Posted on 04/24/2008
You'd be hard pressed to find two cities more different than Dallas and London. One is one of the world's foremost cultural capitals and the other necessitated the word exurban sprawl. Drawing inspiration from these two diametrically opposed locales emerged PPT, an eclectic Hip-Hop group that is on some other. Members Professor Pyke, C.L. Pasio III, and Seth Garphunkle may have an eye trained on the UK, but have clearly have both feet planted somewheres in the Dirty South. 

PPT's sound is unique and fun but not quite innovative. Their sound is a mash-up of jazzy 90s Hip-hop and glitzy 80s pop. If your memory doesn't go back that far think of Andre 3000 cutting a couple of quick sides with Gnarls Barkley. The album has a lot of energy from the first cut and its clear PPT had a good time making it. "Masterbook Theater" speaks well for the rest of the album. Its uptempo, eager and the crew raps and harmonizes like they do throughout. The spits might not be the savviest to come out of England or Dallas but they get the job done. The best MC out of the crew is the first one on this track, the chap with the most profound accent. His mic skills help keep the crew focused, as at times the album is a tad heavy on the singing. Good thing PPT doesn't take their vocalizing too seriously as Denglish drags for a bit when they're not rapping. Just when the joke starts getting old they get back to rapping on "Dallas Lady" and add more heat to the mix with "Electricity". My favorite joint though was "To Me Mum". Everything comes together as the beat is a bit more constrained and the autobiographical rhymes are well played. Its always a good thing when artists color outside the lines and these cats do it with vibrant colors. They're 80s pop steez b/w 90s rap with some hipster cool sprinkled on top might help PPT stick around for a while. 

 

- C. Benz