Rev Run “Distortion”

Rev Run “Distortion” Inpress Magazine November 2005

Rev Run Distortion
By Mawuse Ziegbe

I was prepared to spew misguided teenage hate all over this review. Usually when legends come back into the fold, they try to kick it like the kiddies and end up embarrassing themselves. If you’re one Shuffleboard game away from a hip replacement, don’t try to get jiggy with oiled-up video girls half your age in your comeback clip. Sadly, for my smug young self, I underestimated a master and Rev Run’s Distortion certainly shut my trap.

The great thing about Distortion is that it resists most of the taxing conventions of today’s hip hop. Joseph Simmons is now a grown man who started the culture and his music is informed by the wisdom and experience that most hard-headed young ‘uns can’t fathom. Sampling everything from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Blondie to well, Run DMC, Distortion weaves live instrumentation with classic beats. The sound is evocative of the early hip hop era that Run
DMC helped to shape but is still fresh and damn near timeless.

Any cursory hip hop fan would expect Run to take up events of the past twenty years like why he left rap to be a reverend and the passing of one his partners in rhyme, Jam Master Jay. On “Home Sweet Home” Rev doesn’t make a brooding eulogy for a fallen soldier but backed by a plucky “Sweet Home Alabama” sample, Run’s trademark energy celebrates the remarkable life of his friend. Rev channels some retro sweetness on “Take a Tour” blending beats from Blondie and The Monkees to create a delectable tropical sound.

Run has preserved his rhyme ability, inflecting some more contemporary hip hop references in his classic flow, ‘like a superhero armed with an old school tape…You ain’t never seen a reverend that sittin’ on dubs.’ There is nothing mind-blowingly original about the lyrics and some of the blinged-out content sounds forced. Ultimately, it is the standard, staccato over-enunciated flow that we expect from the hip hop luminary, whose conviction and style have always been his selling points.

Distortion is a relief for those expecting a shadowy Run to hobble back into the game. Old fans can breathe easy and new fans should listen up; you might learn something.