Local Album Review: Ces Cru - "The Playground" (by Skill Laimbeer for Demencha)

Album Review
Ces Cru
The Playground
(INnatesounds, 2009)

As far as this town of rappers is concerned, Ces Cru’s Godemis and Ubiquitous have held court atop the ever-enlarging anthill for a minute or two now, busting like twin King Kongs dispatching versatile verses rather than simian blows. Despite earning those words and continuing to burn down about every battle they enter, Ces’ recorded output has been inconsistent to this point, both in terms of cohesion and timeliness. On The Playground, their first official full-length in five years, Leonard D. Stroy’s beat tapestry brings Ces’ world into focus – a Golden Age combination with Now Age relevance.

On the album’s best beats, it’s as if Lenny D rolled out a gob of Silly Putty over the culmination of his production career, rolled that shit up tight, and made it bounce. Sure, there are elements both trace and whole from his bag of tricks (subtle touches of reggae and jungle, not-so-subtle air horns, the slightly offbeat shuffle that reveals an upbringing in jazz), but overall he waxes like a shadow, taking Ces’ rhyme patterns as a starting point on tracks like the menacing, loping “Hate Season” and the spaghetti western b-boy moves of the title track.

Ubi and Godi spend about half their time stomping all over their less loquacious foes with fierce finesse, lording their veracious verbosity over so many lesser than them, and raps about rapping are all fine and good, but the glut of rewindable verses come when Ces get topical. Media commentary (“Idiot Box”), cautionary hood tales (“Outtabounds”) and the state of youth (“Teeter”) all figure in the overarching concept of The Playground, which as loose as it is at least achieves a thematic feel.

Taking into account the five-year gap in recording (Iron Giant and Alpha aside), this joint still feels a little bloated, like it could have been pared down to a more concise 13 to 15 tracks. The classic one producer/one group formula suits CES well though, and if they progress lyrically at this rate every five years, they’ll no longer be giants in KC alone.

-Skill Laimbeer

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