Rawdialect – Demo / 8 Tracks / 2002 Rawsounds / http://www.rawdialect.com / [email protected] / Reviewed 24 April 2004

Starting out their demo with “Mic Blessa”, Rawdilect falls a little short of having anything in the way of a catchy track. Even with gratuitous sampling, the back beat just doesn’t have enough to catch the collective imagination of their listeners. The slightly compressed nature of the first track also really corrals the sound into a more narrow range, really reducing the amount of enjoyment an individual can draw from “Mic Blessa”. The opera-singer sample is another minor detraction from the lyrics that are spit on “Mic Blessa”, due to the fact that the lines copped from the performance are pretty much the same, grating more than lifting the track up to new plateaus. The second track, “Rah Rah” suffers from many of the same problems as its predecessor, including repetitive back-beats and too-similar vocal deliveries on the track. The tracks on this demo really suffer because of the lack of polish that they all enjoy – everything is a little too tinny, a little too compressed, and underdeveloped to the point that every track, especially “Soul Sister”, sounds as if it is still a rough draft.

The beginning of “Tools” is another strong indicator of having a track that just was not ready for official release – the compression and extra noise on the vocal tracks make the entire track suffer. With the back-beat of “Tools” not being anything to write home about, the whole aura of Rawdialect sounds more like a mid-nineties underground rap act (imagine House of Krazees) instead of someone like Paris. Saying all of that, I have heard many other rappers that have delved much farther into the barrel of mediocrity than Rawdialect6, but on the other hand, there are a lot of other current acts that are more solid than the act.

Perhaps what is holding Rawdialect back are their focus on creating a destiny for themselves on paper instead of on the microphone. For example, in their promo kit Rawdialect includes a “Business Plan Overview”, seeming more like a resume than anything. Rawdialect might be a decent band in a few years, but at this juncture I would have to say that they would really need to work more on their general sound. The lyrical flow of Rawdialect might be at the upper half of what is out now, but the production values and back-beats are some that draw these lyrics into a tight framework that drags the songs down with them.

Rating: 3.9/10

Top Track: Rah Rah