Beyond Borders pairs a thoughtful, inspired, intellectual MC (SoulStice) and a soulful, melodically gifted producer (SBe) separated by an enormous body of water, and whose native countries rely on entirely different languages. Sound familiar? Clearly, this album will draw a lot of comparisons to the similarly styled duo of Phonte and Nicolay (a.k.a. Foreign Exchange). However, simply reducing this project to “another Foreign Exchange” would be severely limiting the force of Beyond Borders and would be fundamentally unfair to both of these talented MC/producer duos. In fact, other than those stated above (and the fact that both duos make great music), the similarities between the projects stop there, as the concept, content, and sound of Beyond Borders are definitively all their own.

The album is a guided tour through the incredible entity that is hip hop as it’s lived and loved throughout numerous countries and cultures around the world. Citing a 2000 trip to Russia where he witnessed Russian rap music for the first time as the original inciting incident for the concept, SoulStice has since made connections with male and female rappers and singers from around the world. Artists repping everywhere from Canada to Africa, the UK to the Netherlands, Germany to Ireland, and the United States to Belgium (the Beyond Borders team themselves), are featured on every track except the album opener.

A handful of the non-American MCs, such as Nico Suave and Kohndo, rap in their native languages on “Chicago to Germany” and “2 Days In Paris,” respectively. And although most American listener’s won’t be able to understand the foreign-language verses, just remember that rhythm and rhyme are universal, and based on these two factors it’s clear that the foreign-speaking MCs are easily up to par. Despite the plethora of foreign countries represented on Beyond Borders, America is more than amply represented itself by SoulStice’s fellow DC native and Wade Waters partner Haysoos (appropriately featured on the religious discussion that is “I Found It”), as well as the perpetually on-point friends of Vinyl Meltdown, Oddisee (on the soulful “Unfold”) and Kev Brown (on the album standout “Bird’s Eye View”), among others. And even though all of the rapping on the album is triumphant, it could have done without all of the sung hooks and bridges, which are plentiful enough to detract from the album overall.

Regarding the duo themselves, the chemistry between SoulStice and SBe is undeniable to the point where it could be called intuitive. The lyrical vibe of every song is captured perfectly by the beat, and the instrumental vibe is likewise aptly reflected by the lyrics. SoulStice and SBe are not a flash-in-the-pan partnership—they have more than ample talent to last them in the long run, and they hopefully have enough worldly connections to introduce us to many more of the talented artists that regional and linguistic barriers keep us from discovering on our own.

-gilmore

Posted on June 22nd, 2009 under Album Reviews • Tags: beyond borders, kev brown, oddisee, sbe, soulstice. • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback