Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

I have a friend who has taken a stance for hip-hop to stop it being colonised and watered down by R&B. He'd be proud of the purposefully underground sound of this West Yorkshire-based group. I always love British hip-hop that refuses to adopt faux American accents when it comes to spitting bars and instead remains deliberately parochial. Another strength for these guys is that they are unashamed about the message of God that they want to communicate without descending into the usual holy hip-hop clichés. These are songs created to stand alongside the best that the mainstream underground hip-hop scene has to offer but they just happen to want to rap about the stupidity of the cultural norms of a society devoid of God and they also want to make a case for Christ along the way. There's creative beats, fantastic wordplay and rhymes, strong vocal interplay between Jonny Alpha and Watson G and a few surprise guests along the way which makes this one of the best Christian hip-hop albums of the year. I mentioned guests who include a couple of big names from the USA. Manchild from Mars ILL contributes to "Non Apologetix" and former L A Symphony member Pigeon John to the atmospheric "Hibernation". On both tracks, they add that extra burst of glitter to draw attention to the tracks and the album. But it's on "Dreamcatchers" that I really think Knew Jeru' really intrigues the listener. It's that track that's been on repeat play in Rimmer Towers! Great debut. Let's hope the fact that these guys are white and live in Yorkshire doesn't make some hip-hop heads take against them Can any good hip-hop come out of Yorkshire? Absolutely, and here's your evidence!

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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