Exit Path – Lab Rat (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

If you are one of those people who think rap music doesn’t move with the times, then Exit Path is going to be the perfect wake-up call for you. It is so far out in front of the run-of-the-mill rap pack that we probably need a new name for what is happening here. Grunge-hop, emo-rap, gothic rap-rock… it doesn’t matter; names are not important; it’s sonic action that counts. Not that you could tie Melbourne’s Lab Rat down to just one label anyway, but with this latest single, he offers a new take on urban music, blending tested, recognizable forms and new musical exploration, anthemic rock drives, and dexterous lyrical salvos. The perfect blend of the familiar and the fresh, treading comfort zones and making creative leaps of faith.

The unifying factor for any music made in the broad rap genre is the whip-smart, dexterously delivered lyrics that drive it. And so it is here. Lab Rat always has something to say, and on Exit Path, he does, in no uncertain terms, causing even the casual listener to stop, listen, and take note of his words of wit and wisdom, his rhymes that unify the profound and the profane. No one will stop him from telling it like it is.

Exit Path speaks with the hassle and hustle, the edge and energy of the streets, it shouts from the rooftops…or at least from the mic stand… and does so over a neat blend of alternative rock energies, futuristic electronica, pulsing bass drives, and skittering grooves and hip-hop infused interludes.

Some might see this song as sitting at the head of the current wave of urban music, where it can jump the generic divides and explore pastures new, matching, melding, moulding, and moving in harmony with rawer and more edgy rock and roll sounds. But more than that, it is laying the way for the next chapter; less interested in where the genre is now and more interested in where it goes next.