“You can get with this or you can get with that.”
That’s all anyone really needs to say and thoughts of Black Sheep’s 1991 hit “The Choice is Yours” immediately come to mind. We’re turning the page to 2010, Dres of Black Sheep is hoping to give fans a reminder with his latest project. The recently released From the Black Pool of Genius-The Prelude EP is a taste of what’s to come and a five track preview of the 2010 full-length From the Black Pool of Genius.
Starting off with “Forever Luvlee,” Dres beams with optimism. Positive lyrics shine through with a hook that is centered on spiritual adoration and inspired self confidence. “With God in love with me, no man can trouble me / The essence of my presence be forever lovely,” he rhymes. Though some may find it a bit too cheesy, it’s hard not to smile at lines like, “I like hot sauce on all I eat, my Kool-Aid too sweet and you might catch me outside with just my slippers on my feet.” Keeping an honest and still intriguing perspective, the track is truly a standout.
Though humor is a plus on the album, Dres also keeps his flow solid on every track, even when getting more serious. Critiquing today’s rappers on “Doin’ It Wrong,” he sounds more right than bitter and more reinvigorated than outdated. Staying with a serious tone, he uses incredibly soulful samples to rhyme over on “Pretty Bum.” Switching things up, though somewhat less successfully, he flows over a more upbeat “Road Warrior.” Finalizing the EP is the Tough Junkie assisted “Gimmie 5,” another track that isn’t as memorable, though not terrible by any means.
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All in all, Dres maintains his rhymes positive throughout and his skillset doesn’t seem to have depleted much since introducing us to Black Sheep. While he’s got at least three strong cuts on this particular EP, the rest are less stellar, making the five cuts seem slim with quality. However, the EP does its job in letting the Hip Hop world know that Dres has a full length coming soon and that he shouldn’t be on a milk carton in 2010. If he can manage to do more of what worked on this EP, it should be a treat to longtime Black Sheep fans and younger listeners yearning for more positive rhymes. Then of course, the choice is yours.
