Music Brief: Teddy P: Word & Deed

An emcee can be as fresh as he wants to be, but when rhyming on an uninspired beat, the results will never reach their full potential.

That's why producer-led albums are usually an ear-pleasing win-win. With one gifted person behind the boards and a stable of hand-selected, talented rappers, you have the makings of a textbook-proper hip-hop set, when many folks are on a death watch for the genre.

Teddy P's "Word & Deed," featuring Eddie Nigma, Rhema Soul, Nina Del, Wonder Brown, Braille, Young Joshua, Phien-X Zekarayah, EKO, Ackdavis, J. Griff, Conviction, Believin’ Stephen, Average Joe, and B. Morr, proves hip-hop is not dead, and that God is alive. The cerebral, jazz- and soul-fueled beats push the emcees to dopeness. This is "Soundbombing," a la Rawkus Records or, better yet, soul bombing--napalming the devil's lies with ether lyrics.


My Top Tracks:

• Long Way to Go: Giving thanks for growing pains.
• Grace: Bringing beauty out of ruins.
• Love: Vintage beat and everlasting grace.
• The Gospel: Bold bars for Christ.
• Ride: Lifting Son up 'til sundown.
• Free Write: All souls need an extension.
• Set Free: Romans 9: The release papers.