Polyrhythm Addicts, Break Glass

reviewed by dave heaton

Woe to the wrongheaded critics who try to paint hip-hop artists as either “positive” or “gangsta.” There’s plenty – the majority, maybe – whose chief focus is to hip-hop as an artform. The second LP from the 3 MCs + one DJ crew Polyrhythm Addicts is a prime example of dedication to hip-hop itself, as music and culture. The MCs – Mr Complex, Shabaam Sahdeeq and Tiye Phoenix – are all gifted at rhyming, without carrying about gimmicks or pushing any particular message. There’s little storytelling, no deep messages. A few welcome guest MCs (others true-to the art: Large Professor, Pharaohe Monch, Planet Asia and Phonte), but the album’s not overloaded with them. There are some personal dedications (“Thoughts of You”, “Get Ghost”), some tracks about surviving life’s rougher side. But mostly it’s about the rhymes themselves, crafting and delivering them. And everything is tight and seamless: the rhymes and DJ Spinna’s down-to-basics tracks, with one level of atmosphere added to hard-hitting beats. The metaphors they use involve smashing tracks, setting fires, and reaching forward. The album won’t inspire explode your mind, but it’s impressive for their drive and dedication, their knowledge of hip-hop’s past and their living-in-the-now embodiment of that in the present.

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