Album Review: "Friends" by mc chris

One of the things I've been trying to do over the past few years was expand not just the size, but the scope of my music library. For a long time, I really didn't have much rap to speak of, save the Beastie Boys, and I still don't have a lot.

I'd have to say when I look at my music library by genre on my PC that it's third to last in front of Country (all Johnny Cash) and my newly added Blues category, but as long as mc chris and a host of other nerd rappers keep coming out of the woodwork, it'll keep growing.

What we have here is the latest release by mc chris. This is a four song EP, that was released on Black Friday 2012, which is all about Batman's friends. Normally, the content of mc's songs really speaks to me because I'm into those things, but I have to be honest here, I've not been a fan of comic books since I was little.

I was talking about this yesterday with a good friend and the price of comics went up, but the amount of money I had did not, so they just weren't in my budget and I stopped reading them. So beyond the bits of the Batman TV, with Adam West, and the later movies I've seen, I don't have a whole lot of info on the Batman story really.

As has been the case for awhile now, mc chris writes the lyrics and does the vocals and Andrew Futral does the beats and music. This combination has worked for some time, so I see no need to change this up.

This EP  has four tracks, one each about: Robin, Commissioner Gordon, Batgirl, and Alfred. My biggest complaint about this EP is that the beats feel a bit rushed and not up to Futral's normal standard. Each of the four tracks has a musical component along with a synth drum beat, but save the second song, they all seem to really rely on a synth snare and high hat line, but with all that mc chris has going on right now (mc chris Cartoon, a second kids EP, and his next album all in the works), I can forgive this as each of the tracks has its own semi melodic music backing it up.

The songs contain his usual nerdy and witty observations about the stuff geeks like us can get behind and really remember. He compares Commissioner Gordon to McGruff the crime dog and tells Robin he's to be a side kick so that he knows his side is winning, etc. So there's nothing to complain about there. All in all, this is a cute little EP about a beloved cartoon/movie/comic book hero who's genuinely become a part of Americana.

If you like mc chris, there's no reason to skip out on this one.

Genre: Nerdcore Rap
Year: 2012
Run time: 17:30
Playlists: Nerdcore, Rap and Such

Track listing:

1. Part Two
2. Part Three
3. Part Four
4. Part Five

Oh yeah, all the tracks are named like this. (Part One is on his last album, "RACEWARS.")