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10 out of 10!

It is not often that the esteemed New Musical Express hands out a perfect score. It happens even less for music typically described as hip-hop or rap. With the release of the Asian Dub Foundation's second album, however, that's apparently the point. Community Music has been hailed a landmark recording because it offers an atypical reminder that hip-hop is at its most faithful when being a hybrid musical form. One defying expectations and resisting categorization. Community Music is presumed to be able to preserve and extend hip-hop's meaning and value via an unfashionable thought--namely, that its roots run as deep as they do wide. NME go so far as to compare it to Public Enemy's "Fear of a Black Planet" by not being "remotely market-honed [and having] a street power and rock'n'roll energy that nothing else is going to measure up to this year." You don't have to agree with them, of course--just remain a vibrant part of the hip-hop community by meeting the challenge posed by this music.

Thu, 16 Mar 2000 18:37:45 -0800

Submitted by: Steven Aoun