My Son the Hurricane: You Can’t Do This
From the early 80s with groups like Stetsasonic to more modern groups like The Roots and Crown City Rockers, live hip hop groups are nothing new. But the sound My Son the Hurricane puts forth on their new album, You Can’t Do This, is very different from the groups mentioned.
Their music sounds like classic soul similar to The Dap Kings without Sharon Jones. Replacing Sharon Jones is emcee, Jacob Bergsma. Listening to his voice, you can just tell Bergsma is white. He sounds like a mixture between Brother Ali and Zach de la Rocha. His cadence is more rock than hip hop but Bergsma never shows the same fire as de la Rocha; instead his voice sounds more like Brother Ali.
“Honour Among Thieves” is probably the most fiery My Son the Hurricane sounds. The band plays an instrumental that sounds like something straight out of a 1970s action movie while Bergsma gives his attempt at an intense vocal performance. I say an attempt because for the most part it comes off sounding a little goofy. When he mock how girls say “play another slow jam” his voice gets so high that he can not be taken seriously again for the rest of the song.
Sadly for most of the album, I feel like Bergsma can not be taken seriously. His voice just does not seem made for hip hop despite his cadence occasionally being passable. Unfortunately, passable does not make the grade; the music is technically proficient and well executed but is sadly betrayed by the vocal performance leaving You Can’t Do This feeling mediocre at best.
Rating: 3.5/10
MP3: My Son the Hurricane “Honour Among Thieves”
Buy: iTunes
My Son the Hurricane: You Can’t Do This
