Tracklist:1. Trip of the Century
2. Invisible Seas
3. Place On Earth
4. Steel Kites
5. Coulda Woulda Shoulda
6. Reel Me In
7. PULSE
8. Work Of Art
9. These Words
10. Ecosphere
11. Burning Bush
12. Starlite
Panacea, the duo composed of Washington DC-based producer K-Murdock and Philly-native Raw Poetic, blaze 12 tracks reminiscent of hip-hop's true-school era on their debut album, INK IS MY DRINK. K-Murdock shows he isn't afraid to enter territory rarely explored by other hip-hop producers, dabbling in British pop-rock samples and acid-drenched guitar solos that mix seamlessly with funk horns and sweeping orchestral strings, while Raw Poetic's rhymes follow the lead of underground hip-hop's finest positive lyricists.
Review (soundslam.com)Panacea, unbeknownst to me prior to receiving this album, is a definition for a supposed cure to all diseases or problems. It is, in this case, also a musical duo consisting of K-Murdock, the beatsmith, and Raw Poetic, the emcee. These two individuals are looking to take music on a new journey, into new lands, and through a perspective all their own. Even more, Panacea is doing their part to give fans an album which is more a soundtrack to a set of experiences rather than just provide empty rhymes over shallow beats. Much like the list of their influences, which according to K-Murdock is as extensive as "ATCQ and De La Soul to Quincy Jones and Creed Taylor to Ryuichi Sakamoto and Vangelis," these two cats appear driven to make timeless music more than a quick buck.
On Ink Is My Drink, you will encounter a host of sounds melded into one cohesive soundscape. Near schizophrenic at times, K-Murdock showcases his vision by taking you from boom-bap to jazzy to experimental and edgy and then back into organic and soulful, all while maintaining a particular thoughtfulness and sincerity in each measure. Showcasing the LP's diversity within one track, "Trip of the Century" walks you through a collage of styles and sounds. Beginning with a backdrop reminiscent of a 5th Dimension album before being introduced to Raw Poetic's vocal hook and then thrown suddenly into a fast drum break loop accented with some funky horns. Raw Poetic establishes his verbal agility in no time, dancing around the beat with ease.
Whether it's the globally understood tales of relationship ills ("Coulda Woulda Shoulda") or the positive, encouraging words on overcoming obstacles ("Steel Kites"), Panacea take an everyday man's approach to music. "Works of Art" finds a sped up vocal sample flipped over a low bassline, snappy percussion, and more sampling to balance the frequencies before Raw Poetic blesses the joint with a staccato flow.
It's clear that K-Murdock is most comfortable when creating a serene, cool sonic environment. Still, his unexpected time changes and no-warning transitions could possibly used more sparingly, or used as segue's into the next track instead of only abrupt intro/outro programming. Additionally, Raw Poetic, although a talented mic man, showcases minimal verbal patterns or emotionally-charged lyrics over the course of the album leaving one to wonder if he can flip his rhyme scheme in more than one way. Luckily for them, Ink Is My Drink falls short in only a handful of spots.
Panacea has a difficult task ahead of them if they really hope to achieve the impossible, curing all diseases or problems. Despite having fallen short of that, Ink Is My Drink tells the tales of two guys hoping to change the world one by one by way of thoughts, hopes, dreams, and in the illustrious title of ATCQ: beats, rhymes and life. Respectable, nonetheless.
*Notable lyrics;
"Playing like a lesbian to test my brain/ Well I'm a thespian so for your acts I'm trained"
"Too many strategizing on winners, not analyzing/ Ego super-sizing like fast foods// But we live a fast life/ If there's less reason for us to act right"
Review (thesouthend.typepad.com)What is good hip-hop?
The answer is contingent on a listener’s musical preference and expectations.
Some hold a high standard for hip-hop and seek from it a socially conscious form of lyrical expression, matched with beats that translate into enigmatic interpretations.
While in considerable contrast, others seek hip-hop simply containing a catchy beat, a hook you can sing along to and an easily accessible home on the airwaves.
Regardless of any hip-hop hierarchy, Panacea’s sounds will satisfy eardrums across the board.
While Panacea is certainly socially conscious hip-hop, it’s also bursting with undeniably catchy, intensely soulful beats that have the power to make even the stiffest head nod.
Debuting on Rawkus Records, the label that gave Mos Def and Talib Kweli fruitful beginnings, “Ink Is My Drink” is Panacea’s first LP and boasts a live band, taking after The Roots’ proven success formula.
With tracks like, “Coulda Woulda Shoulda” which include a rhythmic, infectious hook, dreamy synth line and Emcee Raw Poetic’s articulately expressed experiences of love and loss; you can’t help but lose yourself in the heightened hip-hop bliss.
With just one listen to “Ink Is My Drink,” your musical expectations are exponentially elevated and it becomes unmistakably apparent — Panacea decisively holds the key to the new auditory uprising.
Review (rapreviews.com)In every other review these days hip-hop musicians at large are addressed to the effect that rappers and producers need to flip the script, do themselves instead of others and just generally take more risks. As soon as they oblige, however, those who demanded creativity and originality turn their backs on what they now call experimentation they think has gone too far. Case in point - this review of Panacea's "Ink Is My Drink." I could go on about how I've fallen victim to the industry's dumbing down to the point that I fail to comprehend anything beyond the most basic rhyme and thought patterns, or about how a rapper that I don't understand essentially defeats the purpose, etc. but before I bore everybody with my latest rap-induced identity crisis I better accept and appreciate that Panacea chose to present their findings a little bit differently.
Panacea is K-Murdock on the sampler and Raw Poetic on the mic. The beats are an amalgation of melodic and rhythmic bits and pieces extracted from the vaults. Once you make it past the whirlwind that is the opening "Trip of the Century," the album's remaining tracks will welcome you with open arms, building on the groundwork the elders have put down. From the sound of things, K-Murdock's approach is getting the most out of minimal equipment. Some of his transitions make for a rather bumpy ride, but similar to Count Bass D, Madlib or MF DOOM, Murdock becomes a bandleader behind the boards, conducting brass, wood, strings, drums and vocal harmonies into sometimes straightforward, sometimes a little bit messy arrangements. His intent is to make you feel at home with familiar signifiers of soul and funk, the single "Starlite" even pulsating with electro jolts. It wouldn't be a contemporary hip-hop album without at least one sped up soul sample, so "Work of Art" takes care of that.
K-Murdock's musical approach is mirrored by his partner, who offers on "PULSE," "The world's my archive / I break the laws of music just to raise the bar high / To me this is the playground." The risk in this is that the final product, in terms of how it sounds, can come across underproduced, and, in terms of its density, appear overcrowded. "Trip of the Century" successfully tackles the task with a clear structure, providing the rapper with separate backgrounds for his adventurous trip across altered states of awareness. If it ultimately fails, it's because Raw Poetic raps simply too fast to follow.
Outside of this introduction at super speed and the political "Burning Bush," Raw Poetic is a man with a mellow disposition. He raps in a melodic but rhythmically monotone flow. He's far from ignoring the beat, but something about how he expresses himself indicates that he's doing his own thing regardless of what's going on around him. He'll throw in an old school phrase or a Native Tongue reference every now and then, but apart from that has his very own way of putting things.
Lyrically, he realizes he's on a "a road less traveled." When in "Ecosphere" he repeats, "Gotta be myself and I / Me myself and I put me on a natural high," he almost acknowledges to operate on a plane few people will be able to reach. The ultimate challenge for Raw Poetic would be to musically and lyrically translate this "Me, myself and I" entity in a way that sends his audience on a similar high. As it stands, that kind of power is reserved for only the most talented of MC's. While some of his efforts are just too abstract to make any immediate sense, others are easier to relate to. "Steel Kites" is about making the impossible possible, Poetic pointing out, "I don't strap bombs, I only strap mics / A voice is a powerful thing, move my blacks like / Shaka, muthafucka, like we flyin' a steel kite." While he often comes from an introspective angle, here the Philadelphia native doesn't shy away from addressing what he feels needs to be addressed:
"I speak my opinion even if you don't ask me
Before you pick up guns pick yourself up a read
Pick up your seed
(...)
Pick up a trade instead of tradin' your life for jail
Pick heaven or hell, pick another product to sell
Pick up your people like fam when they're not doin' well
Like mothers at funerals when they're goin' through hell
(...)
Pick the spot to help you see how your perspective could grow
Now pick up a gun and see if it possess the same glow"
"Coulda Woulda Shoulda" examines a failed relationship with a sense for wordplay that can relate so much more than a dry account of facts. The obvious quotable is "Playin' like a lesbian to test my brain / Well, I'm a thespian, so for your acts I'm trained," but almost everything is poetically put, to the point where you have analogies like "We coulda been a good pair like new shoes," "Our two schools of thought clashed" and "So there's no screw-you" all within the same segment. "Place on Earth" is another creation that, although gravitating towards '90s underground abstractness, stands as a tangible song:
"I made music, y'all, coolin' out by walls
or trees that's tall, to realize that I am that small
Stood alone in the place I've grown
then left for what was shown, there's so much unknown
about my home, a zone with aggravated tones
cause it never took the chance to know this kid that roams
Searched for wealth cause that made me whole
From the south to the north pole my words seemed cold
A scene old but when changed occurred
was just me feelin', what I speak is also seen and heard
Teary-eyed, not quite but yet my vision blurred
I took a swallow of my pride and put my ear to the dirt
It was the soul, y'all, that got me all stirred up
Word up, like cold nipples fucked the earth perked up
And no matter where it is you choose to go
I find the home's in your heart, not where your body flows
From the stage to the bar to where you travel abroad
If the world is ours, home is just wherever you are
and wherever you are that means your heart is never too far"
"Ink Is My Drink" is likely to get additional attention because the renascent Rawkus Records decided to get involved in its distribution. Based in Washington DC, Panacea actually already debuted in 2003 with the EP "Thinking Back, Looking Forward." Since then, K-Murdock has been involved in Raheem DeVaughn's 2005 album "The Love Experience." "Ink Is My Drink" can be seen as yet another successful experiment to prove that straight up hip-hop can be just as soulful. Although at times somewhat absent minded, Raw Poetic is right there by his side, defining himself as a musician and an artist (rather than 'just' a rapper) with lines like "You see a table but I see a new beat / you see the walls but I'm composin' a piece" and "My head seems to think like an acid jazz song / feet tap the beat and I'm driven by car horns." At one point he even says "Musicians bring beauty more than beauticians." Don't underestimate the man's love for music.
I will readily admit that there are a lot of things that I don't understand on this record. I might even go as far as to blame the production and the rapping for that, which could both be clearer. Then again, how many rap albums these days give you something to chew on? And how many of those that do still compell you to stick around? "Ink Is My Drink" may not be a contender for album of the year, but its title is certainly among the most inspiring in recent years. And when it comes to the fundamentals of his act, Raw Poetic doesn't leave you guessing: "It's what my life is simply made of, the way that I think / the meaning behind the message, brother, ink is my drink."
Music Vibes: 7 of 10 Lyric Vibes: 6.5 of 10 TOTAL Vibes: 7 of 10Review (okayplayer.com)It’s hard for one not to be skeptical at the rebirth of Rawkus. The independent label, which made stars out of acts like Mos Def, Talib Kweli and Pharoahe Monch, is now back to square one, featuring a humble cast of little known talent like The Procussions and Kidz In The Hall. Are these new artists worthy of wearing the razorblade insignia? If Panacea’s debut record, Ink Is My Drink, is any indication, then hell yeah.
“Panacea” means a solution or remedy, and the duo proudly carries the name knowing they are putting out great music in a hip-hop world saturated with less than stellar material. Philadelphian Raw Poetic offers down-to-earth storytelling and raw battle raps, paired with his relaxed voice and cool flow. K-Murdock brings his gifted ability to lushly blend samples, creating moody backgrounds that are equal parts DJ Premier and Nicolay.
The melancholy “Invisible Seas,” immediately stands out with it’s chopped up piano and strings and chipmunked soul vocals, while “Coulda Woulda Shoulda” is full of thick instrumentation and finds MC Raw Poetic reminiscing on a past love. “Pulse” combines an up-tempo breakbeat, sampled pianos and saxophones with vivid stories about Raw Poetic’s past.
From the smooth flutes on “Steel Kites” to the hometown ode “Place On Earth,” Panacea perfectly pair smart lyrics with deep production, creating one of the most coherent and pleasing hip-hop albums in years. Rawkus is back, so it’s time to support the movement.
4,5/5Ho postato un po' di reviews dell'album,perche' avvolte si e' un po' in contrasto.Io sono daccordo sopratutto con okayplayer,un albumone veramente,ci ho dormito sopra parecchio.Esce per Rawkus, quindi e' una mezza garanzia.Non dormiteci sopra perche' e' un mezzo classico.
Lyricis 9 Beat 8 Total 8,5 per me.
MY SPACE PANACEA
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