Ok, so I might not be the biggest fan of rap and hip-hop and have been pretty blunt in my criticism of a fair few releases from these genres in these pages. I'm also less than keen on giving everything a label, and while I well appreciate how genre distinctions are useful in marketing terms, they can be pretty reductive and are, at times, meaningless.
Step up Dussel Has Friends, a 'Live Band Hip Hop Act' straight outta NYC. Listening to 'American Made,' however, it makes sense. This is no slick digital studio mass-market lamecore effort: lyrically, 'American Made' is a credible tale of tough living in the 'hood, delivered with a real punch and absolute sincerity. Musically, it's a genre-straddling amalgamation of hip-hop, rock and more, played on real live instruments. There's a mean guitar line running along the spine of the chorus and a serious groove throughout.
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More observational and less rabble-rousing and bile-filled than RATM, this is still a cracking example of the way rap and rock can crossover to produce music of quality. In short, it rocks.
www.myspace.com/dusselhasfriends
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