The ‘Other Side’ being Vadim‘s Russian homeland, of course. But it’s also apparent, as this 80-minute opus clangs and buzzes out of the speakers, that there’s a distinctive rap sensibility running throughout the record that’s proclaiming a certain independence from US gangsterisms and R&B superficiality. Vadim‘s choice of collaborators (members of the Scratch Perverts, New Flesh For Old and Starvin’ Artists among others) makes it obvious these musicians and MCs see themselves as a something of a new breed, creating more complex soundscapes and eschewing the usual lazy rhymes.
Sarah Jones‘ forthright poetry on ‘Your Revolution’ captures the mood as she sarcastically undermines all the spurious sleazy shit of your LL Cool Js and your Foxy Browns, while Vadim lays down a typically minimalist backdrop of sharp beats and spooky synth stabs. It’s a long overdue and stingingly accurate satire of the rap clichis we take for granted, and a fine cut of future funk, too.
Not unlike ‘It’s Obvious’ and ‘The Pact (Super Rimes)’, two standouts which find Vadim updating old-skool Chic-funk and electro FX by twisting them into all kinds of dark Wu-Tang shapes. He may be stretching himself too thinly across this album (too many pointless skits) but there’s still enough here to have the Commie-hating Yank rap establishment cowering behind the decks…