Being from Richmond, I've always had an attraction to things that are distinctly Southern -- and I'm not talking about the Confederate flag or Duke basketball. I'm talking about things like a good seersucker coat, a Southern accent, Drive-By Truckers and Outkast. For those of y'all who like those things, I would recommend you check out The Cunninlynguists and their newest release, The Dirty Acres.
Hip-hop trio The Cunninlynguists started to get in the rap game with their debut release Will Rap For Food in October 2001. Kno and Deacon founded the faction in 2000 and since have had various members rotating in and out of the group. Though their music has the potential for mainstream success, The Cunninlynguists prefer to stay in the underground/independent scene.
The Cunninlynguists have a style all their own. Think Wu-Tang Clan having a Southern dinner with Outkast cooking in Nappy Roots' trailer. Yep, it's like that. The CLs speak very honestly in their songs. They do not rap about being hard or gangsta. They spit the truth about their lives and what's going on around them, and they do it while mixing soul, gospel, rock guitar and anything else that helps to rock the beat.
And no, this ain't crunk, snapping or even a song about Superman-ing.
The Dirty Acres captures The CLs in a very serious light. The intro features Big Rube of The Dungeon Family spitting a spoken word piece that sets the tone for the rest of the album. The intro is followed perfectly by "Valley of Death," with a beat produced by Kno that's sure to make your head bob.
One thing I noticed while listening to The Dirty Acres is the presence of a lot of varied guitar samples. This adds to the album's earthiness by contributing a degree of musical authenticity that one could not get from a synthesizer beat.
The lyrics of The Dirty Acres are solid. The two primary lyricists of the group, Deacon and Natti, deliver well-written, drawl-laden rhymes. The album also features appearances by other well-known underground Southern rappers such as Devin the Dude on the ode to the ladies "Wonderful" and Phonte of Little Brother and Witchdoctor of Dungeon Family on the first single "Yellow Lines."
Songs such as "The Park" and "Dirty Acres" convey a soulful, old-school vibe tinged with spaced-out side effects. "K.K.K.Y." resounds as one of the most aggressive songs on the album and one of the shortest besides the interludes. In the song, Natti spits in defense of Kentucky, saying, "Don't try to play Mike Vick and stick a dog in this fight / Your art of loud bark don't veto your mosquitoish bite."
The standout track on the album, however, has to be "Things I Dream." The tension created by the building string sample is perfect for the song's lyrical content concerning a desperate man's violent fantasy. The listener becomes terrified by what this man dreams about doing, but at the same time, you can relate to it.
The Dirty Acres by The Cunninlynguists is a fine Southern hip-hop release. If you're sick of Southern rappers who can only spit rhymes like, "Yeah...Ye-Yeah!!!!!" and want to hear what the real dirty South sounds like, check out this album.
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