Album Review: Diz Gibran- Soon You’ll Understand

15 years ago view-show 1,421,640

crooks-article_phixrFor modern day Hip-Hop, terms like “breath of fresh air” and “bringing Hip-Hop back” are just as creditable as trust fund babies calling themselves “hustlers,” or Poindexter-type nerds saying that they’re dripping with “swag.”

As for California MC Diz Gibran, he falls into his own category by simply doing something that millions of artists fail to do: Keep their mouths shut, and let their body of work speak for them.

This time around the project starting the conversation is his record Soon You’ll Understand presented by Crooks & Castles. [Click here to download album]

Some might get the misconception that this is a mixtape due to the fact that it’s available for free download, but make no mistake, this is an album in the truest sense of the word.

Produced Moonshine from top to bottom, Diz Gibran’s original wordplay and subject matter are met with soulful grooves and well-placed samples.

Keeping the guest spots down to a minimum on the 19-tracked album, the most recognizable MC’s that lend a hand are fellow West Coast cohorts Pacific Division (Pac Div).

Starting off with ‘Welcome,Diz uses the drawn out horns to double as his co-stars while he drops lines like, “Beyond rare/I’m good money, so buddy/no need to count it, its all there.” After his introduction fades out, he comes back with the Middle Eastern feel of ‘Once Again,the sped-up voice sampling of ‘The Hardest Word,which leads right into the jazzy aura of ‘Exactly.

Over the trumpet-driven production, Diz chooses to exercise his thoughts on current Hip-Hop, “I take it back to the days when/rap was amazing/and pure before the crackers invaded.

One of the strongest contributions comes on ‘Stereo, where Diz Gibran intertwines his lyricism with that of someone singing the repeated lines of “voice on the stereo.” Diz follows that up with the just-as impressive sounds of ‘Impossible,equipped with its life tales and all.

Diz uses songs ‘Capital D,the slow grind of ‘Run Around, and the island-themed ‘Calypso Flow’ to showcase his MC prowess at full throttle, while utilizing songs like ‘City Lights’ and ‘Morning Light’ to exploit typical everyday struggles.

Diz Gibran makes the rest of his listeners understand with pieces of music like ‘Truly Yours,‘The Greatness’ featuring Pac Div, and the spiritual concept of ‘New Religion.

Soon You’ll Understand [Click here to download album] comes good news and bad news: The good news is that it’s by far one of the most complete projects of this year, and in most recent years for that matter.

Furthering the good news, as aforementioned, the project is a FREE download, (and it should be a crime to give this album away without the sounds of a ringing cash register in the background).

The bad news is for as good as the this project presents itself, the majority of people might shy away from it for fear of it not having any gimmicks to entice them.

But on a positive note, for the people who don’t have an attention span that mirrors that of an infant, and the intellect that could give a gerbil a run for its money, this is the perfect album to reinstate your belief in real Hip-Hop… In other words: Listen to it, don’t skim through it…

Rating: 4.5

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