Here at Privy we don't get to review very many rap releases. It's not that we don't want to, but the labels don't really see us as a Rap periodical, though we'd love to check the new styles that are always emerging in this important area of music. Producers Karmel Suburban and Psalms Twelve manage to make rap about more than bitches and drive-bys, even though their lyrics can be about social issues, they sing about spirituality and other esoteric subjects. In fact the album opens with a scene from The Ten Commandments and we hear Moses' wife speaking to him.
Psalms uses film dialogue a few times to intro songs, and they do it seamlessly.
It's a new version of Skat but the word's meanings are irrelevant to a point when it's their rhythm and sound that make more of the impact. They head back to the usual anger rap with Knock You Out the Box where you sense the magnitude of aggression. What's great is that the beat is unusually simple, and the lyrics get all the spotlight. Psalms have a way with making the words the song. Don't get me wrong, the riffs are interesting enough, but they are overpowered by the rapping.