As Mr. Lif continues his quest to get every aspect of American politics off of his chest, he’s seen fit to release a mix of greatest hits as well as a few tracks from his upcoming disc I Heard It Today. Slated to be released at the end of April, it seems that the time this album is ready to hit the streets could serve to give it an even more important position within the political discourse that hip hop as undertaken. I Heard It Today might not end up being a new age Public Enemy disc, but not too many things are. The tracks selected below represent a smattering of past Lif releases, but each in a specific way serve up some much needed dissection of the current political and social state of the United States. And even if you don’t agree with this emcee, he still might be one of the most intelligent, thoughtful and verbally talented dudes in the game.
A bass heavy and stripped down beat finds Lif examining ways in which folks spend money in ridiculous ways. Gold teeth get mentioned, but the refrain, which pertains to having a night of hunger, seems so broadly applicable today that the song being written a few years back is too eerie. Of course that goes for much of the lyrical content here, but all of this only means that Americans have had ample time to address social problems for a great deal of time â?? but we neglected â??em. Opps.
The introduction to this track, which jokingly refers to the jobless problem facing Americans today, belies the truthful representation of how folks are drawn into the American economy. People are seen as soulless consumers and if folks are able, in any way, able to acquire goods, theyâ??re encouraged to do so. â??Work and consumeâ? is how Lif puts it. And unfortunately, for a great deal of America, thatâ??s all there is. But at least thereâ??re some comedic interactions with the boss-man here.
â??Earth Crusherâ? should be considered classic Lif â?? as odd as that sounds. But here, the Boston emcee takes to task the choice of the government to spend billions of dollars on the defense industry and how that will resultantly affect the landscape that people live in. Itâ??s able to examine multiple implications from political to international. Pretty heavy for just under three minutes.
The title track off of the upcoming disc, an introductory skit explains that the American Dream is dead. Most of the track is devoted to housing issues destroying peopleâ??s lives across the nation. But the vocal snippets throughout the track come directly from people that Lif met in his neighborhood and convinced, somehow, to express their concerns. And while the track is meant to be as much entertainment as education (edutainment), hearing from these various detached voices is almost too unsettling to get through. But thatâ??s the point. These are, more and more, becoming desperate times and those that havenâ??t yet realized it are probably a bit too distant from the daily life that Americans lead.
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