SECOND NATURE
"Keepin' it real" might be the most horrendously overused  phrase in hip-hop, but All Natural are one duo who could hold their  heads high should they ever choose to use it. Born and raised in  middle-class Chicago, college-educated, and happily confined to small  labels, rapper Capital D and DJ Tone B. Nimble never pretend to be  anything other than socially aware hip-hop fans from the right side of  the tracks. In fact, the only guns 'n hos clichés to make it on  their second album are in Capital D's mocking snipes against big-bucks  rappers who favor them ("Mr. Sexy," "Elements of Style"), and  gold-digging ladies who only give big-bucks rappers the time of day ("Queens  Get the Money"). For the most part, though, Capital D puts his  extensive vocabulary to the more pressing issues of Chicago and  America's social decline ("Ill Advisory," "Chatham," "Uncle Sam"),  firing off some spectacularly articulate assaults in the process.  Sometimes he over-intellectualizes, rendering rhymes fast, complex, and  impossible for even the highest of IQs to unravel. But even when the  lyrical flow seems impenetrable, Nimble's sublime selection of  down-tempo cinematic backdrops--some sinister, some smooth, some  jazz--remain stirring enough to keep the ears and mind totally hooked.--Dan Gennoe