A.V. Club's favorite Milwaukee music of 2008: Prophetic
Today we look back at an album that kept on giving us mo this year
Throughout the year we hear a lot of local records at Decider HQ. Some of them are good, a lot of them aren’t, and a select few never leave the CD player. This week we're looking back at records that belong in the last category. Today, we look at Prophetic's Mo Profit, Mo Progress.
Hip-hop collective Royal Fam would love to be Milwaukee’s answer to Roc-A-Fella Records, the Jay-Z-led group that earned the respect of serious rap-heads while also cashing in on a series of club-friendly singles on the pop charts in the late ’90s and early ’00s. Mo Profit, Mo Progress, from amiable local rapper Prophetic—a core Royal Fam artist along with MCs Yo-Dot and Kash—seeks a similar détente between getting props and getting paid. On one cut Prophetic sounds thoughtful against a classic Al Green sample (“Big Dreamer”); on the next he’s boasting about fat pockets (“Get Dough”). The mix of flashy pop hooks and laid-back, contemplative beats makes Mo Profit, Mo Progress a rare commodity: a modern-day rap record that shines beyond the obvious singles. Check out this video and MP3 for "Entrepreneur."
Download the track here.
