Before even listening to this album, I noticed the name of this artist, which says a lot about him: P.A.T., which stands for Powerful Artistic Truth. I also like how the album name merges with the artists name. A lot of Hip Hop (and even other kinds of music) are made to follow the latest trends and have no real meaning or depth to it. To hear someone rap about the fact that this is wrong and needs to be stopped is really refreshing. A lot of ‘musicians’ lost touch with the artistic side of music and write songs for money or fame, but this album is written because of passion.
The first song ‘Tic Tac Toe’ confirms all this straight away. The beat is almost old school and the lyrics are definitely about what is wrong with the system and what we should do to fix it. I love the line “the U.S. has a military base in many countries, yet people in America are really hungry.” This is so true and really hits the nail on the head straight away.
The next song is called ‘Pay Me‘ and starts off with a synthesizer intro and a smooth beat. Again I couldn’t agree more with what is being said here. Especially the line “they don’t tell you that a J.O.B. feels like hell.” I respect the honesty here and I really like the song for that.
Song number three is called ‘Anti‘ and it features an old school beat again and the song is clearly about being against the system. I understand that this is underground, because the media is so corrupt, they wouldn’t play this as it is too bluntly honest for them.
The next song ‘La Di Da’ has a beat that almost sounds a bit like soul music, in a good way. I love the samples used, including guitar and horns. The song is about how society likes to party and have fun, yet when it comes to serious issues they shy away from the issues.
Song number five is called ‘So Dangerous‘ and starts off with a smooth, slow beat and fading keyboard sounds. I think you can hear that this artist is very unique, and the beat is very hard to rap to, and I think it is done quite well. A lot of rappers ignore the beat and focus on lyrics, but this artist incorporates the beat and knows when to pause and let the beat speak for itself.
This next song might be my favorite on the album. It is called ‘Sex, Money, Drugs & Rock N Roll‘. I love the piano intro and the synthesizer sounds and drums kicking in just before the first chorus starts. I don’t think I have ever heard someone describe American culture as truthful as this. I love the line “You got the money and the fame, your dreams came true. You had to be somebody else, you couldn’t stay true.” This is very true for a lot of mainstream Pop Stars and even certain Rappers.
‘Middle Finger‘ also starts off with a great piano intro, I love the samples used in the intro and the melody the piano is playing. This song is clearly a diss against all the untalented rappers out there. I like how the lyrics are quite aggressive, yet the beat is quite smooth and again it sounds almost old school.
The next song might actually be my new favorite, this could be the main song for this album as it is called ‘Powerful Artistic Truth,‘ and it has the best lyrics I have heard on this album yet (and many others): “… and fuck MTV for not playing no music.” I have been saying that for years myself and I know many others musicians who feel the same way, so he really speaks out what a whole generation is thinking and that is quite rare in today’s music-industry.
‘Ya Don’t Stop‘ features a piano intro and again some amazing samples that just work together. I am really impressed with the consistency of this album and how there isn’t a filler in this album yet! This is amazing, especially since there are 15 songs on this album.
The next song ‘Can’t Go Away‘ features some female vocals and the voice sounds really professional and well sung. In this song the artist shows that he is here on a mission and the rhymes just don’t end. The songwriting skills of P.A.T. are really good and it is very refreshing to hear real talent for a change.
‘Legendary‘ starts off with an amazing guitar sample and a tight beat on top of it. The album then ends with the song ‘W.A.R.’ It is a worthy song to end the album with and I am really impressed with this whole album. I also love the guitar solo at the end of the last song. This is real underground Hip Hop and this artist clearly has a lot to say and personally I agree with most of it. Society and the media are definitely playing us, and it needs to stop. I hope P.A.T. gets his message across to more people!
If you want to listen to P.A.T.M.A.N., click here.
Review Written by T. Theune
Credentials: Degree in artist development, blogger, author, and session musician (guitarist).
T. Theune has worked with musicians of all music genres, from rock to jazz to hip hop. He has reviewed many albums from different artists and bands in the underground music scene.
