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MP3 The Urban Sophisticates - The Cowards Anthem

Sharp lyrics, smooth vocals, and a great blend of brass, guitar, bass, and drums makes this live hip-hop project stand out on this sophomore effort by The Urban Sophisticates.

14 MP3 Songs
HIP HOP/RAP: Hip Hop, HIP HOP/RAP: Alternative Hip Hop



Details:
As written by Brian Clarey for Yes Weekly

“Label it what you want,” Benton says. “I tell everybody that we’re a live hip-hop band, but there’s so much more to us if you listen.”

Right now he’s testing the limits of the stool that’s propping him up ''" Benton is a big man and he makes the thing look like it belongs in a first-grade classroom. He’s sensitive about his size; the opening lyric of the title track on the band’s new CD, Coward’s Anthem makes that clear: “I know I’m not the handsomest/ and the car that I drive ain’t the fanciest/ but if I took a couple inches off the waistline/ would it be enough for you to want to be mine?”

After the refrain brother Aaron comes in with the bridge, singing sweet like Nate Dogg with brass accents in the background: “I’m not lazy won’t you please believe me/ I’m just a brother that likes to chill.”

“It’s a song about having feelings for a girl and not having the courage to say it,” Benton says.

He slid me an early copy of the disc at the office earlier in the day and it spent the rest of the afternoon making my head bounce.

The CD represents nearly eight months of recording, writing and mixing ''" Benton himself worked on it with the dedication of a legionnaire, spending more nights on the studio couch than in his own bed.

“I was just trying to get noticed,” he says. “We’re gonna make the big Christmas push, see if we can’t sell some of these records.”

There are no b*%^#es and hos here. No references to firearms or violence (except in the tune “Fake Gun Hands,” a kind of indictment against street crimes that begins with a plea: “Somebody call an ambulance right now”). No scratch DJ, save for a cameo by DJ SK on “Kaos Mathematics.” No ‘N’ word, no benjies, no dubs and no playas.

Well, maybe a couple of playas, but also well-crafted, self-revelatory lyricism from this guy who’s insecure about his size, unsure about women, still mourning the death of his father and trying to make it in a confusing business with nothing but a carload of talent, a trunkful of ambition and a really killer band ''" Tim Hooker on guitar, Romondo Jessup on drums, bass player Ricky Nxumalo and a horn section consisting of Jeremy Denman on trumpet and Sal Mascali on trombone.

“I didn’t really get into hip hop until maybe four or five years ago,” Benton says. “I was into Counting Crows, Pearl Jam, all these angsty artists with all these deep meanings... rock lead singers have a way of getting this vibe across. My style is trying to get a feeling across with some metaphor, but also trying to get a story across.”

The work is rife with witty metaphor (Benton proclaims, “Let’s take it back like Cosby sweaters,” in “Coward’s Anthem”) and artistic flourish ''" in “Breakups,” brother Aaron sings a capella, “A treasure chest of memories plays like/ old vinyl singles” with just a second or two of needle hiss and pop in the background.

Another great cut, “Soul Crime,” is a short, slow-funk lament sung by the trumpeter’s sister, Mary Nicole Denman, understated and minimalist with a modicum of distortion on the mic, way different from the others

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