Return of the Jedi
NEIRAD enilno edition
Jedi Mind Tricks does it again with the reunion of Jus Allah with Vinnie Paz and DJ Stoupe in its latest release “History of Violence.” There is a lot to love about this new Jedi masterpiece. Vinnie and Stoupe hit hard with epic battles, flawless backtracks, and rugged stylings. Jus was there for Violent by Design and has returned to the Jedi to back Vinnie in History of Violence. Jedi Mind Tricks is pure hardcore hip-hop with intelligent politics embedded into lyrics and tracks alike.
The real praise should go to DJ Stoupe. The beatsmith takes the load on his back while Vinnie gets to be the face and voice of JMT. With time comes grace, and Vinnie has certainly gotten better at rapping over the years. On “Monolith” Vinnie spits harder and faster than his past self would have been able to handle. Detractors can say what they want but Vinnie has certainly been training hard with lyrics like “Unprofessional, unscheduled rebel, disheveled, unsettled, unleveled you're the friend of a friend, I'm the beginning and end model citizen, you just model the trends, you just follow your friends while my opposite twin, two sides hydrogen one oxygen.”
The album hits as hard as it is consistent. With political statements against what women should look like based on Hollywood’s unrealistic airbrushed perception or the evil of corrupt cops in America. History of Violence is a massive upgrade over the last three JMT albums. The true seller of this album is the track “Trail of Lies.” This is where Vinnie crushes it with “I ain’t any better I just think the fact is funny that they’ll take a little girl and pimp her for the cash and money and what’s gonna become of them in like 50 years with Hannah Montana turning into Britney Spears” This is true Jedi Mind Tricks, the old gents who brought you “Animal Rap” and “On the Eve of War.” These guys are willing to bash injustice and assert their opinions on Hannah Montana possibly shaving her head in ten years.
Between the crude political statements and Stoupe’s laying of the greatest beats I’ve ever heard it was hard to find an error on this album. One thing to notice is how bad Jus Allah sounds now in comparison to Paz, who has taken the reins for the last three albums. An example of this is “Butcher Knife Bloodbath,” in this tune Paz nails it beat for beat while Allah sounds more like a guest. He sounded good his first time with JMT while now he sounds like a crappy Myspace rapper. Besides that I love everything about this album. Jedi Mind Tricks bring an intelligence and style to hip-hop that can make Dave Grohl worshipping Foo fans like myself appreciate the genre.
