Chino Xl - Here To Save You All

Too often rap isn't about rapping at all, and it seems a shame that in exchange for a fat beat and hook many hip-hoppers forsake the vocals on which the genre bases itself. Not so former Art of Origin frontman Chino XL. The East Orange, New Jersey, rapper is a fully dedicated lyricist, and a good one at that. So good, in fact, his music suffers by comparison.

The weak link in Here To Save You All, Chino's debut solo album, is no doubt its flat beats and rote backing tracks. Except for the swinging "Feelin' Evil Again" and stirring "Rise," there's a dullness that keeps the album a notch away from great hip-hop. Chino does his part, however, to keep the craft of the MC alive. With relentless, lightning-fast delivery he drops pop culture references like a ghetto Dennis Miller, naming everyone from Eazy E and LaMaze to Donna Karan and Pearl Jam with witty, outrageous insight.

Into the jokes he mixes substance whether he's tackling status and materialism in rap ("No Complex") or the identity crisis of growing up half-black/half-Puerto Rican in a white neighborhood ("What I Am?"). Then, where most rappers make empty claims authenticity, Chino lets his imagination take control. He recounts lives and loves he's never had ("It's All Bad" and "Kreep"), then muses over fallen angels ("Ghetto Vampire") and the afterlife ("Rise"). Part monologuist, part short story author, Chino is an uncommon reminder of all a rapper can be. --Roni Sarig