Profits vs. Prophets? KRS-ONE Explores the Dilemma with The Mixtape!

Prophets or profits? Too many rappers face this dilemma when they first get signed. Should I dedicate my music to promoting true Hip-Hop, though I won’t get that coveted mass appeal and won’t be as financially successful? Or should I just trick off the “conscious” crap and become the thug/pimp/hustla/playa pop rapper that the mainstream wants me to be, so I can kick back and live fat off the royalties? For more and more rappers the answer is the latter. However, the scary thing is that for more and more rappers, it’s not even really a dilemma.

As of late, Hip-Hoppers are becoming more and more vocal about preserving the culture that pop rap has been maligning for so long, as evidenced by this year’s battle between MTV icon Nelly and Hip-Hop advocate KRS-ONE. In the midst of the heated conflict, Kris produced Profits vs. Prophets, a mixtape that further expounded on the differences between commercial rap and Hip-Hop music. At first the Teacher only sold this mix at concerts and venues, but due to popular demand, the effort was made available for distribution through major media outlets as The Mixtape. At its core, it’s a passionate assault on commercial rap and a call for Hip-Hoppers to work to reclaim their culture.

Tracklisting
1. Ova Here
2. Things Is About to Change
3. Splash
4. Kim-O/Steph Lova Shout-Outs
5. Down the Charts
6. Priest Shout-Outs
7. The Message 2002
8. Kreditz
9. Stop It
10. Problemz
11. Deejay Red Alert Shout-Outs
12. Ova Here (Remix)
13. Preserve the Kulture

The Mixtape starts out with the Nelly-smashing Hip-Hop anthem “Ova Here.” KRS lyrically beats the St. Louis “rapper” into submission here in response to Nelly’s laughable attempt at a diss on the “Roc the Mic” remix. The track is nothing but pure fire, thanks to the production genius of The Beatminerz. They lace heroic horn fanfare over a powerful beat with bass kicks so booming they make “Love’s Gonna Get Ya” look like a tweeter hiccup. The remix for this is also included in the EP, though it’s essentially the same save for some Tin E Tim scratches and altered lyrics in the second verse. In the first verse KRS spits, “I think it's 'bout time we stop these pop rappers/ f*ck these pop rappers, Hip-Hop does matter to me/ does it matter to you? My crew?/ If it does, you know what the hell to do/ throw your guns in the air, pump it like yeah/ let these b*tch a** rappers know we in here/ go to the shows huh, boo 'em off stage/ tell 'em KRS told you they at the end of they days...”

The Teacher continues to assault pop rappers by letting them know their time is winding down with “Things Is About to Change,” a forceful track with muted percussion and bass, simple keyboard chords for the melodies and hits. Later, KRS gets creative with his concepts on “Down the Charts,” soberly describing the different stages and emotional states a rapper who validates his work by mass appeal goes through as his hits descend the Top 40 charts. This song would have been much better as a narrative, though that’s unfortunately not a big part of KRS’ style. “The Message 2002” pays homage to the classic Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five song, though the title and the actual “message” itself are the only things the two have in common. KRS and Shuman team up to explore a variety of social ills with Inebriated Beats providing the head-nodding track.

As much as KRS fans would have loved for The Mixtape to be watertight after such a publicized battle, there are definitely some flaws. The Blastmaster gets some big names in Hip-Hop such as Steph Lova and DJ Red Alert to do shout-outs, but like all shout-outs, skits, and non-musical interludes, they just get annoying and supremely skippable after a few listens. Also, “Stop It” has an extremely awkward ending. Reggae rhymer Mad Lion collaborates with KRS over a typical awkward BDP beat on “Stop It”, but this track concludes abrupbtly after a very short set. If some songs were simply released here in their unfinished forms, hopefully a complete or remixed version will be included on the artist’s next album.

The Mixtape is another reminder of how potent KRS-ONE songs can be when everything comes together. Throughout his career his inconsistent production has always hampered him – this EP, though a step in the right direction, is no exception - but those times when the production has been even only slightly above average, KRS has killed. When it’s exceptional, like “Ova Here” and the laid back “Splash,” he’s unstoppable; one of the reasons why fans are excited to see Dr. Dre on board for KRS’ 2003 release Kris Styles. Recruiting Dre to plug some of the production holes will be the equivalent of giving Achilles a pair of Kevlar-reinforced high-top sneakers. Heads disgusted with the current state of commercial rap will definitely get a charge out of this intelligent EP from one of Hip-Hop’s most respected figures. The real Hip-Hop is over here.