While the South is currently home to the “Crunk” movement, Miami natives Basic Vocab (consisting of emcees JL Sorell, Mental Growth and producer Tony Galvin) harkens Hiphop fans back to its golden age by molding politically tinged themes and feel good vibes, into a contemporary and utterly refreshing sound with their debut The General Dynamic.
While emcees JL Sorell and Mental Growth’s dynamic chemistry is anything but “Basic,” their working-class mentality and topic-matter will certainly appeal to the 9-5er. Though the LP’s lead-single, “Come Get With it” (which will be released on April 18th) is a breezy lovesick ode that is sure to have hips gyrating and heads-nodding, JL and Mental Growth are just as apt at discussing the current state of affairs, as over a cascading synthesizer, compare ghetto survival tactics to the ongoing saga in the Middle East on “Fallen One” where JL laments “both battles come with fallen ones/live by the gun/and witness dark days like the fallen sun/any circumstance in the Middle East/is like the urban city beef/except the black turban and ball caps is gold teeth/ from the rugged mountain terrain to hot concrete/young kids is feeling the pain with blood in the street.” Similarly, JL and Mental Growth also ponder the checks and balances of Big Brother on “Watching You” as we know they’re watching us, but who’s watching them Mental Growth ponders “they rigged the election/it was fixed we been bushwhacked/now they got your sons and daughters dying in Iraq/looking for weapons of mass destruction and they still ain’t found jack/on that quest for black gold and they ain’t looking back/slipped in the Patriot Act/under fear of terrorism forced protection while they lace their pockets bleeding the system.” And on “The Trap” Mental Growth takes on the imagery and marketing tactics being (mis)used on artists for profits sake “what’s the word Mr. suburb/middle class thug/talking about you tote gats and sell drugs/who you think you fooling dog/we know that ain’t your sport/talking about you popping gats when you ain’t popped the cork/but on the real/you got a deal and that’s true/but the image your portraying is it you.”
While JL Sorell and Mental Growth use The General Dynamic as a platform to fully introduce themselves to the Hiphop populous at large, the group’s sound architect, Tony Galvin already has a few Platinum plaques on his wall, as he has produced hit singles for Trick Daddy (“Shut Up”) and Trina (“Baddest Bitch”). One of the most talented upstart producers in Hiphop, its Tony’s versatility that sets him apart, as rather then make artists conform to one particular style, Tony is able to craft beats that fully compliment the artists he is working with; and that again rings true on The General Dynamic. Tony recently produced six tracks for Dave Ghetto’s Love…Life? LP and he also has a production deal with T.I.’s Grand Hustle/Atlantic imprint, which saw him also produce six tracks for P$C’s (T.I.’s group) 2005 debut 25 Ta Life, including “Walk To Me” f/Cee Lo and “Fuck Where You From f/Young Jeezy and Tony will also be lending production (“U Know Who” f/Travis Barker) to T.I.’s forthcoming LP King and the upcoming soundtrack to T.I. and Big Boi’s movie vehicle ATL. In addition, Tony has also recorded tracks for forthcoming LP’s from Lil Scrappy, Quan, Dirtbag, Rick Ross, Dead Prez, Young Jeezy, Cee Lo, Luke and is currently working on his forthcoming Boeing Instrumental LP.
these songs are tight.
