Rugged Intellect - Renaissance Music: The Introduction
March 17th, 2009 | By YouDee
Rugged Intellect - Renaissance Music: The Introduction
Expertism Records/Shogun Distribution
Yet another dope rapper from the US’ less backwards neighbour Canada comes with one of the albums of the year. Underground upcomer Rugged Intellect delivers a dope album which cements his position of one of the names to watch for.
From the moment the CD starts to play it’s obvious that this is going to be more of a true school outting than a commercial filler release. Opening with “What It Is” (one of the standout tracks on the album) the production almost instantly forces your head to nod and Rugged delivers solid lyrics showcasing his well developed style of lyricism.
Guest spots throughout the album are handled by a who’s who of the underground/lyricism scene with Rock of Heltah Skeltah (”Guaranteed”), R.A. The Rugged Man (”DBA”), Kool G Rap (”All Fair”), Ras Kass (”Next Dose”), AG of DITC (”Like That”), Party Arty, Sean Price, Rustee Juxx and Solomon Childs (all on the “Say Goodbye (Remix)”) all handling their spots well and helping the album show it’s strength.
Production on the album is as impressive as Rugged’s flow with beats being contributed by Domingo, Buckwild, Momo of Molemen, Rugged’s right hand man Adam Sampler and others. Largely sample based the beats throughout are head-nodding throwback hip-hop at it’s finest.
Standout tracks on the album include “It Is What It Is”, “Biters Block” (where Rugged calls out all the new jacks who bite their favourite rapper’s style in an attempt to get attention), “DBA” with R.A. the Rugged Man (on some classic dissing the sluts shit - DBA stands for Dirty Bitch Anthem) and “All Fair” with legendary lyricist Kool G Rap. The whole album is bumpable front-2-back coming in at 18 solid tracks (including bonus tracks) with no skip material.
A very solid introduction to Rugged Intellect for those not up on the man, def worth your hard-earned. The album is available in Australia through Shogun Distribution.