Mankind - IIWII
March 17th, 2009 | By YouDee
Mankind – IIWII review
Geelong meets Brisbane on this MC & rapper collaboration release between Hungry Humans, Field Trip and now Mankind rapper Thorts and recent 750 Rebels addition and long standing producer (and drummer) V, formerly known as Dave V.
From the first moment the release plays you can tell there’s something special install. The opening track “Hungry Humans” sees Thorts breaking down what the project is about, being a regular human and being a part of mankind. Thorts rhymes throughout are extremely solid. Using a laid back flow that works well over the banging and often abstract production from V. Matching up well with his overall style Thorts reveals himself as a regular and down to earth lad that happens to be a rapper and hungry for love, life and beats. Being a collaborative project the main stage is shared between Thorts and V by including instrumental tracks. V being the production minded head that he is doesn’t let the instrumental tracks drag out and keeps them short while being long enough to get a feel for the beat.
All production duties are handled by V who is more than capable of handling a complete project (as previously shown on both the ‘Lifestyles’ compilation and his ‘V’ album) while cuts duty is shared between DJ Bogues and DJ DCE. There are very few miss-steps on the production front even when heading in to much more abstract territory. The one slip is in the instrumental track “Upon this Mental Ray” which at times feels slightly out of time.
Guests on the album are Class A on “The Simple Life” who has a solid showing but doesn’t quite hold her own against Thorts, Lost Soulz on “Everyday Hustle” who blend seamlessly with Thorts making a very smooth and head nodding track and Esvee on “From Then to Now” who delivers a nice reminiscent verse that works well.
Being a very impressive debut under the title of ‘Mankind’ the pair have managed to put together an extremely banging album while being easy listening and versatile enough to save it from slipping in to the territory of being boring. The guest spots were solid while not being over done making for a well rounded release that is definitely worth selling out the hard-earned to pick up for fans of dope beats & rhymes.