Mr. Lif: "The Sun"

Mr. Lif, after crafting an interesting-if-overhyped dystopian portrait with I Phantom (2002), attempted to leaven his political sermons on Mo’ Mega (2006) with ruminations about, uh, vaginal hygiene. So, perhaps in direct response to gripes about Mo’ Mega he returns to his sphere of hyper-political rap shit, synching up the release of the upcoming I Heard It Today with Inauguration Day, its cover adorned with a picture of a family having its house snatched away by a giant hand. It’s obvious stuff, but it’s nice to see Lif back in his element again.

He certainly seems right at home amongst bleeding pantomimes and synths glowing like dwindling coals, his nasal, self-assured flow wedging itself warmly between the beat’s elusive beauty. But here he seems to let off the harsh rhetoric a bit, opting instead for a more spiritual approach to his political steez: “Do what you feel / If your actions are real / Then you shall find glory when the truth is revealed.” Yeah, it’s preachy, but at least his (unintentional) condescension is soaked in a sincerity that softens the KRS-isms. And for all this “you” talk, Lif finds his most affecting language when looking inward: “Gaze at the horizon and the future looked inciting / So my only choice: stay on my path and keep grindin’.” I Heard It Today is sure to be full of indictments and qualms, but perhaps in light of the nation’s political shift we’ll be privy to more inspiration than accusation, hopeful Lif might just be the most intriguing incarnation of him we’ve seen yet.