Afu-Ra Illuminates the Darkness with Body of the Life Force …
Written: Mar 10 '01 (Updated Mar 10 '01)
Product Rating:
Pros: Tight beats, excellent collaborations.
Cons: Jeru missing, lyrics sometimes do not make sense, very little subject variation.
The Bottom Line: With such excellent music and production, this album is hard to pass up. Even though Afu's lyrics need a little more work, I do reccommend buying this LP.
madtheory's Full Review: Body of the Life Force [PA] by Afu-Ra
Anyone familiar with the rapper Jeru the Damaja knows well the name of his protégé, Afu-Ra. Afu first appeared on Jeru’s The Sun Rises in the East about six years ago. Now with several years of meditation and preparation behind him, the self-proclaimed “perverted monk” steps out from behind his mentor’s shadow with his own album, “The Body of the Life Force” .
”Soul Assassination” produced by famed Cypress Hill member DJ Muggs is the first real banger on the LP. Afu-Ra spits his patented free-association freestyle over a beat with a pounding kickdrum. It’s one of Muggs’ better efforts.
My favorite track on the LP is track #4, ”Bigacts Littleacts” featuring Wu Tang Clan alum Gza. This track is actually one of the singles for Afu, most likely due to the respect Gza receives from the hip-hop community. Wu affiliate and producer True Master provides a slow, rumbling bassline for the MCs to rhyme over. Afu delivers some tight rhymes, but Gza steals the show. Gza raps:
”And if you get stung twice/
That means he’s rolling with loaded dice/
It’s like getting stabbed with ice/
And watch the evidence melt/
Immediately the blow is felt/
Commissioner revoke the belt/
The microphone, microphone flow-er/
Fresh show-er/
Of the rugged garments/
Break the bread like Noah/
I’m holding/
Ride the 808 rolling/
Write till my hand’s swollen/”
Prolific producer DJ Premier shows up on Track 7, “Mic Stance” to lay the music for the song. Primo produces an uptempo track, with a pronounced bass signature and a simple melody. Even though the music is excellent, it does sound similar to some of his other musical works such as “Royalty” off the Moment of Truth CD by Gang Starr. Afu freestyles loosely on this one as well. Part of the second verse goes:
”Mic stance starts the illustration/
as I dive into this creation/
with so much patience/
spilt my drink up on your nation/
but never cleaning it up/
staining it up/
molecules, my energy melt the cup/”
The next track, “Caliente” has a rather depressing first for me. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard DJ Premier produce a track that is 100% wack. This song has absolutely no redeeming qualities. Primo tries to put together a pseudo-Latin sounding beat with Rasheedah (yeah, her name sounds Latin) singing the hook over strumming guitars. Afu attempts to rap some Puerto Rican mack-ish type of lyrics, but it just sounds ridiculous. Hit skip.
Once again, a member of the Wu Tang Clan overshadows Afu-Ra on his own CD. This time it’s Masta Killa on track 13, “Mortal Kombat” (umm, anyone smell a lawsuit?). The two pair up to spit some venomous battle raps. Masta Killa drops his verse using the off-beat, abstract style that’s hard for rap novices to get into. Afu’s flow reflects his love of martial arts. This song is produced by DJ Roach.
Another of DJ Premier’s project groups, M.O.P. stops by to destroy the microphone on the song aptly named “Warfare” . Afu knew he had to come correct on this one because group members Lil’ Fame and Billy Danze have a reputation for ripping up guest appearances. They’ve lit it up on collaborations with Pharohe Monch, Busta Rhymes, Gang Starr, and many others. This collabo is no different. Primo provides the fiery background music for Billy Danze to drop this very descriptive verse:
“Just another n*gga whacked/
Before he stepped/
And threw three through your chest and back/
And you’re outta here/
Lifes out/
Game over/
You said you wanted to be a soldier/
I told ya/
We on shaky grounds/
A lot of ups and downs/
But of course/
We run a crash course/
And blast off rhymes/
And of course we have emotions inside/
Yeah, that’s just some sh*t that we’ve been trained to hide/
Track 17, “Bring It Right” is also on of the weakest songs on the Body of the Life Force CD. Producer P. King drops another pseudo-Latin beat for Afu to rhyme over. At first, the chorus implies that this song might be an attack on the ‘bling bling’, ‘sipping Crystal’ rappers, but Afu quickly deviates from the subject and falls back into a freestyle. Again, hit skip.
My second favorite song on the LP is the final one, “Whirlwind Thru Cities”. DJ Roach does an excellent job with the slow, calming background music and piano melody, while DJ Premier mans the turntables for some interesting cutting and scratching effects. The track compliments Afu-Ra’s style of rhyming very well, and it shows as he drops some of his best lyrics of the entire album.
To be honest, this album is extremely difficult to rate for several reasons. First of all, with the exception of two tracks out of the total 18, the production and beats on Body of the Life Force are simply flawless. Music-wise the album is definitely a head-nodder. Unfortunately, Afu-Ra’s rhymes, even though they do definitely flow, often do not make sense. This scores very low with a lyrical purist such as myself. In addition his subject matter rarely varies from song to song. It doesn’t make sense for him to rap about how spiritual, scientific, and knowledgeable he is in his freestyles, but not have any songs specifically dedicated to those aspects of his personality.
So to figure out how the hell I’m going to rate this, I’ll break it down piece by piece.
Beats and Production: 5 out of 5 – DJ Premier, DJ Roach, DJ Muggs and the other producers provided Afu-Ra with some of the tightest beats known to man. If a lyrical destroyer like Canibus had gotten hold of a production team like this, he would have been a contender for Rap Album of the Year.
Lyrics: 3 out of 5 – Afu needs to either increase his word comprehension or stop using the words he doesn’t understand. Several times he puts together a verse that rhymes well but the words don’t make sense in the context he used them in. The emphasis on hip-hop music has always been placed on lyrics so this aspect is unforgivable.
Guest Appearances: 5 out of 5 – Every artist recruited for collaborations on this work obviously put their best foot forward. The rappers, singers and Reggae artists (Ky-Mani tears it up on “Equality” ) all put 110% into their respective pieces.
So the final score? I’ll give it a 4 out of 5. What Afu-Ra lacks in lyrical delivery is more than compensated for by the beats, production, and guest appearances. So if you’re a fan of hip-hop and need a new joint to nod your head to, I recommend picking up Afu-Ra’s Body of the Life Force.
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