Hot is a word often flaunted in today's society. Heelies are 'hot'. Trainers and suits are 'hot'. 12 degrees Celsius in April is somehow still called 'hot'. But, if you hear anyone describing M9 AKA 9 Ether and his Triple Darkness crew as 'hot', it's one time you can be assured the context and meaning have not been lost.
High Fidelity, the debut album of this London MC and his left and right hand men is not to be taken likely, even for those who slept on Silent Weaponz' release last month.
The militancy is apparent from the outset, the 'Intro' saying it all, and the Wu Tang influence once again shining through from the very first track, '1st Chamber', with Exodus and Triple Darkness' Cyrus Malachi. The fresh sounding vocals place a tone for the rest of the album that is matched on a number of occasions.
The three tracks included with the earlier release last month of 'Silent Weaponz' exist effortlessly in the middle of new tracks, one of which, 'Government Agendaz', features production that could easily have been destined for the desks of Pharoahe Monch or Mos Def, but gets hung, drawn, quartered and toasted by M9 with talks of social consciousness and metropolitan livelihood.
'The Generation Gap' documents the lack of love for the 'same old shit', hatred, lies, and rivalry. A theme continued throughout the album, alongside anti-establishment ('Freedom of Speech') and detached youth ('Soldierz')
Props has to be given to the producers behind this album, especially Chemo and Beat Butcha ('4 Souls'), for the bass pounding approach to the project. It's easy to hear that M9 throws his all behind everything he does, and this effort is done a hefty amount of justice with the instrumental side.
High Fidelity is available now from Suspect Packages.
Rating:5/5
Useful links:
www.myspace.com/m9ine and www.suspect-packages.com
Words By: Andrew Milner
