Why Sho Serious? Sho Baraka: Lions And Liars Review

  For a chance to win this album click here!

In 2009 Reach Records artist Tedashii released one of the best albums of any genre, Identity Crisis. 2010 looks like being the year of stablemate Sho Baraka and his amazing album Lions And Liars.

What’s so special?

Like all the Reach rappers, Sho is very worded and hard hitting, but he’s humorous with it. He has a gift for handling even the most serious themes in a playful way.

The album is packed with references, both cultural & biblical & is bursting with musical styles & lyrical themes.

Manhood & racial identity, sex, drugs and violence, thug culture & the gospel vie for attention over a crazy mix of stadium rock, & europop anthems, Motown Soul & Black Gospel, sax solos & performance poetry.

Don't trust the trailer

Ever seen a film where the best 3 minutes were all in the trailer? Well this album is the opposite. Don’t judge Oh Well & Revolutionary Died from the taster videos you‘ve seen on Youtube. Like his master, Sho saved the best for last. Both songs will have you hitting replay again and again.

The man raps with a twinkle in his eye. It’s apparent on Lions Anthem from the nod to Whole Lotta Love to rapping about the shoe salesman who’s used to save soles (souls) and his cousin at the IRS dealing with false profits (prophets). 

But he’s just warming up. He catches fire on Mercy On Me. Over a powerfully penitent gospel chorus, the criminal & the cancer patient who’ll “be dead by year's end” are our companions at the mercy seat. 

I’m Black - a creatively recorded performance poem by Tom Ason, serves as an attention grabbing intro to My Life

Nice aim! They taught us to aim for nothing

And look, we hit it, dead on the button.

Sho’s personal journey through self-identity issues features superbly crafted lyrics - each line of the chorus recaps the line before, and the final line leads us back to the first line. 

On Me, Myself & I he gets all Smeagol/Gollum on the mic, as he documents his battles against the flesh.

You’re a liar, a jerk you’re a creep,

So prideful, arrogant and weak.

Don't waste your skit

Liar’s Anthem is built on a sample from a Don’t Waste Your Life video skit. Singing from the thug’s p.o.v. could be dangerous move, turning this into a gangster's song, but Sho manages to makes the transition via looking at the sins of the rap industry, church & Nike(!) to straight out preaching. 

Propaganda supplies the second performance poem BOYS!!! and it is a killer. In 1:29 he manages to reduce wannabe gangsters to “silly boys.” And sets the stage perfectly for the album’s high point Revolutionary Died

It’s still hip-hop minus all the thugging

Take the poet & the priest & put it in the husband

I know one song can’t change the world

But maybe the dude next door [will] stop beating his girl

download it right now!

This song is a classic and the only reason not to get immediately is that’s ‘cos you’re gonna get the whole album.

Oh Well keeps up the pressure over a swaggering rock groove

They save whales, save dogs, save dolphins,

Save trees – but kids ain’t really that important

All the money he wants can’t buy joy

Dollar bills don’t make men out of boys

By this stage Sho is relentless. When the beat drops he keeps going - right of the edge of the map.

Perfect?

No, there’s a few weak points - all of them minor. 

The early tracks struggle to sustain the weight of the grand concept. Who is the dead lion? Jesus? Christians? Does the cover mean Sho is a Liar? Or a Lion and a Liar? As well as making him look freakishly ugly it’s trying to make a metaphor mean too many things all at once. AND IT DOESN’T MATTER! The songs and the track listing are strong enough to tell their own story. 

Just for once I’d love to see a hip hop album presented simply as “a collection of the best tracks I recorded this year” without feeling the need to make some kind of over hyped statement. Because the songs make a powerful enough statement all by themselves. Though strictly speaking this is not a concept album I can’t remember the last time I’ve heard an album with such a powerful flow (particularly from I’m Black to Oh Well).

The ugly photo isn’t the only sleeve issue. This is the second Reach Records release I’ve had to go online to find out the name of a track or featured rapper.  
Readab1E fOnts  guys!

The album is 17 tracks plus 4 bonus tracks. Filling every second of the CD runs the risk diluting the album. There’s nothing wrong with the bonus tracks – (Kobe Bryant On Em extended mix? Yes, please!) but why not keep the album tighter and include a unique download code for bonus tracks?

So to sum up, the only things wrong with this CD are Sho paid more attention to the music than the artwork and is too generous with his tracks. Shame on you Sho!

This is an incredible, inspiring five star album. It will make you laugh and make you think. It will move your heart and probably the rest of your body with it .

Wanna get your hands on a free copy of this CD? Tune in tomorrow to find out how.

Related Posts: Free Sho Baraka mixtape

John Piper vs Led Zeppelin (Tedashii & Lecrae)

Free songs by Matt Blick