Lyrics Born Is Amazing

Whoa...Lyrics Born has officially blown me out of the water. His latest album As U Were is an amazing statement of funk and hip hop expressed by one of the most imaginative and original artists floating around the independent hip hop scene today. Lyrics Born, or Tom Shimura to his friends, is in love with music and you can hear that on each and every song here as he mixes genre's and grooves like a bartender mixes drinks. He's reckless but skilled enough at what he does and his enthusiasm and imagination are just about unmatched.

As U Were is a fantastic album that's literally packed to the edges with bangers that are so un-Top 40 they'd make someone like Lil Wayne embarrassed. Here's a guy that's flying under the radar and literally making song after song that's better than anything on the Top 40 R&B chart right now. He's an awesome songwriter, has a ridiculously keen eye for a hook, and builds it all around beats that can slaughter a dance floor in a single drop. As U Were is a great record that's got a huge pop sensibility but keeps things real enough so that it's not overly commercial or trite. Quite frankly, it would be OK if it were commercial because the songs here are just that good. What's it all sound like? If you can imagine Chromeo working with Lakeside, you've got a good idea where Lyrics Born is coming from. As U Were is all about 80's soul and funk perfectly blended with gripping club bangers and served to perfection repeatedly fifteen times over.

It really is that good of a record. In fact, about the only "bad" thing you can say about As U Were is the inclusion of skits. I thought we as a society decided we were over these? None-the-less, Lyrics Born includes several of them on As U Were and while they are hilarious, they really take away from the pace and overall funk appeal of the record. If you take these short snippets out and sew the record back together you essentially have a perfect album that grooves and grooves hard. It may not be perfection but Lyrics Born brings As U Were pretty darn close to it and for that I give him huge props. I've not heard a hip hop/r&b record this good in so long I couldn't even tell you how long it's been.

As U Were is recommended more than breathing. Go out and buy the darn thing already.