producer and emcee, Specs One and Giant Squid Beats. He produces, mixes and masters music and can be contacted at www.freshchoppedbeats.com.
What are the critics saying?The Wu-Tang reference is an apt one when discussing the new album by Dume41, a rapper/producer from Seattle, because, while the music is not in the RZA mold, the lyrics follow the WTC blueprint to a large extent. His voice and flow are a mixture of Masta Killa, Killah Priest, and a little bit of Del tha Funkee Homosapien, in that he has a deep, sonorant vocal tone and a rambling flow that is very deliberate in its pace. His visual style of lyric writing is also reminiscent of the extended Wu-Tang family, as he strings together vivid descriptions to create a verbal tableau of picturesque scenes for listeners. The way he interweaves religious imagery and socially conscious themes also resonates with the Staten Island crew, even if his lack of brutal content does not.
The beats go in an entirely different direction, evincing a love for the pre-Wu-Tang era East Coast underground. The album is full of breezy samples – some light acoustic guitar finger-picking ("The Restaurant"), a lazy piano loop ("Half-Life (The Orange Box)"), airy horns and finger snaps ("Built Eternal"). The atmosphere is not at all light-hearted, as this description might indicate, which is a credit to Dume's ability as a producer to create a particular mood with his beats, but it is also due to his solemn presence as an emcee over this music. Dume is quite talented at delivering moral admonitions couched within quasi-narratives of personal struggle, as he does on the aforementioned "Half-Life," which he begins by intoning, "Wisdom is your heritage, so do not waste your boyhood, precious boy."
- Rap Reviews (rapreviews.com)Buy the Album
We prefer you to buy the album from CDBaby because they love artists. It is also available on Amazon.
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The track listing is as follows:
Title | Producer |
| Luminous | Rok Soulo |
| Half-Life (The Orange Box) | Rok Soulo |
| Aesthetics f/Specs One | Dume41 |
| Lotus Throne | Rok Soulo |
| The Restaurant | Dume41 |
| Pulamic | Dume41 |
| Puladeck | Dume41 |
| Built Eternal | Dume41 |
| Overpros f/Severe | Dume41 |
| Drinks In Medina | Dume41 |
| Geminon (The Clever Pair) f/Specs One | Dume41 |
| Sith Science (Sub-Zero Transmogrification) | Dume41 |
| Universal Savior | Dume41 |
Preview this album at http://www.samsquad.com/music