Galvanized Tron

RECORD REVIEW: Galvanized Tron
Galvanized Tron
By: Hugh McIntyre
January 2011

Galvanized Tron (or Robert Jefferson if you're nasty) has been freestyling since 1991, and making beats since 2000. Seeing that he's been at it so long, it is surprising that this album is his debut. Even more surprising than that is a debut hip-hop album so musically interesting and lyrically fresh.
The nine-song-long Galvanized Tron opens with "I Bust You Combust," an absolute banger. The first 30 seconds are representative of what the album has to offer. Tron seems to understand that most people won't listen to an entire album, so you've got to grab them immediately. Thankfully, he never lets up, and never lets go; the time, effort, and thought put into the entire record makes it incredibly engaging.

Tron has a style all his own, which is more than can be said for most rappers these days. It sounds like dance hip-hop, and it reads like a well thought-out, meaningful (yet fun) poem. Tron doesn't waste too much time boasting about money, fame, and girls; but when he does hit on those topics, he does it well (see: "You Nasty" with the line "without the bling I'm cool; she's after my family jewels!"). In the meantime, Tron covers just about every topic worth spitting about. Hip-hop can be fun and great, but lately it seems crowded and stuffy. Galvanized Tron is a breath of much-needed fresh (and original) air. (Self-released)


- Performer Magazine

Sometimes it seems like most people will consider some hip-hop "old school" just because it doesn't fall into the cookie cutter guidelines of simplicity that most mainstream music follows - especially when it comes to a rapper's swag on the microphone. That's why I love to find MCs with funky yet outright ODD delivery and write about them; I kinda hope that others might get the hint for more variety. But don't get it twisted; when I say that their style is "odd", what I mean is different and not focused on being incredibly underground and anti-mainstream that its disgusting. Quite the contrary, I don't listen to wack stuff. Tru-Beat's current featured artist, Galvanized Tron is one such artist that I enjoy putting the spotlight.
All of you dubious hip-hop junkies need to do yourselves a favor and log onto My Space.com/blacktroubadour and listen to ya Unkie Troubies interview with Galvanized Tron and witness his intelligence. One man's wittiness, cululated street smarts and natural wisdom are made evident in every conversation and every song. After checking out the interview, you can go to his page and bump some very creative and lyrical stuff - some of which will be featured on his mix tape, which is set to drop next month. - Omaha City Weekly

To the reader who saw the title of this review and immediately started thinking of Autobots and Decepticons, you're not insane. In fact no less than a few minutes into the self-titled "Galvanized Tron" album, on the song "I Bust You Combust," G.T. refers to himself as Galvatron for short. Even as a casual fan of the robots which are "more than meets the eye" the history behind this metal master of mayhem is so convoluted that any explanation I could give would (A.) contradict itself repeatedly (B.) be longer than this entire album let alone the review of it. Suffice it to say Galvatron may or may not be a future incarnation of Megatron who due to his rampant insanity repeatedly tries to conquer or destroy everything in sight, including cases where killing Megatron would in fact cause him to wink out of existence. A good primer on how you could kill yourself by changing your own timeline can be found in the Back to the Future movie series if you're interested.

Speaking of insanity, Galvanized Tron dedicates a fair to significant portion of his lyrical flow on these nine tracks to convincing us he's an "untamed beast, free to roam" wherever he pleases. G.T. is a force of nature, but he's not an unfamiliar one. Intentionally or not he's often reminiscent of Tech N9ne, and given both rappers are from the midwest some similarities may have been unavoidable. This is not detrimental to G.T.'s delivery, flow or rhyme-writing ability in any way - more rappers would do well to adopt the unconventional styles of Kansas City's own hip-hop superstar. G.T. states his case well for being the next big rapper to blow across the plains on the song "All That Racket":

"I'm sicker than your average, quicker than a rabbit
A slickster, a trickster, addicted to the habit
I'm spittin over tracks with, black magic
A big black bastard, my thinking cap is a magnet
I'm attracted to greatness, is this madness?
So I shall produce until I'm reduced to ashes
As if! From cervix from casket
I surface to masses, emerge as the baddest - at this"

Tron's definitely a cut above the typical emcee in his wordplay, able to double or triple up syllable assonance and interweave his thoughts and concepts from one bar to the next without losing the thread. He's also versatile in his breath control, able to swing to a triple time tempo with ease on "You Nasty," stomp as hard as a Westside Connect vet on "Fe Fi Fo Fum" and spit with a pleasantly melodic rising and falling of his vocal tone on "Parasites in the Night." Other than the opening track "I Bust You Combust" and "You Nasty" all of the songs are produced by Galvatron himself, who proves an able producer although not to be mistaken for Alchemist or Kanye West any time soon. Judging by the standards of self-produced rappers he's a cut above, and the levels are EQ'd so that the rhymes never hide behind the beats, but songs like "For the O.NE" and "Loose Animal" sound like they're imitating other regional styles and don't remain that memorable after the album is over.

The bottom line is that for a relatively new artist on the scene (although his bio claims thirteen years of experience) Galvanized Tron is just fine - in fact much better than the norm for someone trying to get noticed on a larger scale outside the midwest he hails from in hip-hop. So few artists from that region of the U.S. blow to the degree of Common, Tech N9ne, Brother Ali or Twista that he's got an uphill battle to become a rap superstar. He's off to a good start though and could someday become more famous than his namesake, although hopefully his only insanity will be as a great mind-bending lyricist and not as a self-destructive robot bent on global conquest. He'll definitely conquer a few ears on this self-titled release.
- Rap Reviews.Com