REVIEW: Poems N Dust - Dirty Words

01. Power To the People
02. Listen Up
03. Oz
04. Grace
05. Change
06. If You Wanna Know
07. Man vs Machine
08. Lonestar
09. Will Not Be Sold
10. Fly
11. Give Thanks
12. Dig Deep

(includes instrumentals for all tracks)

Poems n Dust is a newly formed duo of old favorites. It combines Dust, producer of Mars Ill fame who has made some of the most famous and memorable beats in christian rap (many will remember the incredible Sound Off among others) and and Sareem Poems (formerly known as Sharlock Poems) out of the widely-known rap group LA Symphony. Initially the combination of these two well-known artists had me very interested and I was expecting something incredible from the duo.

Power to the People starts off the album bombastically with rolling drum beat samples throughout the track and that iconic 80s funk style vibe that is so promiment in much of Dust's work. Listen Up features Rawkus 50 artist Sev Statik, on yet another funk style beat. These tracks provided a sense of security in my expectations and had me eager to hear the rest. I came to realise these were exceptions and not the rule to Dirty Words.

If You Wanna Know can be best described as annoying. It's basically Sareem rapping fun facts about himself. It's pointless, incredibly boring and the beat is not easy on the ears. This was my first major letdown from both Sareem and Dust. The lyrics seem as if they were just thrown out with little to no thought. It's presented as an insight into Sareem's thoughts but comes out as random and incohesive. If that wasn't enough Dust lays down a beat that sounds like the backing track for a circus act. I honestly don't know why If You Wanna Know was included on the album.

Dig Deep was another shocker as Dust failed to deliver again. It's the last track on the album and is probably the worst note they could have ended it on. The beat is quite strange, there are parts where the instrumental fades out randomly and the beat timing even goes out of time. My mind was blown at what I was hearing. I was extremely disappointed to hear something like this from a producer of such calibre.

There are definitely songs that are worth mentioning on the album however, but for all the wrong reasons. Hearing Dust's former companion, Manchild and one of my favorite rappers Theory Hazit, all on the same track on Fly was great. Unfortunately both Manchild and Theory outshine Sareem even in the little time they are given on the track. Both are incredibly talented artist with unique style. Manchild has his quick, witty, wordsmith style and Theory Hazit brings his classic battle-rap style swagger. Sareem on the other hand just ends up seeming even more blander than usual in comparison.

Give thanks is a mellowed out track with a beautiful instrumental containing light guitar stings. Sareem flows over the beat smoothly. It's a great track to sit back and relax to. But other than that it's not very remarkable. Half of the songs on Dirty Words can be described likewise. Not oustanding, but smooth, toned down and relaxing.

To hear Sareem over Dust's trademark funk-infused beats should be a real treat for me as a fan of both Sareem's previous work and Dust's production from his days in Mars Ill, at least in theory. Unfortunately what we end up with is lyrcisim that is neither fantastic nor horrible, but simply does its job for most of the time. There are a few tracks that are definitly worth considering purchasing (such as Fly) but for all the wrong reasons. The best songs on the album are the ones featuring great artist which outshine Sareem everytime. They made me want to switch this off and go listen to their albums. Then you have the few tracks which boggle the mind in terms of their choice of beat, content matter and tone that'll have you scratching your head.

Fans of these artists will probably be disappointed by this album. I know I found myself rather surprised at the lack of anything substantial or exciting from the duo. What we have is too much mediocre and not enough stand-out tracks. Sareem feels like he's being carried by Dust's famous production values half the time. And Dust does not lay down much of anything spectacular himself. These artists have set the bar high in the past and unfortunately haven't been able to reach past that for Dirty Words.