AA.VV.
Soundbombing 3

An impressive number of guests are unveiled in Soundbombing 3, the new chapter of the Rawkus saga. The underground aura that characterized the label's early productions seems to vanish, giving way to something different. Not easily identifiable. Some might deem this a decline in style. The truth is, the style is there and it’s palpable. Playing a Rawkus compilation, one cannot help but feel the sensation of listening to "good stuff." Good stuff. The head starts nodding with a worrying intensity and violence with the first track. My style. Pharoahe Monch and Styles P rhyme. A chorus that hits hard and dark, hardcore samples. Next up is Mos Def. He starts by hinting at, almost mimicking, the vintage reggae hit "Lots of Signs" by Tenor Saw (which Badmarsh & Shri also know well...), then launches into his lyrics supported by a bold and hefty beat. At this point in the listening experience, you enter decidedly softer territories. Missy Elliott appears with her strong imagery, followed by Kool G Rap's vocoder singing (so damn west coast...). You then hear the intricate remix of Jonnell's "Round and Round," where Method Man seems to almost sabotage the original roundness of the track with his rhymes... well, it's fine to want to feature as many important guests as possible, but... However, nothing so significant as to spoil a pleasant listening experience of the collection. Jonnell's voice introduces Zap Mama's. Ah, their velvet voices... a nice move to feature them at this point in the lineup. A nice track too. Basically, everything is nice. The sequence of tracks is thus very well conceived. And many collections disappoint in this area. Soundbombing 3 isn't among them. Despite leaving a bit of a bitter taste with some guests from whom more could have been expected, the listening flows very well. And the impression of listening to "good stuff" persists. The only doubt is that all this might be just more of an impression than anything else… But let's not dwell on it.