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Rating: The Urban Dance Squad are a Dutch quintet who, throughout the 1990s, have produced a series of crossover albums that have nothing to envy about the records of more celebrated bands, with Rage leading the pack.
I begin my first review for DeBaser like this; with what, without too many fears, I could easily consider a musical dogma. In 1990, they debuted with the album "Mental Floss For The Globe", a record that emerged from the rap - thrash metal fusion already hinted at by groups like Run-DMC. They later continued with "Life'N Perspective," leading up to, in 1995, "Persona Non Grata."
The album is, without a doubt, the band's most polished work. Some might define it as a more "commercial" product compared to the more spontaneous and chaotic style of their previous works, but I see it instead as a turning point on a professional level: is it a crime to decide to be more polished and attentive in the arrangements and production of an album? I believe not. And indeed, the results are evident: the album starts with the triptych Demagogue - Good Grief - No Honesty, tracks in which you find all the classic hallmarks of '90s crossover: tight rhythms, heavy riffs, and torrents of words like even Jalisse. Then it continues with "Alienated", where the 5 show they also have substantial melodic skills, producing a truly stunning, captivating ballad from the first to the last note (perhaps the album's true masterpiece). I could almost stop here; after all, crossover is certainly not a genre to analyze note by note, and the remaining tracks all rely on the classic genre mold already mentioned, still resulting in being enticing and never banal.
A fundamental album for all genre enthusiasts.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Demagogue (04:13)
I kick the music so hard
People get injuries
Step to me, be a big stitch mc
Lyrics I chop, kick skills like jacky chan
Many props, loot, gladly pay the tax man
Flex plans, leave bodybags full o' men
Kick a tune like a can
Scratch heads with stray cat
I'm steady shapin' on these apes
Plus the squad took some time off, with the wild funk
So what ?
You figure, you bigger when you fill the void
I got the stacks to check yo head
Like the beasty boys
I heard your airplay 'n tracks,
Bullshit 'n flack, men on stage,
Pamper trainers lacked,
Droppin' voodoo on doo doo
I'm mad defiant cuttin' armchairs with knives
Airplay keep tryin', foolin' the flock,
What up ?, I'm straight up sleepin' skeletons
With microphones, who's grimreapin'
It's the demagogue
It's the demagogue
Hear the demagogue, funky demagogue
Look and learn with the demagogue
Six six six clone take a pick,
Snail bits, fail as dish
I eat galactic, poltergeist plus heist,
Plus I rip shit
Weak minds say rhymes combined with crucifix
Chairs go up, hair go up, fleas fall over
Ego puffed ?, watch me go off !
Doper with flair, deliver trauma 'n nightmare
You duck with hunchback as I punch back
With rap bat dust
'N bust off antique metaphore
Jurassic park raw, I'm carnivore,
You omnivore, I flow fat on tracks,
Like kids called fat joe
Lyrics on diet, when you tried on wax so bogus
I focus, play hocus-pocus,
Yo homes, I plague domes like locust,
Mc's cup ear, better hear some authority
Lyrical gestapo, introducin' tha majority
Wanna see a joke, check a look-a-like
Wanna see a joke, check a look-a-like
Wanna see a joke, check a look-a-like
Lyrical mass I bash 'n flex it
Perfect bionic atomic,
When germs hit styles not really matched up
In atmosphere rags pushed 'n dressed up
Shoot missiles that sizzle, carve scars on yo
Rhymes take off like planes from la guardia
I stand solid on bedrock, called new york,
You gotz beef ? I eat it with knife 'n fork
Foul like a pig on a bum
Beggin' for some knight stick to lyric
Billy-clubbin' 'em, now oh' what look up !
See what yo took up !
Weak raps make no bail, you keep booked up
Mc's learn quick, the kid wears no badge
Stupid brain, restrain, with plasters 'n padge
Now give me room, watch me bloom like kurt cobain
Attract a million ears, make 'em all insane
10 Mugshot (03:14)
Don't keep me framed like this, yo
You got me in the wrong state, wrong phase man
This is just my face
This not what I am
Trapped like 'john' mac rebennack
In the wrong place, wrong time
Now I'm freezed in the minds
As that kind out of line
Porcupine, yes man I can sting
You don't know me, you don't know me
With that bullshit that they bring
Never caught me stealin', but I'm still feelin'
And I'm dragged outta my bed
Would you look appealin' ?
Scrutinized like mice, for years to come
'N I don't even know where I'm comin' from
Got me framed, got me framed
Got me framed, got me framed
Got me framed, got me framed
Don't keep me framed, like this yo ! like this yo !
You got me in the wrong state, wrong phase man
This is just my face
This not what I am
Subject and one of the mass
See I'm all that
Diverse from upper-class,
See I'm all that
See I'm all that and it's a fact
I bleed when you beat
But a principle idea, belief
You can never crack
You got me black and blue battered
But I can go boogie down bronx buck wild
When you want damage done
See what you're seeing, but this can't be shun
It's me, you call disease
A human being one
11 Hangout (03:39)
I'm down, I'm down,
I should be one of the beatles
Life's a sad song, hard to tweedle deedle
Just to catch a nod, be off,
Bring home the bacon
Humiliations from the boss
Tha costs what I'm takin', fakin' many smiles
What I truly mean is wild
Wanna scar them like the tracks on wax
But meanwhile
Hang out, hang out
Play the make up, fake up like max factor
Be an actor, distractor
To catch the ducats, I'm the collector
Big job in the city, city of liars behind me
Break home, rest the dome, drag won't find me
The crib's so nice, so nice
I feel to socialize
Next door, they explore how I live
Then realise patience is a cup
Easily turned to the next drop
To reach the top
I built up on the rooftop hangout
Hang out, hang out
I'm gulliver, I'm gulliver
Like gulliver callin' for independence
With transcendence against daily bore
Communicate with birds, sky 'n space
Head reach stratosphere with a philly blunt haze
Fly like kite, take heights like the space shuttle
If you got a skin, keep dreams in sync
Or you might tumble or
Hang out, hang out
Naggin' hard to tame and I've been blamed
For what I want
Sex might be for runds
Ain't with honey drip bonds
A stunt she's for giving lips about this
All debts on her lap
Man so I pay the bills,
Little rhythm rhyme skills
Nine to five I build
Gotz to relax to score
Be mature honey 'n chill
With the rent of the month, the period of the month
Headcracker has begun
The place that I got to run is the
Hang out, hang out
I truly believe I got that giant's feel
I truly believe I got that giant's leap
I truly believe I got that giant's feel
You gotta watch me take a hundred storey height
Hang out, hang out
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