Search - Last Kind :: Revelations

Revelations reveal real class behind the cliches

R/S/K/D | Essex, UK | 03/23/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Squabbling over the microphone like a less volatile version of The Furious Five and at times keeping it functionally funky in the Das EFX mould, the Revelations being offered prove that you don't have to necessarily force the issue to make sure the gangsta guile comes good. The subject matters immediately come across as stale and one-dimensional but R-Diggy's flip of the script ensures that hip hop's most mentioned aren't lost under a bundle of cliché-crazy beats, instead opting for a relaxed blueprint that takes in subtle strings and keys that keep the lyrical fizz without making the making the melodies too flat. The Revelations being circulated attain a double-life personality that has breezy summertime shakers by day keeping tabs with sheisty street corner dwellers by night that isn't so much Jekyll and Hyde as a sort of family man's gangster. The degree of professionalism throughout suggests that while TLK may throw thug-like lines, they're gonna make a concerted effort to keep the peace at the same time. It's as if the Last Kind are inviting you to make judgements on them instantly, but letting the amount of scope and direction change these views for the better. Its gangsta without having to declare it to get noticed.Revelations are the sort that are more telling the more you delve and indulge, and The Last Kind go about their business with admirable proficiency. With an excellent poetic and production platform that has the thugs and the thinkers joining ranks to discuss the very nature of this album, this is the sort of jam you can throw on at any time of the day - one for when the windows are either wound down or keeping out the cold air. Possessing a flexible attitude that enables the production to stay smoothed out while the speech snarls should see everyone saying OK to the LK for time to come, and proving that you don't have to be cruel to enjoy the Last Kind..."