Reviewed by Steve Hayes

Scribbling Idiots consists of six emcess and two producers, including the UK's Re:Flex the Architect who brings the heat on production (track 3, "For Christ's Sake" among others). Guests include Sintaxtheterrific, CunninLynguists and Pigeon John. Like much indie hip-hop, there are hidden and conceptual depths to the album that deserve a deep listen. There's a lot of variation on this album, from head-nodders to soulful jazziness to cut up and compressed breaks. We journey through melodies, loops, samples and breaks, rhodes chords, soulful sung hooks, underground tracks and insightful and well delivered lyrics. Content varies from a plea to buy their CD ("Buy My CD"), a tongue-in-cheek track with a serious message, to "As You Are", which flows about their deepening relationship with Christ. DJ DNA scratches it up on "Pen A Trait", an element of hip-hop too often overlooked on albums. Standout tracks for me included the excellent "Finalized" with Tara Kennedy on vocals and a beautifully haunting piano riff - a smooth picturesque tale of staying focused and taking responsibility against sin. "Image Of Me" drops head-nodding breaks over lovely, jazzy riffs, alongside great lyricism as Just Me & Cas Metah jot down their thoughts to the listener (with Mouf Warren). This album really grew on me. I'm looking forward to more from the Scribbling Idiots fam as they continue to step up the game. Don't sleep and check out the other releases too - www.scribblingidiots.com.

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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