Intellekt & Dirty Digits

Intellekt's Intellektual Property is most definitley leading the pack vying for local release of the year. Featuring lucid rhymes intertwined with dusty grooves and basement-aged samples, it threatens to bring the fun back to Hiphop.

Intellekt could be grouped with other Southeast Crews like Atlanta's Psyche Origami in that he aims to use clever braggadacio and autobiographical tales to connect with the listener. Almost every track is a head nodder, and as they mix with pot smoke and clank against beer bottle caps, the predominantly mid-tempo songs display their Gainesville college roots without shame.

Intellekt's rhymes tell the tale of a young MC supporting himself by working at a Japanese steakhouse while filling compostition notebooks full of ink, crashing poetry jams, and hanging with friends in the studio. The music runs through an obvious crate-digger's arsenal, from minor key horn swells to tickled ivories, all supported by classic Hiphop grooves. The scratching is no joke and is ably handled by Dirty Digits, although I also particularly enjoy the "glitch-scratching" by DiViNCi on "Phenom Mental." The producer's are a who's who of local Hiphop, including Speck and Enoch from CYNE, The Messenger from Voice of the People, DiViNCi from Sol.illaquists of Sound, and Capitul of CAPFvie, so the music is reined in to flow with the lyrics throughout the album. A strong release, Intellektual Property is sure to find a place in many a stereo. - Satellite Magazine

They're jazzy and fresh, but they don't have their own TV show just yet. They've generated some serious buzz and shared stages with the likes of KRS-One, Kid Koala, and Guru.

Intellekt & Dirty Digits are true school all the way, showing their reverence for golden age hip-hop all over their debut. Intellekt's lyricism reflects the progressive ideologies and personal narratives of the Native Tongues posse, the Roots, or Common. IDD recently moved to Atlanta, where indie-rap stalwart IDF put out Intellektual Property, Revised, the group's first full-length, a collection of reworked and refined versions of Intellekt's early demos, plus all-new tracks by the duo. The album includes cameos from IDD comrades Sol.illaquists of Sound (Epitaph), MC Proper, Speck and Enoch of CYNE, Capitul, and Tough Junkie of Simple Complexity. Whether having some fun with a little Mario Kart competition or getting somber and serious on elegy track "Freebird," their updated take on a timeless formula puts them right on par with new-old-schoolers like Sage Francis, Blackalicious, or Jurassic 5. - Spin.com

Yes, Intellekt & Dirty Digits are two white boys who look like the sons of the very same higher-ups who run this rap shyt. But, unlike the executives and the spoof groups like Jamie Kennedy and his buddy Stu, Intellekt & Dirty actually contribute to the purity of the Hip-Hop.

Intellektual Property breaks out of the stiff sculpture that restricts Hip-Hop thought of today. Having to compensate for the street credibility that give many rap acts their legitimacy, MC Intellekt buffers his portfolio with solid pound for pound lyricism. It is evident that "Intellekt" is a tag name that many people will continue to re-baptize him with in the years to come because this youngster is a chieftain of the three and four syllable word. On the track "Phenom.Mental", he spryly rhymes, "Many a cunning concoctions/ Overrunning the top ten/ Stunning ya often like punishing offspring."

We do believe we've found a jewel. Just listen to the mellowed out track "Sex Wax" or better yet just read the title for a crash tutorial on how good music should make you feel. - Allhiphop.com

By Justin Strout

Atlanta duo Intellekt & Dirty Digits have a lot of fun on this record. Unlike the forced good-time vibe of an Ugly Duckling outing, these newcomers convey relaxed happy-to-be-here buoyancy. Property, slightly overlong at 14 tracks but thankfully short on skits, is a comfortable exercise in familiarity and chumminess that plays like that old vinyl you can always count on to lighten the mood. The chronic-inspired storytelling of “On My Day Off” brilliantly integrates guests Sol.illaquists of Sound into the narrative as mischievous antagonists. MC Intellekt carries a graceful charisma that harks back to Slimkid in his Pharcyde days, especially on the expat adventure “Tale of Two Cities.” DJ Dirty Digits is a real find, and his inventive, playful dynamics behind the boards sometimes threaten to overshadow his frontman, but most great beat-makers do in their early experiments. Digits’ work on the shadowy, gothic “Sidetracks” and the noir-rock burglary tale “Violated” save the album from humdrum frat-rap classification. This is simply some of the most creative work to come out of the independent scene this year. - Orlando Weekly

There's something brewing on that Atlanta-based ATF label. They've got Collective Efforts, Psyche Origami and now this recently re-located Floridian duo. While Dirty digits does the damage on the tables, it's MC intellekt that wrecks mics. The good part about hip hop is that there are crews like this that represent rap the way that hip hop culture was traditionalized. You don't have to travel far to find the shining points on this album. Look for "Mario Cart," a reworking of Nintendo's Mario Kart re-worked; and "Sidetracks" where Intellekt's ADD-induced panik attack takes control. - - One Two Magazine

If the two-man wrecking crew comes across as a couple of wiseguys who get their kicks playing video games, rolling blunts and slicing/ dicing old Isaac Hayes records, well, they are. “Mario Cart Relivin’” is a prime example, starting with a casual game of Nintendo and progressing into a thumping mix of verbal tradeoffs between the two.

The duo doesn’t revolutionize suburban hip hop here, but there’s a down-to-earth quality about Intellektual Property that’s tough to resist. The samples are well cut and blend seamlessly, the lyrics are well paced and intelligible (whoa, does that ever help) and the sometimes-goofy tradeoffs between the two provide some welcome self-deprecation. Intellekt’s mom even drops in to send a shout-out to her boy on “Phenom Mental.” A more serious cut, “Freebird (For Ben)” references the standard lighter-lifter in a tribute to the duo’s mutual friend who was killed in an auto crash. Elsewhere, though, it’s a bling-starved, ragged-jeaned workaday world that Intellekt and Dirty Digits nimbly slice into like a warm stick of margarine.

Michael Andrews - Flag Pole Magazine