Hip Hop/Rap: Border Crossing's Ominous

Old school scratching, ghetto bass blasting, R&B and jazz samples, R&B guest vocals from Alex Watson, and world rap voices make Border Crossing’s Ominous a truly fresh Hip Hop disc. While you can imagine MC Rockwell fronting for a standard 00’s pimped-out video for “Original Heads,” there’s enough rock and soul sense in these boys (Seorais Graham, Paul Mulvey, and Alex Angol) that they go beyond trunk rattling bass. This is the Hip Hop disc for those who like that slink and slide strut rhythm, but don’t always like the same old, same old “bragging about my grill and girls” rap. Ricky Rankin’s guest raps bring a Michael Franti & Spearhead sense to the project, especially “Future Blues” which sounds like the second chapter in Franti’s “Ganja Babe.”

Thank you to the Border Crossing and Recall Group for the review copy.