Spitters Of The Lost Art
label: d.u.n.deal

producers: dirge, a.i. evolution, fonz.
year of release: 2002
 
Call the crew and represent. That must have been the mantra when the D.U.N. Deal conglomerate came together to record this eight track EP. And the D.U.N. combines the members Dirge, 1st Word, Living Sol, D.L.Geist, A.I.Evolution, Rhuckey Tantrum and lone female A.L.L., all recording their tracks in Toronto, hence most likely also hailing from there. With eight cuts (and one being a less than twenty seconds intro), you are only able to get a small glimpse into what these creators have to offer. That is in one way however also a blessing for the artist, as he can only pick the hottest and most fine tuned cuts, while leaving out the still in process music. And as we'll see, the D.U.N. certainly didn't opt for the suspicious work. So for the listener it's a: you've got this chance to hear 'em, so use it.
The record starts out with "Raw", that's produced by Fonze, who uses this Wu sample to create a dope chorus. Lyrically we get some thorough repping, with the rappers spitting their venom. However, not all cats got the same style, hence one is actually more of the street level, than the next one, who's keeping it more amongst the backpacker. The next cut "The Anthem" then struggles from those fake keyboard sounds. Lyrically we're staying in previous walked through waters, although here we also get a fair share of bigging up their own home turf. So we are sitting on some stairs looking out into the neighborhood with the rhyming cats pointing out the things, presenting the 'respect for where they grew.'

tracklisting
1. Intro
2. Raw
3. The Anthem
4. Slaves
5. Invasion
6. Crazy Heads
7. Spaghetti Western
8. Lessons (The Road Code)
On "Slaves", A.L.L. rips the cut that talks about many ills and evils of this world, to then slide into a part of the verse where the attention is pulled towards her professing why she's a chosen amongst the gentiles, that will be the one fighting against all that is corrupted and unworthy. We keep things within the mixture of the two thematics on "Invasion", although through much of the verse, the cats are happy to speak on their own superiority, with the last cat then also coming ill with the appropriate flow. Something that can't be said about "Crazy Heads", as this gives in to one of those quick tongue flows, with the staccato being unfittingly slow though, hence much of the effect gets lost in the process. The D.U.N. make up for it with "Spaghetti Western", where the very dragging Dirge beat makes this strangely hard, while the bragging and even the threatening found a perfect match to result in a dope track. And then finally there's "Lessons (The Road Code)", where the Dirge keyboard strings is alienating at first too, and only the extra covering of the lyrics is distracting you enough and away from those synthetic sounds. Lyrically we then get more street than ever on this record before. And the cats declare that they 'start and end beef', while we are also ran through a list of advice on how to remain unscarred while struggling in the between buildings.
So with this topic, while usually not one we actually ask for, adding another taste butt stimuli to the record, the total of the various styles, both in beat, flow and content, makes this record a solid introduction to a crew that has the strength, mic presence and ideas to make some noise. However, as you can never practice enough or fine tune your style too much, doing these two things couldn't hurt the D.U.N. Deal too.
review: tadah
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