Nahledge

Years ago we were introduced to a “Higher Definition” by Cross Movement, and now we have an artist out of the city of Pittsburgh to give us a definition of what “Higher Learning” consists of. The purpose of this album is to reverse the tide of what is spoken of in Hosea 4:6 as the perishing of people due to a lack of knowledge, and if you have been a Christian in America you know what this looks like in sad detail. Coupled with the ignorance displayed in hip hop today and the massive popularity of a whole ministry that has its main focus on preventing Holy Hip Hop from being used due to ignorance, there is a heavy presence of ignorance that exists in the land and we need to be in a position to learn or else we will be as children tossed by different doctrines.

The way the album started off, however, prevented it from coming in with a bang. I appreciated the use of the sound bites that talked about knowledge but the beat that was made for the intro may throw people off guard, but you never know, it’s been known that another may hear it and feel it. One of the things I found out about Nahledge is that he makes music not for the streets or for the church but for one who will hear, which will bring things in a perspective not previously known.

One of my favorite tracks happens to be “His Proper Place”. This beat produced by Unseen also happens to be the highlight of this album for me and whenever I come across this album on my Ipod, this is the song I play. This song has been on Dasouth as a leak for a little bit now and its been a favorite on here, however someone made an insightful comment about the power of the vocals on the song. The Achilles heel for this album was the mastering of the vocals for on some songs they were too low to give it that extra push so that it can come through with power, and other times there may have been beats that could have been chosen differently for the strength of the subject matter, as well as the position of the song such as the intro.

Nonetheless there are some songs on here that caught my interest in spite of what I described, such as “His Proper Place” of course and “Won’t Stop”, “Forever My Lady”, “Good Product”, “What We Owe Him”, “Don’t Wanna Be Here”, and “Never Thirst Again”.

Now I can’t lie, when I heard “Won’t Stop” it reminded me of 50 Cent and his constant singing on tracks, yet it so matched the beat and I had to just bop my head to it, although the way the chorus ended is considered a no-no when you drag out the last word which happens to be no(I love the irony in that sentence!), and you can tell that it was made to fit so that it would make a full beat count. This was a real nice track though.

Another gem in our course of Higher Learning happens to be on the last track of the album. On a track produced actually by Nahledge, it begins on speaking on the story of Jesus and the woman at the well. I love how this was put at the end of the album, for it really expresses that when you accept the task of a Higher Learning, as in learning about who God really is, it excites you and fulfills your thirst so that there is nothing else that can come close. This reminds me of a theme by Trip Lee’s first album, “If They Only Knew”, and no one can know the mind of God except the Spirit of God, so it was nice that Nahledge focused on how life giving water from the Spirit of Christ is.

I also liked the track that expressed his love and devotion to his wife called “Forever My Lady”. Considering the fact that Nahledge is coming against a hip hop culture that has prided itself on ignorance, it’s a comfort knowing that the wife isn’t neglected as the husbands in hip hop do on the regular in their songs.

I was also glad that in the song “Don’t Wanna Be Here” addressed the topic of suicide, for it’s a big problem and people perish for the lack of knowing how to deal with their situations even though they may have not personally put themselves in the situation and there can be a lot of hidden pain and feelings of condemnation if they don’t know that Christ knows where they need to go.

I think that this album may not be for everyone, besides the fact that no album is truly for everyone, but he that has an ear let him/her hear and may you begin to know He who knew you. - DaSouth.Com