from the LP …The Utopian Experience, Gee Street Records, 1991Lacing rhymes in a near-whisper to beats that sample soft rock hits, and all done while wearing lavender clothing; these are things that will create a sense of indignation within the maschismo-laden world of rap music, so huge props to P.M. Dawn (brothers Attrell & Jarrett Cordes, aka Prince B and DJ Minute Mix) for flying directly in the face of hip-hop’s prevailing vibe, meanwhile giving us some of catchiest and trippiest beats this side of Tribe! This album was dropped at a time when all kinds of electronic music were still making their way into the hip-hop realm, & these guys were happy to experiment with them, from less successful attempts (I never dug ‘hip-house’) to the burner we have here; the breaks are super phatty, the off-kilter piano stabs satisfy and that bass drop is just deep enough to hypnotize, as are the psychedelic samples care of Melvin Bliss’ “Syntehtic Substitution”.
