Since Public Enemy’s presence these days is a bit scarce, Mr. Lif is probably the most politically charged emcee currently releasing albums. While others have tried to fill the shoes of Chuck and Flav, Lif actually knows what he is talking about. Forget wild conspiracy theories about the Illuminati or who really is responsible for the September 11th attacks, Lif is grounded in the real world, and uses his new LP, I Heard It Today, to tackle relevant problems in today’s post-Bush, Obama-led U.S. The original idea behind the album was for Lif to digitally release songs based on current events – as they happened – which would ultimately culminate as this full-length release. Things didn’t go exactly as planned – a few songs were released – but ultimately Lif just ended up releasing the full-length album on his own Bloodbot Tactical Enterprises imprint.

This is the first solo album Lif has released outside of Definitive Jux, after the pair of critically acclaimed favorites, I Phantom and Mo’ Mega. Departing from the label (perhaps only a business level, not on a personal level), the heavy production of El-P, which dominated Mo’ Mega and I Phantom is not found this time around, resulting in a somewhat different sound. Also missing this time are longtime Boston collaborators Insight and Fakts One, however resident rap archivist Edan still shows up to the party-for-your-right-to-fight. New to the fold are up and comers, Batsauce, Ray Fernandes, Decaye, Nik Jhatakia, Therapy, Headnodic, and former collaborator Willie Evans Jr. Naturally, with such a different line-up of producers, we get a different sound than found on Lif’s previous two LP’s and subsequent side projects. Remarkably, this team of producers crafts a similar sound of lo-fi boom bap, in a style obvious to Lif’s liking, as the album has a cohesive sound throughout.

Topically, Lif pretty much stays within the realm of attacking the U.S. Government and it’s institutions, despite a “friendlier face” in the White House. His message is clear – can’t truss it. The album opens with a nervous, frustrated Lif on the brink of madness with “Welcome To The World”, locking his doors from the war going on outside, over agro guitar licks. “What About Us” questions the current financial climate and the numerous stimulus packages, lamenting “You say that seven-hundred billion’s to save the children? / Ya’ll motherfuckers about to make a killing.” These ideas come together on the Edan / Cut Chemist produced “Collapse The Walls”, as Lif’s suggests the only way to fix these Governmental problems is to destroy and rebuild; using mind-powers, of course.

Issues that hit closer to home like the self-explanatory “Police Brutality” and “Hatred” echo statements that have been covered in rap music for years, reiterating that obviously this is still a problem. While always politically grounded, Lif does venture off course a bit from time to time, such as on the ode to smoking weed, “Head High”, which seems pretty irrelevant in the context of the rest of the album. The same can be said “The Sun”, a somewhat stream of consciousness track where Lif bounces from topic to topic.

In theory, the blueprint for this album was an ambitious, creative idea, but when you really think about it, there is no way anyone could really turn out a classic album when forced to only write songs about what’s in the news. Do we really want to hear a song about the Obamas’ new dog hunt? No, and thankfully Lif broke the mold a bit, but ultimately this hurts the execution of album’s original intent. More importantly however is the change in production. While we don’t expect Lif to make the same album with the same producers over and over again, it’s hard to live up to the standard set on his first two records with this new team of budding beat-makers. All in all, Lif raises a lot of interesting points and his nasally voice may just be what Chuck D meant when he dubbed rap music “The Black CNN”. However in given the current state of world affairs, Lif’s wise words on I Heard It Today apply to all of  us. – D.T. Swinga