Search - Wordsworth :: Mirror Music

Mirror to his soul

Glenn M. Pugh | the planet of brooklyn | 12/14/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Finally a hip-hop album that is honest, deep and thought provoking. I have been a big fan of Punch & Words since the early days of the Lyricist Lounge shows. So when I saw Words had an album out it was a no brainer, I had to cop it. Wordsworth takes the audience on a journey thru his struggles to become a better man, a better father, a better artist, and a better companion. You see and can feel his growth thru each different cut on the album. There is pain, happines sorrow and joy throughout the album. Yet you don't feel sorry for Wordsworth rather you feel grateful to have shared in his story. I couldn't help but think "Damn this is the album that Mos Def should have done". Mos Def's latest New Danger was a huge disappointment. I understand an artist wanting to grow, but damn you are not a singer Bee give that sh*t up. At least when Biz did it we knew he was joking. But I digress this is about Wordsworth and a celebration about real hip-hop. I love this album and if you are a true fan of real lyrics and dope beats than you will not be disappointed by purchasing this album. Oh yeah I also thought it was fly how Words put all the lyrics to each cut in the cd billfold. Just daring his fans to find any fault with what he has given them. If MTV, BET, XXL, The Source, Vibe, or Music programmers all across the country cared about hip hop then this album would be a Classic 5 mic album. Damn what I am thinking that [...] they listen to aint HIP-HOP that's rap. There is a difference.



PEACE"

Alright! A fresh face with corresponding skills

DukeOfEarl | Phoenix, AZ United States | 11/27/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wordsworth takes time away from his partner Punchline(together as Punch&Words) and quietly drops this absolutely pleasing album. Words has been around since '98, but just recently broke through with this debut album. He carries twenty songs here, and epitomizes the beauty of Hiphop, and that Hiphop is still alive and kicking. His album was incredibly hard to find, but thank God I did.

Wordsworth seems to care whole-heartedly about how music influences listeners, and he does his best to move us in positive and beautiful new directions. His voice is a little annoying AT FIRST, but it's impossible not to grow to love it. I can best describe his voice as friendly and lively. Words has talent in so many areas as an MC. He excels at multi-syllabic rhyming, internal rhymes, battle rhymes, saying something substantial and positive, and even storytelling skills. He writes pretty good hooks too, and he never cusses, it's beautiful. This cd is borderline Gospel, and that's a good thing. All this talent and here is an album of twenty songs, and not one of them is subpar!

Words offers quite a few styles that should appease fans of different aspects of Hiphop. "Mirror Music" starts out with some battle rhymes on "Right Now," and "Gotta Pay" has more battle rhymes, and might be a tad better where he's dropping quotable after quotable. You get an awesome beat on "12 Months," where's he's telling the storys of two guys throughout a whole year, I'm still trying to descipher this track. More storytelling is found on "Fast Lane," which has a different feel than most of the other tracks you will notice, and "Run," a story of a young troublemaker girl and how that affects her family. "What We Gon' Do" has insightful social commentary. The best tracks most certainly are the deeper ones, such as "Shoulder," "Guardian Angel," and "Unity." Words' depth can be described as more in the real-life arena, than the spiritual realm, although it's obvious his faith is strong, and there's nothing wrong with this. "Shoulder" has a nice beat and is definitely almost a tear-jerker, while "Unity" seems to have more of the guest artist Meleni than Words, but Words drops amazing quick verses and the music is great! I think my favorite of these three is "Guardian Angel," which works excellently even with the sped-up sample.

Otherwise on the album, "Trust" and "Be A Man" display the lessons he's learned as a man, and "Not Fair" pairs him with Punchline and is nice, although it's the only track with multiple profanities. Still good though! "One Day" is a little more storytelling and describes how his life is wasting away by not having a job and just slacking around day to day. "Head High" is a great, more-uptempo collab with Ken Starr and Oddisee, with a great hook. "Gonna Be" shows how's he's been humbled by playing in front of less-than-packed houses, and how he's overcome, and "On Your Feet" is a memorable hype track. Don't forget, he collabs with Justin Time and veteran Masta Ace on "Evol," where they each have three descriptions warning of material and physical lust. I love the sample on this one('Now that we've found love...'). Ace's voice sounds similar to 50 cent, in a way, but I love his and Words' verses. This amounts up to one of the best tracks on the whole album, among a host of memorable ones.

Not much more to say, except that this album is entertaining, powerful, and inspiring! If you can't find it, it's more than worth your time to buy it off Amazon. It's great to see how far he's already come in life: grown up from his player days and is a caring father as shown in "Trust," and this is only his debut album! Wordsworth definitely has the heart and talent to carry the torch of real Hiphop well into the future. A debut surely to be a classic, and one of the top of 2004! If you were dissappointed by Talib Kweli's latest release, pick this up and it shall fill in that exact void. Did I mention that the production here is(simply put)...pretty damn good?! Everyone, let's support this album and do our best to ensure that we keep hearing from Wordsworth in the future!"

Classic album but sure to be slept on!

Michael Radish | Ocean City,Maryland USA | 09/23/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ok first off I was anticipating this album for the last few months and it was worth the wait.I couldnt agree more with Herbenaw's review in which he said that it is a shame that this album will be overlooked.I went to many stores like FYE,Sam Goody,and Record and Tape Traders and none of them had this album and hadn't even heard oh him.I just really hope that word of mouth gets around that this is a great album and people should pick it up.OK OK OK now i will tell you about this album.This is honestly one of the best hip hop albums I've heard in a long time.He's a natural talent for putting his expressing his emotions through words and in this album he's gets introspective.He's touched many different topics about his life and what's going on in it.Now I'm not going to say anymore about this album because I want you to go out there and pick it up to form your own opinion.I'm sure you wont be disappointed and you too will realize that this is a classic album."