'Saga of a Peaceful Man' - Reps (album review)

For every Triple Darkness album you need a Reps album. ‘The Saga of a Peaceful Man’ sits on the brighter side of Hip Hop, a position that believe me, makes it no less credible. Reps has a created an incredibly listenable album that at 45 minutes long doesn’t bore you to death. The sound is typical of much of the Hip Hop coming out of Brighton – tinged with the friendly aroma of the cultural melting pot that greets even the most casual of day trippers.

Backed by a range of different production sounds – reggae, country, boom-bap and break orientated Hip Hop – Reps displays his lyrical disposition. The majority of the content is musings on life and just straight up rhymes. Comparisons could be drawn between Reps and Braintax, in vocal timbre, delivery style and illness of rhymes. Reps says things that make you think ‘Nice! I’d have never thought of saying it like that!’. Reps raps clearly and in a relaxed manner making for ear pleasing music.

‘The Saga of a Peaceful Man’ is largely original. ‘Lion King’ is an innovative take on the personal, life story track and ‘Park Ranger’ ponders the nature of freedom and the freedom of nature. ‘Out in the Field’ and ‘Hee Haw’ cover more familiar ground – weed and sex respectively – and seem a little out of place here although both subjects have been tackled creatively. All of the tracks have individuality and identity, this isn’t just a collection of similar sounding songs but neither do the tracks sound disparate. Reps applies himself to each track and as a result the songs all come across as essential parts of the whole product.

‘The Saga of a Peaceful Man’, on Flash Fry Records, is available now at Suspect Packages for just £7.99. If I hadn’t already got a copy I would not mind paying that price for this CD!

*'Lion King', 'We Have All the Love' and 'Park Ranger' have been added to the flash player to the right.*