With his latest album Back On My Rhymes, Portland emcee Serge Severe has achieved an admirable feat in delivering a collection of songs that manage to capture hip hop’s golden age without sounding stale or superfluous. If Serge ever needs an elevator pitch to sum himself up he can lift it straight from one of his track titles: “Classic But So New”.
Severe comes from a place where hip hop heads convene around a Street Fighter arcade game while the sounds of The Chronic (on cassette!) can be heard coming from every pair of headphones. Right away in the album’s opener “Here Comes The Man” Serge lets his audience know that while he may have one foot planted firmly in the vintage hip hop of his youth – he is “smooth like Slick Rick’s vocal tone” – the other is pushing forward – “like a GPS around the city I roam.”
Serge’s rhymes aren’t weighed down by abstract cosmic references or a cataloging of model names and numbers of high-tech weaponry. Rather, Severe prefers wordplay that is efficient, sharp and strikes close, essentially mirroring the machetes, shovels, box blades and chokeholds that work their way into his metaphors.
In “Prepare for Sergery” Severe states, “Button pushing DJ’s, that’s just hypocrisy.” Thankfully Universal DJ Sect along with the rest of album’s producers have accepted the challenge as Back on My Rhyme’s beats steer clear of contradicting that anti-button pushing ethos. Production-wise there is no foot dragging when it comes to turning back the clock from the age of the MP3 to the MPC and the album’s lo-fi chunky instrumentation is one of the big reasons Serge’s rhyme schemes feel organic instead of forced. Jimmy Spicer and Pete Rock records are cut up for hooks and the samples themselves help make the case that current hip hop could use a little more of the “less is more.” The upright basses are allowed to rattle, the snares aren’t quantized and the the pops haven’t been polished out of the Hammonds.
Equally integral to Back On My Rhymes success are its features. All of the LP’s guests – including standouts Luck One and Cool Nutz, who deliver a memorable rip through “No Bittin Allowed” – jibe with the album’s throwback spirit and keep the subject manner consistent.
So if some hip hop newbie ends up throwing down the gauntlet and asks for an album made this year that captures some of the same magic that excited veteran fans 20 years earlier with albums like Paul’s Boutique or Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde, grabbing Serge Severe’s Back On My Rhymes off the shelf is a move that can be made with complete confidence.
Nice Review. Hip-hop definitely needs more Serge Severe. He’s a clever lyricist on some real hip-hop.
I bought the album on iTunes, dope beats, dope rhymes, classic hip hop!
Great album! Perhaps not a classic but still very good and reminiscent of the 90s.
sick!
This album is dope! I was suprised.
it’s got that old school feel
serge can hang wit the best of them.
I really liked the production. Dirty, grimy, raw. Serge can spit too. Good review.
Straight butter. If you diss Serge and Sect, you diss yourself.
Serge Severe brings back his rhymes and resuscitates ol school hip hop by spittin’
his way, the right way. You want some serious creativity & verse merged with classically engineered beats then buy this CD. You won’t be disaapointed.
Cool lil’ whateva-whateva.
Don’t pass it up, Pick it up !
Serge Sever has been an uprising star in the Portland hiphop scene!
Album of the year
Serge is a beast!
chabwoy killin the GAME!
Awesome
i saw his show at sxsw. great album & great live
Serge Severe is the real deal!
Serge is a beast!
This album is rediculously good!
That’s real hiphop!
BIG SERGE!
Serge is killin’ the game with this new record of his!
From one hip hop head to the next… this is an album worth copping. The live show is high impact and on point, this is how it’s done ya’ll! KEEP SOUL SURVIVIN
breath of fresh air amongst the smog and life killing wackness. REAL HIP HOP!
buy this shit! its fuckin amazing!
5
Serge is a lyrical MONSTER! love this album!
So classically brand new! Don’t sleep on this album.
Serge is on top of his lyrics.
THIS WHATS UP!
Loves it!
This is real hip hop.
heard two tracks , generic as, in this time and age if u cant grab someone in two track….i just dont kno
I am confused at what this comment means…
Watch out y’all! Keep it up Serge!
Fresh lyrics. Soulful beats. Timeless energy, and for such a genuinely nice guy, he’s got one hell of an intimidating stage presence. This guy is what makes kids want to grow up to be rappers. He’s got the raps, bring tha horns!
The Real Deal
This is what the term ‘real hip hop’ is all about. The production, the content, the delivery – this is what I grew up on and what I wish hip hop still was. Glad people still make quality music!
‘RENDER UNTO CAESAR’ 2011!!! S/O MY MAN SERGE SEVERE.. GREY AREA SICKSIDE MASSIVE / NORTHWEST ORDER
Dope!
Serge is the MAN! Great album!
Love Serge!!
Great Album!!!!
Serge Severe is a Hip Hop monster & this album is a throwback to the days when you could listen to every song and still want more
Great album…def check it out!
yeeeowah.
He’s dope. I saw him open for Ghostface Killah
Yup. It’s real good.
much respect for your shine serge!
sounds dope
Great Album! “Combination’s Like These”
Dont sleep on this.
Finally, something real!
Refreshing
Puttin Portland on the map
So Severe!!!!!
I’ve been saying for a while now that I’m a fan of Serge! Lyrically talented, phenomenal stage show, and all around dope emcee!
Serge Severe kills it!
Serge is on another level.
Serge is great!
so severe
I only heard a few tracks but I like what I heard you dig.
Best album of 2011.
O dis cat is no joke!
Awesome. Clear crisp beats, and lyrical attacks that just don’t stop. Like every song is fire 🙂
yeah i feel this..I really like the beats!
Kid is nice yo! Beats are boom bap, 90’s D&D type shit. He don’t try to be like, talk like, or act like anything he ain’t. His flow is on point and lyrics are ill. this is the most solid hip hop album (and y’all should know the diff between hip hop and rap) from p town since the lifesavaz. Cop this with no reservations.
Amazing, Serge!
Back on my Rhymes is a hip hop classic. A throw back to the golden era of rap. Serge is a monster.
An album that you can play all the way through and then do it all over again! So refreshing!
I heard about this out in Spain. Glad I did.
Serge and DJ Sect be killin’ em.
my first time hearing this dude, 5/5
Real Dope!
yep! Dope
classic
Actually pretty dope.
Feelin it..just you tubed him..nice work!
BACK ON MY RHYMES!
Bullshit ALL 6’s AND 7’s
I had to check this dude out to make sure he’s as dope as everyone on here has been saying. I’m highly impressed! It takes a lot for me to be blown away by new emcees lately but yo I could listen to this dudes music all day!
i liked this album quite a bit. the guy does kinda suffer from his voice being almost “too white” (kind of like esoteric) but the beats, rhymes and cadences are dope enough to overcome that one flaw
4 stars! Easy! Cop that.
This is what West Coast hip hop should sound like!
slow down..dj sect and serge be killin’ em.
Serge Severe got next!
pretty good
This is Hip Hop!!!
jus got a few tracks off itunes, i am feeling this cat
Great Album, Everyone should buy this. read my review about it on my site audiophilerap.blogspot.com
Great album
Decent album. Prepare for sergery is the best cut on the album. His voice and delivery is sort of generic though. Not very unique.
not bad
Overrated by underground nerds.
deeeeeep.
says who?