Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

Birmingham's Michaelis Constant consist of three rappers and a DJ spinning the tracks, cutting in the samples and creating a significant backdrop for all the words that fly about. And boy, there are plenty of words! This is an album where the harder you listen, the more you hear. It's an album where the intricacy of the poetry can only be appreciated with repeated hearings. The crew are former stu­dents and student workers from Birmingham Uni, but their aim is to spread the word way beyond the Christian Union culture, and the majority of their work has taken place in the mainstream grassroots hip hop scene trying to make a name for themselves. Not to say that Michaelis Constant bottle it like the English foot­ballers do every time in "Penalties" (a fun exploration of the current state of English football) when it comes to communicating their faith. "One Way", com­plete with its humorous police arrest half way through, is a straightforward Gospel message cleverly clothed for mass consumption. "Sureshot Redemption" is like a groovy manifesto for the band, who want to grab attention through the skill of their work but then communicate Christ. Layer upon layer of beats and imaginative samples combine as a foundation for the words and pure poetry of Michaelis Constant, but fun and irony are never far away from the surface, only adding to the incredible impact. Well worth investigating and, certainly, this is a band with the talent to make it huge.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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