Ready Writer - Conduit

I had my reservations with this one. I'll be honest.. I hesitated on this CD. I was purposefully waiting for everyone else to get theirs so I could hear about how it was before I considered buying it. I'll say this... Brinson does not know how to leave me alone, and I'm glad he didn't. As CEO and spokesman of Godchaserz Ent., he does an EXCELLENT job putting out notice of upcoming events and CD releases of his artists. You can tell he has a love for God and what he does concerning his ministry. I had reservations for many reasons, most of them because of my own narrow mindedness. For those who don't know me, I've been pretty picky about the theology of the music that I digest. After being convicted recently about my own pride and prejudices I held against brothers of different theological views, I began to let my guard down a bit. This CD was the killing blow that destroyed my theology wall. Even though I may not agree with some of the theology on this album, none of my beefs involve core element of Christ's death, resurrection, deity, or any other topic I would classify as VITAL to true Christianity. That being said... I'll just pray for my brothers out of Christ love (LOL, I'm kidding!). Seriously, with that being said, let's look at "Conduit" by Ready Writer off of the Godchaserz Ent. label.

With closed eyes, and bracing my ears for the unexpected I pressed the "play" button and began my audio journey down the road that is "Conduit" from Ready Writer, and I was very pleasantly surprised. As the sample blared, the kick and snare slammed against my ear drums, the gritty rhyme schemes from the brilliant mind that is Readywriter began to pour out of my headphones. Immediately I was caught up by this young mans strength of character behind a mic. Not only was the delivery of punchlines timed perfectly with the track, but for whatever reasons I found myself pretending to hold a mic myself and following along with his words. This album is lyrically intense for the most part, you'll find a few places among the pile of words and instruments to rest and just nod your head without thinking too hard, but for the most part you'll be nodding viciously while your mind races trying to keep pace with the verbal triathlon that runs the length of the CD. Adding to the verbal melee were label mate Jovan Mackenzy, Brinson, Young Fitz, and Disciple. There were a few low points for me, a couple of tracks will find the "skip" button a place of residence more often than not. While I can appreciate the message behind both "Woman's Love" and "Get Clean", for me the production just didn't match the quality of the lyricism and ultimately watered both songs down. But overall this was very solid offering from the God Chaserz crew. Favorites include "God's Plan", "Emails", and "War of Mind's". That's not to say that there aren't other tracks that won't make you want to either grab your Bible and try to keep up, or get up and dance. While not being counted among my favorite tracks, the single "This is Jesus Christ" is at least the catchiest tune on the album.

When pausing from the mental workout being given by our trainer, Ready Writer, to look at the production on the album, you notice the wide variety of styles being offered on this one disc. With tunes crafted by the likes of Brinson, Teddy P, recently reviewed Lesun, J. Pierre, and a host of other producers, Conduit lays out a spread fit to give listeners of every musical taste a sample of his lyrical prowess. As stated before, this is a lyrically intense album, so even if some tracks didn't catch my fancy production wise, that doesn't necessarily mean that the MC didn't.

After listening to this album from cover to credits, top to bottom and in between all of the crevices, I find myself unsatisfied. Allow me to clarify. When discussing this album with Brinson, he mentioned that sometimes he has to go back and listen again to some of the things said and even days later he'll finally understand a punchline or hook. I'm definitely finding that to be the case. I keep saying it and I'll repeat once more, this is a lyrically intense album. One of the things I find so intriguing about Ready Writer's style is that he doesn't make everything plain. A lot of the meat of what he's saying is hidden behind some of the metaphors and similes he uses. I had to listen to the first few bars of "God's Plan" just to get what he was talking about. Honestly, I just got it while listening and writing this review! So when I say unsatisfied, I mean "the theme park just closed, and I know that I missed a couple of the roller coasters"! Fortunately, I own the album and am free to glean to my hearts content. Overall the album started off very strong for me and kind of tapered off a bit for me because of some of the production, however lyrically the MC stayed on point in delivery and style for the most part. Over all, this is a very decent effort from Ready Writer and crew. Cop it and keep it. This ones a good listen.