Cunninlynguists, with their equal parts clever and snickering-adolescent group moniker, came onto the scene in 2001 with their debut Will Rap For Food, earning critical acclaim and a buzz throughout the South that only increased with their subsequent releases. The undeniable potential of MCs Deacon the Villain and Natti and producer/rapper Kno (as well as part-time member Mr. SOS) was quickly recognized in their soulful, earthy, smooth hip-hop. With their fourth release, Dirty Acres, however, this potential met its full realization, as the group, currently sans Mr. SOS, dropped arguably their most acclaimed and important album, complete with guest appearances from Southern staples as Dungeon Family's Big Rube and Witchdoctor, Devin the Dude, Little Brother's Phonte, and others. Produced entirely by Kno, the three MCs rhyme over smooth, soulful, and funky grooves that hearken back to the best of old school hip-hop.1. Never (feat. Big Rube)
Over a beautiful piano backdrop, Big Rube brings his spoken word style to a poem about the power and longevity of hip-hop. "As long as we breathe, hip-hop gonna breathe with us/as long as we real, folks can't help but feel us," Rube says, reinstating what makes hip-hop so powerful to so many people in so many different walks of life: its realism and authenticity. Sure, over time it has been warped and exaggerated, but hip-hop at its essence will remain "as long as we breathe."
Instrumental rating: 5.0/5.0 The piano melody is the only instrument on the track, leaving the emphasis on Rube's poem, but still manages soulfulness and beauty in it simplicity. Produced by Kno.
Lyrical rating: 5.0/5.0 I'm a sucker for spoken word when it's done right, and Big Rube is one of the best of this brother-genre to hip-hop.
2. Valley of Death
The first track to feature the 'Lynguists themselves, Natti and Deacon spit flames over a gospel-tinged instrumental again produced by Kno. Deacon in particular spits an incredible verse that I'm tempted to quote in its entirety just to get the point across: "Are you gon' listen? It seems the only sense you got is vision/and since we've shed our senses now the census steady slipping/and since we stopped our youth from praying senselessness is living," he spits passionately before a full choir joins in to sing the outro verses.
Instrumental rating: 5.0/5.0 The dramatic strings and gospel choir add a sense of urgency to the lyrics. Even with the poignancy and tension portrayed in the verses, it's easy for the mind to drift into the instrumental and lose track of the words. Produced by Kno.
Lyrical rating: 5.0/5.0 Deacon's verse is incredible on its own, but Natti's hits hard too. The rhyme structures would be great enough, but the social commentary adds to the intensity.
3. Dirty Acres
Over a haunting, guitar-driven instrumental, Natti and Deacon lament over the hardships their people face, from the deaths of loved ones to the incarceration of friends to the power drugs hold over so many. Natti's verse steals the show this time, as he rhymes about the connection between dealing drugs, using them, and getting locked up over them; he muses that "shit must have been aight at some point in our sight" as he wonders where it all went wrong.
Instrumental rating: 4.0/5.0 The soulful guitars of the instrumental resonate throughout the song before fading into a scratched version of Kno's hook. Produced by Kno.
Lyrical rating: 4.5/5.0 The verses are not as spectacular as in "Valley of Death" but the sincerity and poignancy shines through either way.
4. Kentucky (Interlude)
I sampled this album online for the review and wasn't able to listen to this interlude. I'll amend this when I hear it.
5. K.K.K.Y.
Deacon and Natti trade bars on a dark tale of their home state of Kentucky. "So through this bluegrass follow sorrow/blacker than the ghetto you fear," Natti raps over the dark piano chords and eerie background singing. Natti again tends to pack the better bars on this one but the visual lyrics of both MCs weave a compelling description of the humble country state's underground.
Instrumental rating: 4.5/5.0 The instrumental's paranoid keys and slightly quicker tempo than some of the other tracks on this album make for a somber, haunting backdrop for the two MCs' rhymes, and for some reason it reminds me of Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind's work. Produced by Kno.
Lyrical rating: 5.0/5.0 Deacon and Natti's fluid rhymes and seamless transitions, coupled with the similarity in their voices, are so smooth as to sound like one MC rhyming the whole time, and the lyrics are dark and visual.
6. Wonderful (feat. Devin the Dude)
Devin the Dude drops in to deliver one of his typically slick verses and although I'm not his biggest fan, the clever lines he drops fit nicely on this track, sandwiched between the 'Lynguists' verses. Deacon steals the show with his ode to a lovely lady that left him "gone off her features soon as I seen mamacita."
Instrumental rating: 3.5/5.0 This wasn't the best beat on the album, but it was a smooth, happy-sounding instrumental that is well-suited to a song for the ladies. Produced by Kno.
Lyrical rating: 3.5/5.0 Solid lyrically and while it's not the most compelling song on the album, the more upbeat tone is a pleasant change of pace.
7. Yellow Lines (feat. Phonte and Witchdoctor)
Natti's excellent jumpoff verse and Phonte's great closer make this song, another song for the ladies, listen-worthy, but I found myself wishing I was hearing Deacon on the second verse instead of the mediocrity Witchdoctor brought to the track. Phonte's subtle metaphors might go over some heads if you don't listen closely, and as a result his verse might sound relatively plain as well if you're not paying attention ("MacIntosh of my eye, let me take a megabyte," he rhymes). Don't let it fool you, though--it's a great verse.
Instrumental rating: 4.0/5.0 Midtempo, smooth funk abounds on this track for the MCs to rhyme to. Produced by Kno.
Lyrical rating: 3.5/5.0 I might have given this a 4 if I liked Witchdoctor's verse more. Natti and Phonte do their thing, though.
8. The Park (feat. Chizuko Yoshihiro)
This song is a perfect companion to DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince's "Summertime" as the MCs rap about a relaxing day at the park. However, Natti's final verse shows signs of paranoia as the day comes to an end and he wonders, "on this day, can angels party without Satan?" It seems to stand as a bit of foreshadowing for the next few songs on the album...
Instrumental rating: 4.0/5.0 The sunny tinkling of keys and soothing guitar melodies of the track blend with the vocals on the hook to form a warm, bright backdrop for the feel-good rhymes. Produced by Kno.
Lyrical rating: 4.5/5.0 Descriptive lyrics about a summer barbecue in the park provide some of the first true optimism of the album, aside from Natti's ominous closing bars.
9. Summer's Gone
Natti takes a solo trip back through the days of summer from a much different perspective, as he muses that it takes the passing of summer "for straps to stay in the home of us that ought to be grown." In this reflective track, Natti seems to echo a sentiment that 50 Cent shared in his 2003 track "Heat": "In the hood the summertime is the killing season/it's hot out in this bitch, that's a good enough reason," only Natti isn't glorifying this assumption, but wondering why this is the way things seem to go.
Instrumental rating: 4.5/5.0 The soulful instrumental makes effective use of a piano loop and a vocal sample to form the backdrop for Natti's rhymes. Produced by Kno.
Lyrical rating: 5.0/5.0 Short but very sweet, as Natti flips the light-heartedness of "The Park" onto its back to show the dark side of the summer.
10. They Call Me (Interlude)
Rather than a skit, the album breaks for an instrumental interlude with a vocal sample that serves as the intro to "Gun."
Instrumental rating: 4.0/5.0
11. Gun (feat. Sheisty Khrist)
Kno takes a rare turn on the mic, and spits a verse as potent as any his groupmates have laid down thus far, rapping alongside Sheisty Khrist about the evil of the firearm. Sheisty turns in a decent verse, but it ultimately brings the track down a bit due to his inability to keep up with Kno.
Instrumental rating: 4.5/5.0 Acoustic guitar strums give the track a bit of a Southwest flavor that complement the lyrics perfectly. Produced by Kno.
Lyrical rating: 4.5/5.0 Kno's verse is flawless, and lyrically Sheisty's verse isn't bad either, but the clumsiness of his flow bring it down a notch, as well as the fact that his verse is more of a lamentation on his perception of the unfairness of prison than the evil of guns.
12. Dance For Me
After a three-track absence, Deacon kickstarts this track with a sad verse about a girl named Emily who only wanted to dance, but grew up too fast and whose low self-esteem thrust her into the position of taking her clothes off for money, and when Natti takes the baton he crafts a breathtaking verse about Emily's journey and loss of self. A track that simply must be heard, and lyrically is among the album's highlights.
Instrumental rating: 4.5/5.0 A dreamy, beautiful instrumental that adds to the sadness delivered in the MCs' mournful rhymes. Produced by Kno.
Lyrical rating: 5.0/5.0 Natti's fantastic closing verse is worth a 5 alone, and Deacon sets him up very well, as the sadness in his delivery is palpable.
13. Georgia
The song that introduced me to the Cunninlynguists features Kno rhyming about his home state, while Natti tells the story of his mother Georgia, referring instead not to a state, but to "a state my mind was left in." Kno's verse criticizes the racism that runs rampant in the deep South and his thankfulness that out of all of this ignorance he was given the opportunity to be a better man; while Natti tells the sad story of a great pain he suffered in the past, marked by the death of his mother and his hatred of an opportunistic stepfather.
Instrumental rating: 5.0/5.0 Soul and a bit of funk abound in this smooth, earthy beat, which is among the best production work on the album. Produced by Kno.
Lyrical rating: 5.0/5.0 Beautifully poignant lyrics that capture the pain of one man and the shame of another in awe-inspiring fashion.
14. Things I Dream
The three MCs unite on one track for the first time on this album (excluding Kno's instrumental contributions) for a tense track brimming with barely contained anger. Deacon and Natti contribute powerful and dope verses, but it's Kno that steals the show, rapping about a depression that "is feeding me to these demons that lurk and feed on my essence."
Instrumental rating: 5.0/5.0 The sinister strings build the intensity of the verses so powerfully that the MCs literally finish every verse at a near shout. Produced by Kno.
Lyrical rating: 5.0/5.0 Bar-for-bar, this is the lyrical highlight of the album, as the tension and emotion thrown down by the MCs is more tangible than anywhere else.
15. Mexico (feat. Club Dub)
Had I been the one constructing this album, I would have never made this track the finale, and would have definitely reserved that honor for the fantastic "Things I Dream." It's not a bad track by any means, and the feel-good rhymes about relaxing and kicking it in Mexico offer a pleasant break from the intensity of the last few tracks, but this would have been better placed earlier in the album in my opinion, as it's a bit of a downgrade from "Things I Dream."
Instrumental rating: 4.0/5.0 A bright, feel-good track punctuated with pleasant guitar chords and a marimba loop on the hook. Produced by Kno.
Lyrical rating: 4.0/5.0 Relaxing, carefree rhymes to end the album on a lighter note.
Composite ratings
Instrumental rating: 4.4/5.0
Lyrical rating: 4.6/5.0
Composite rating: 4.5/5.0 The Cunninlynguists put together a truly remarkable album with Dirty Acres that avoids almost all of the mistakes many artists make in overloading an album with subpar guests, cramming in too many weak tracks, or overloading it with skits. The focus is all on the beats and rhymes, and all the members of the group deliver. Any fan of hip-hop needs to hear this, as it is a testament to the beauty and musicality the genre has to offer.
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