On his latest album, rapper Dubbledge uses fragments of the cartoon series The Boondocks - which satirises African-American cultural and lifestyle pretentions - as skits linking his own, more serious tracks: the Flavor Flav to his Chuck D, as it were.
It works well, lightening the heaviness of raps like "Making Of A Slave", "This Track Don't Need To Rhyme" and "EyeSeeYou", in which he sardonically notes how the arrival of subsequent waves of immigrants, notably Asians and East Europeans, has lightened the load for the black community.
The Public Enemy comparison is most pertinent in "Chess", whose Chase & Status backing track has the depth and darkness of classic Bomb Squad productions, while Dubbledge's advice to "think a couple of moves ahead" in life as in chess wields the requisite degree of intelligence and self-reliance.
Download this: Chess; EyeSeeYou; Oi; This Track Don't Need To Rhyme
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies