Tame One - When Rappers Attack

As MTV and radio hip-hop tracks become more and more like previews for Cribs episodes, the underground market becomes a haven for MCs who want to kick more than shopping lists set to a keyboard beat. Many acts that gained mainstream success and notoriety in the early 90s – but eschewed the escalating jiggy-ness of the scene afterwards – have found a home in the now-greener pastures of independent labels, where a smaller yet far more devoted fanbase eagerly awaits new material. As part of the Artifacts (whose Wrong Side Of The Tracks is still considered a seminal album), Tame-One personifies this “true hip-hopper” career trajectory. When Rappers Attack offers up more than it’s fair share of tried and true beats and microphone boasts. Tame comes through with memorable lines (“tighter than braids in the 8th grade on picture day”) and is satisfactorily nice on the lyrical side of things. A bevy of underground luminaries from RJD2 to Camu Tau have blessed the disc with solid, OG-sounding boom-bap, and Tame kicks his 94-era game soundly. However, merely being better-than-average for an indie release doesn’t bode well for future spins. You’d expect When Rappers Attack to flow with a hunger and fierceness befitting the title, but Tame doesn’t really seem to get into things until halfway through the album. The banging J-Zone produced “Heat” and the Training Day-sampling PCP ode “Leak Smoke” are memorable, but the rest of the disc too often ends up more satisfactory than stunning. This album will more than satisfy die hards, and cement Tame-One’s underground legend status – for better or worse, that’s where he looks to stay. [www.tame-one.com]