Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

The merging of rock and rap is becoming more and more accepted among listeners today. It brings two worlds together and combined them to make a parent's worst nightmare, some of the most powerful music you have ever heard. Even though some are afraid to venture down this road, Grade 8 tossed their fears out the window and compiled one of the greatest and most influential albums that I have ever heard. Being able to do this successfully takes not only skill, but also the ability to transform two genres of music into a commanding, dominant source of music. The album is full of raw emotion felt through adrenaline pumping hard edge music.

"Deal With It" is one of their better tracks, starting with a fast, hard rock beat. The guitar starts wailing while the drums are pounding and then a lightning fast rap verse is laid over it with careful precision and timing creating a whirlwind of controlling music. "Get It Out" is a mellower track with slower music and less feeling but that doesn't lessen the overall quality of the song any. The rapping is slowed to a steady pace while the drums keep the beat. Then in a roar of emotion the singer lets to chorus loose and the tempo quickly changes into a hard-hitting torrent and slowly dies down back to its original rhythm. The whole album is full of surprises like this making it almost irresistible to listen to.

You never really know what to expect when creating a new kind of music. There's always doubt and confusion but in the end you're setting a trend. Luckily for Grade 8 someone was wise and brave enough to intertwine these two kinds and music and created what is undoubtedly one of the best kinds of music around. This album is a major find and shouldn't be taken lightly. If and when given the chance to I believe that Grade 8 can definitely make it mainstream and compete with a lot of bands that are out now and give them a run for their money.