Album Review- "City Beautiful" by Adam WarRock

Like a lotta nerdcore rappers, there's something a little off about Adam WarRock. He strikes me as a dude that will never be popular with traditional hip hop fans, but I bet that's fine with him...


WarRock has made a respectable career making albums that are stacked top to bottom with unveiled references to comics characters and storylines. Touring heavily and taking advantage of today's digital platforms and media outlets, WarRock has built a loyal unconventional fanbase across the country. City Beautiful doesn't appear to be aimed at that audience. On this plate, Adam seems to be reaching out to those fans of underground hip hop who may not have a weekly pull list.  Which is not to say that the raps on this album are without comics and nerd-based verbiage. I mean, it's Adam WarRock, people... but it does feel like he dialed it back to levels that are common among "regular" indie rappers for the most part.

City Beautiful is produced entirely by indie rap dude Rob Viktum, and works as an introduction to WarRock. It can ease non-nerds into his non-traditional rhyme style without overwhelming them with the obscure references that make his fans all giggly. So I guess if you really love his stuff, you can try to train your girlfriend to like him with this record? Like I said, I don't know if he will ever be huge with fans who don't read comics, but fans of people like Atmosphere and Aesop Rock may be reachable if he plays his cards right. Like most rappers, WarRock works best as part of a group of emcees, and thankfully he lets other cats onto the record to balance him out. Oppenheimer and Viktum's remix of the nerdcore anthem The Silver Age  make particularly good use of other emcees, but I also liked solo tracks liked THX and Rodin after I listened to the whole record once through.
If you enjoy this, Adam WarRock has a serious discography of music available, so click here to dive in.

-samax.  

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