The Mad Prophets, three brothas hailing from the D Yuinon Local 313, truly represent what it means for “iron to sharpen iron” (Prov. 27:17). Their growth as ministers through rhyme for those who observed them paying dues at various youth events will be evident on their debut CD Reasons for Rhetoric. Thousands of others regionally peeped Quan, Temple, and Steel Will the Warrior’s rugged but biblically solid content on two promotional singles that preceded the album. Their patience and understanding of the professional and personal growth process that goes along with completing a full-length project is evident in their character and in the end product. This is most likely attributable to the fact that all three young men are community outreach workers who use hip-hop as a ministry tool. Two are actually on staff at the same church.

The conundrum our genre of hip-hop faces is the need to be technically excellent (regardless) in order to compete with, and gain credibility from a cynical world system, and to win over a surprisingly equally skeptical body of believers. This imperative, coupled with the lack of resources (i.e. money for studio time, mixing, mastering, etc.) to pull it off is why the Prophet’s disc is so impressive. Reasons for Rhetoric is a classic case of over achievement, accomplishing much with little. All but three of the 18 joints were produced by group member Temple whose orchestral style is very evident, however, subpar mixing results in a sonically inconsistent product and prevents the “fullness” of the tracks from being realized and felt. Temple’s intricate embellishments (horns, flutes, and various sound effects) lurk in corners most ears won’t notice.

The project more than makes up for these deficiencies with cohesive lyrical content that highlight man’s depravity apart from Christ and exposes our futile attempts to solve social problems such as crack addiction, broken homes, and vanity-induced violence.

“For every block, neighborhood riddle with rocks, to every child whose mother may be smoking those rocks, for every father absent not doing his duty, for my sisters deceived not seeing their own beauty” - Medicine

This one hook, captures four pressing social ills in our communities. Tracks such as That Time (prophecy) and Crossroads (decisions) showcase the many topical angles the Prophets come from. Stylistically the prophets are hard to categorize as the three distinctive flows of the fellas lends well to diverse beats and arrangements (Peep the upbeat feel of Free, and the cinematic mood of Beautiful Picture). Temple’s flow is best described as energetic, laced with passion, it’s as if he can’t spit enough during his allotted bars to make you sense the urgency he feels. Quan brings insightful rhymes with a fluidity and crispness that MAKE you pay attention to every word while, Steel Will spits wisdom and experience with a confidence resulting from a knowledge of whom He represents. The project, without major distribution has been well received. Other, standout tracks include Resume, Reasons for their Rhetoric (the title track), Urban Caveman, and Hot Heat.

As evidenced by the CD cover, these brothas are not in it to glamorize blunts, riches or forties, they spit for the “shorties.” Providing them with an alternative to the spiritually numbing “hits” that saturate radio and lure them into CD aisles of record stores. There are way too many memorable hooks and metaphors to mention here but you’ll get “mad” spiritual mileage from this debut of a crew of brothas, prophets, with the right motives to “grab the mic device.”

Purchase Cd at The Yuinon Store