Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Tru-Paz is a trio: Boozie and Akim write the tracks, DJ Unknown does the production and arrangements. The collaboration is a seamless one, based on what I’m hearing on CONCRETE KINGS. The tracks, to a one, are uniformly interesting, the beats solid, the raps positive, the R & B sensibilities which infuse each track perfect.

As DJ Unknown notes in his liner notes, his father exposed him to lots of old skool artists in his younger years, and it shows. "Street Intuitions," a reggae-informed track, explores the contradictions of the street, the conflicts which make staying straight and staying alive mutually exclusive sets. Still, the majority of the tracks --- "Dust Yourself Off," "Count Your Blessings," "People Are People," "When We Were Kings," "My Lady" --- are positive while those that present a darker tone ---"Black Rose," "Up And Down" ---never resort to the simplistic exaggeration that has unfortunately become a staple of others in the genre. And while there’s an old skool influence that permeates CONCRETE KINGS, it’s an original work, in every way.

CONCRETE KINGS by Tru-Paz is beautifully produced --- no mud on the whitewalls here --- and while there’s a parental advisory sticker on this bad boy the positive message more than outweighs the very occasionally gratuitous potty-mouth lapse. All that, and virtually every track is radio-ready to boot. If you’re not hearing this yet, your local programmer needs some new ears.