- Originally hailing from Philadelphia, Maylay Sparks AKA Rahsheed made the move to Copenhagen Denmark after breaking his leg jumping off stage during his performance with Black Thought from The Roots during the Roskilde Festival. It’s interesting where fate can take you and fortunately for Rahsheed, Denmark has a special respect for hip hop culture and has given rise to artists like DMC Champ DJ Noize and The Prunes who have produced for labels like Jazz Fudge, Mo’Wax and artists like the Beastie Boys – artists which lend a helping hand to Rahsheeds latest LP, Graymatter.
Rahsheed's rhymes flow in a similar style to that of Kool G Rap - raw and rugged street oriented rhymes and he does just that on tracks like Legacy giving up a 'Ho!' for the unsung hero. DJ Noize shows why he's worthy of the DMC crown with his deft cuts on the decks. USA's DJ Jaz lends his production skills for Robin Hoods giving it a deep jazzy vibe laden with flute loops, deep bass lines and Jaz gets to show off his wicked scratching skills on the decks cutting up classic hip hop samples. I've never heard of Jaz before but it definitely is his 'time to shine'! Denmark's Prunes provide the beat to Head Check and in trademark Prunes style, they've given it a sinister cinematic feel with eerie piano loops and deep basslines. Lest we forget the cuts and scratches by Peder 1/3 of the Prunes.
Norway's DJ Noize makes a return this time providing beats on 5034 and Konnichiwa. 5034 has a smooth contemporary jazz feel with a laidback piano loop, while Noize cuts and pastes samples throughout the choruses to narrate his own story. As for Rahsheed, he expresses his story and background of hip hop and how he manages to get off his face while doing it. Konnichiwa continues using the same approach with Rahsheed dropping his verses while Noize cuts and scratches his lyrics through the choruses.
Graymatter isn't completely serious and melancholy in it's approach to hip hop, there are some uplifting moments such as the funkier 1st Semester. Rahsheed salutes all those attending college choosing knowledge and education over work... NOT! To my understanding it's Rahsheed doing the roll call of who he attended school with - the school of hip hop giving shout outs to Malik B, Marley Marl and many others.
Once again Maylay teams up with Malik B from The Roots on Black Sheep and thankfully Rahsheed doesn't break one of his legs during this performance. Bigjim Slade provides the beats and it's a style that seems to suit both MC's - deep laidback grooves, funky basslines and jazzy drum loops with wicked scratching techniques throughout.
Maylay gets least insightful on The Method where he talks about how he smokes a blunt and I suppose an album can't always be serious but something just has to be done with those weak "This is how you smoke a blunt" lyrics. If you listen to hip hop, you would have already encountered smoking one or be taught by the likes of Cypress Hill. Not all is lost, DJ White Shadow from Norway provides some phat beats for Rahsheed to rhyme over.
Graymatter seems to be a good name for the album as I am neither black nor white about it (yes I know it's spelt grey) - it's not crap but at the same time it's not unbelievably great - beats wise it's great but Rahsheed's rhymes just didn't speak out to me.