Krumb Snatcha – Hidden Scriptures

Gang Starr‘s
seminal 1998 Moment of Truth album introduced rap fans to two new
emcees, in a lineage of Jeru Da Damaja
[click to read],
Group Home, and M.O.P. While neither the careers of G-Dep nor Krumb
Snatcha lived up to those previous artists, it was Krumb who has made
a consistent, albeit less mainstream, career since. Since 2002’s
Respect All, Fear None, Krumb has worked with the east coast’s
finest producers, and put hardened street wisdom on album after
album, feature after feature. As the case with Hidden Scriptures, the
Boston rapper might never have the savviest flow or lyrics, but he’s
one of the few saying something.

As the album title suggests, Krumb Snatcha reverted back to the themes of one of his earliest successes, “Closer To God.” “The Light” takes an analytical look at religion, and puts his own faith questions out there. With hardened music and scratching from The Asmatik, the song holds attention, and serves as something to walk to, for those feeling the same. These same themes flow into “Garden of Eden” and “Mind Power”
[click to listen]
Examples like the last are not just for the faithful though, or to be
confused with just religion rap, as Krumb reverts back to his
constant tactic of hard deliveries and secular street imagery.

When not talking about God and spirituality on this album, Krumb Snatcha is upholding the Gang Starr Foundation
[click to read]
tradition of rhyming about rap. “East Is Back” is
self-explanatory, as Krumb shows the world that he’s making it,
although the song employs a choppy, amateur’s chorus, pretty
much declaring the title, not nearly as successfully as Prodigy
[click to read]
coined on “Keep It Thoro.” “L.O.V.E.” does
just the same, as the acronym title alludes to, in an umteenth
attempt by a rapper at re-making Common‘s “I Used To Love
H.E.R.,” forgetting the best part – the disdain for her
loss. “Yesterday,” another worn path, is far more
interesting, as Krumb recalls his affection for things past, as Pete
Rock‘s
[click to read] beat
does a lot of the talking with its sweet vocals and narrative
drop-ins.

Like Reks‘ Grey Hairs [click to read] and
Termanology‘s Politics As Usual
[click to read], Krumb, a pioneer in
the movement, uses several highly respected veteran producers to help
execute his message. Large Professor
[click to read]
offers up the fuzzed out guitar loop on “Mind Power,”
that energizes an obviously pensive song. Eight-year collaborator Mr.
Walt slices up a thick slice of sampled goodness in “Feeling,”
one of the few times recently Da Beatminer has worked without his
blood brother Evil Dee. The album’s single plays off of
Common‘s “The Corner” chorus, as a smoky ode, with
a lot less flare. It is Pete Rock though, with two joints, that
anchors the arsenal with the layered “Begins” and the
phenomenally evocative “Yesterday.” Statik Selektah
[click to read]
and Thoro Tracks also drop in, but newcomers Nickel Plated and
Karimbo fail to dig deep enough in the crates, or measure up against
their presumed influences on Hidden Scriptures.

With numerous street-released albums, Krumb Snatcha has put out exceptional amounts of material, plenty with the help and collaboration of legends. Like Afu-Ra [click to read], the sole
known guest on the album, Krumb has a rare ability to take deeper
subjects and themes and put them in perfectly digestible street
terms. Hidden Scriptures joins a catalogue of albums that fall short
of remarkable, let alone classic. Still, 11 years after he came under
the highest cosigns in Hip Hop, Krumb still can make a few songs that
dazzle deejays and deep-thinkers alike, having never lost a step or
something meaningful to say.