Full Life Crisis – The MC Type (ft. Sage Francis) (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

I will admit that I’m not someone who is really that big into rap. And perhaps that’s because most of the rap that I get sent for review isn’t of a particularly high standard. I find little to like in the mumbled or clunky, self-aggrandising or victimhood lyrics, the off-the-shelf beats and the unappetising electronica that now sits where deft musical splicing and clever sonic mixing used to be. By and large, rap, like nostalgia, is not what it used to be!

However, if the rap music I got sent sounded more like The MC Type, I’d be the genre’s number one fan. Well, at least in the top three. Okay, perhaps tenth. But pretty keen, that’s the point. And Full Life Crisis is precisely why.

Taken from his full-length album Lucky Silverback, the song is everything needed to restore my faith in the form. The beats are robust and groovesome, and the music is defined and solid, toned and textured, and perfectly layered. But, as should be the way with music from these quarters, it is the lyrics that really shine. Deft and dexterous streams of thought, agile word salvos and brilliantly delivered but smacking you hard in the funny bone.

Style and humour, words and music all working in perfect harmony. Job done!