Great Hip Hop for Nerds and Thugs Alike

When it rain it pours… more Nerdcore on TPM! First, we look at the latest from The Grammar Club, now we check out the new one from The ThoughtCriminals… oddly enough, featuring the other half of Dual Core (Int 80 is here, while c64 rocked the drums on MC Horse Rides Again) and Beefy.

The ThoughtCriminals’ Cold Winter reunites Mikal kHill with Sean Church, fka Ntrop, now known as Sulfur. On CW, kHill and Sulfur bring in some friends and orchestra their best offering to date. The music kills, the vocals kill, literally everything about the album kills (including the TPM shout out in the liner notes, HOLLA). In short, The ThoughtCriminals are here to kill you, nerd style.

What’s different about The ThoughtCriminals from their contemporaries is how well they ride the fine line between Nerdcore and Sage Francis-esque indie rap. CW is the perfect mix, never diving head first into any one subgenre of hip hop, but creating their own feel and own sound.

The album hits hard from the first note of the opener, “Came to Play Some Jams”, but “I Remember Now”, the first single off the album (and first official video for the crew, directed by Sean) and second track on CW, is where this fan and reviewer gets fully sucked in. This track stabs you in the chest… and you like it!

From this point on the album has very few lulls, rocking hard, chock full of nerdy references and clever, honest lyrics. “Return of the Antagonist” features Stevie D of Illbotz, Virginia rapper who’s MySpace page lists his style as “Acoustic/Comedy/Rap”. “All the Coins” features Int 80 of Dual Core, one of hip hop’s dopest duos, as well as a dope drum beat and killer distorted guitar work.

There are some many great tracks on the album, as the review has begun to note, but there are 3 more tracks that stand out most as being almost TOO good. “Whirling Dervish” is one of them. Any time a hip hop crew or rapper can utilize blues guitar in the right way, it’s hard not to love the finished product. Southern fried in a way that only Sage can top (see “Got Up This Morning” from Human the Death Dance), the track is one that is hard to deny.

“Our Time” and “Earthbound” round out this trio of hot tracks and also happen to be the last two track on the album. Perhaps these tracks stand out because some of my favorite emcees grace them with their wicked rhymes, but I suspect that kHill and Sulfur have as much or more to do with why these tracks kick so much ass. The guitars and keys in “Our Time” set the perfect backdrop for Beefy to join the circus, as all the MCs involved drop great verses. “Earthbound” features a hot drum beat, Adam Warrock, and the one and only Raheem “Random” Jarbo. Not only is it a great track, but it simply feels like an album closer… and not just a closer, but a fantastic closer, the kind I’ve only known Pigeon John to rock so perfectly prior to CW.

It’s hard to put the album into words, but it’s probably best summed up by saying, “Well done!” If nothing else, go grab yourself a copy of this album and make sure to enjoy the shoutouts at the end.