Mike-E & the [g] rap crew

Description

The self-titled debut album by the American hip-hop group Mike-E & the [g] rap crew was released on Reunion Records in 1991, manufactured and distributed by Word. The album was recorded and mixed by Mike Poole and Steve Bishir at OmniSound Studios, Digital Recorders, and The Money Pit in Nashville, Tennessee; with Mike-E (a.k.a. Michael Ellis Wright), Jet Penix, and Cedric Caldwell producing. Programming and sampling by Dann Kellerby.

Between the shout-out style of harder, street-focused M.C.s and the soulful smoothness of more pop-conscious rappers is the rhyme style of Mike-E, protege of Michael W. Smith on his latest tour. On this debut, Mike-E and his crew go beyond the expectations put forth by his two numbers during Smitty’s costume change.

The hype on Mike-E is his dual talents of dropping funky lyric science and the guitar lines he can turn out to top them. Whitecross this ain’t, but when Mike picks up his axe, you can count on a sound reminiscent of a refined kind of Sly Stone or early ’70s Funkadelic vibe. He kicks the power chords most effectively in «Rhyme in the Rhythm» and the Peter Gunn-swiping «I Rap for the Man».

Fine, but can the guy rap? Certainly, in a style smooth enough for the ladies (check the quiet storm marriage proposal of «L.O.V.E.»), tough enough for the hardcores («Power» even samples Public Enemy!) and with the range to convincingly beller over post-Beasties/Run DMC metallic hip-hop («I Got Straight») or glide over a swingbeat/house variant («Housin»).

Crazy hyped as all this is, he ends less than satisfactorily on «Last Daze», where slower delivery and unlikely Armageddeon scenarios are a tad too cutesy behind another dope groove and sizzling guitar work.

Nine out of ten is a better average than many, though, and it points to an even heavier follow-up. Mike-E is pop at heart (he’s on Reunion, remember?), but he can hold his own among the gangstas with his G-Rap. [Jamie Lee Rake, CCM, September 1991]

CD tracklist:

01. I Rap For The Man – 3:31
02. 3 + Me – 4:28
03. L.O.V.E. – 5:04
04. Housin’ – 4:49
05. I Got Straight – 4:05
06. Rhyme In The Rhythm – 4:30
07. Kick The Message – 3:47
08. Power – 4:23
09. G-Rap – 5:16
10. Last Daze – 5:21

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Reunion Records.

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