Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Style: Gangsta Rap
Label Number: P2 53939
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© 1994 Priority/Street Knowledge Records
AllMusic Review by Alex Henderson
Music's best political propaganda -- which ranges from Merle Haggard on
the right to Joan Baez, Public Enemy, Bob Marley, and U2 on the left --
offers more than just rhetoric. It makes its case with coherent,
well-reasoned arguments. Whether you agree or disagree with Haggard's
stridently conservative "The Fighting Side of Me" or Marley's
left-leaning Rastafarian manifesto "Get Up, Stand Up," those songs are
political masterpieces. Planet of da Apes, Da Lench Mob's second album,
is a fiercely political effort that doesn't contain any masterpieces.
Combining a strong Public Enemy influence with West Coast gangsta rap,
Ice Cube's L.A. colleagues provide a lot of inflammatory, militant
rhetoric, but don't provide any lyrics that you could call brilliant.
None of the tunes are in a class with Ice-T's "Colors," Public Enemy's
"Night of the Living Baseheads," Boogie Down Productions' "South Bronx,"
or Grandmaster Flash's "New York, New York"; those sociopolitical rap
classics are nothing short of brilliant, whereas Planet of da Apes is
merely an exercise in angry rhetoric for the sake of angry rhetoric. Da
Lench Mob often mines the same black nationalist waters as Public Enemy
and BDP, but without being as coherent or as lucid -- agree or disagree
with them, Chuck D and KRS-1 have provided some of the most memorable
political rhymes in the history of hip-hop (just as Haggard has provided
some of the most memorable Republican propaganda in the history of
country music). But despite its shortcomings, Planet of da Apes is an
enjoyable, if limited, effort. The beats are often infectious, and, like
Rage Against the Machine, Da Lench Mob can pull you in with its grooves
and its passion even though its lyrics are too clichéd and rhetorical
for their own good.
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