Lucky Silverback – The MC Type (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Now, I definitely lean more toward the left side of the political spectrum than toward the right, but even I can see that things have gone too far. We are cancelling the past and homogenizing the present. We are regulating what is funny. We are being careful what we say. But then, whatever you say will offend someone, so why not just say it (within reason, of course) and suffer the slings and arrows of the outraged afterwards? It is better than hiding away, never offering an opinion or making a joke, never creating anything new, or even finding solace in the past.

It is a sentiment that runs through the beating heart of Lucky Silverback, the new album from The MC Type. Although he has been on hiatus for a long time now, a break from music and working in other areas of media, he is back. It’s not so much a comeback album but more a sorely missed middle finger to those who would take it upon themselves to be the self-appointed custodians of taste and acceptability.

And so we find ourselves presented with fifteen tracks that remember exactly what rap was designed for – to wax lyrical about the day’s concerns and the day-to-day minutiae. He mixes modern cultural references with whip-smart humour, insider jokes with innuendo, sharp observations with frat-boy funny, wit with wisdom, pun with poignancy, and all over beats and grooves that made hip-hop and all its associated genres so cool in the first place.

It is not only music built on reputable sonic lines but also a neat salvo telling it like it is. Deal with it, suckers!