Respecta.is - The Ultimate Hip Hop Portal

Wise Intelligent is one of the original founders of Conscious Hiphop, on the mantle alongside of Public Enemy, Mos Def & Lauryn Hill. As a founding member of the classic group Poor Righteous Teachers, he landed a gold album with his debut and ended up selling 2 million plus records between 1989-1996. Add to that being named Top 50 most-slept on emcees of all-time by Complex magazine, a Top 100 Albums of All-Time placement by The Source, and a #5 most-underrated emcee award from About.com and you have the understanding of where many of today’s emcees styles come from. But more importantly were the terms upon which Wise Intelligent laid his foundation: Principle above profit, community over self. Wise Intelligent is one of the premiere voices for Black consciousness in music today.

Enter Gensu Dean. Currently based in Austin, Texas, the analog producer has laid rock solid sonic foundations for everyone from Grammy award winner and friend David Banner to Cali-agent Planet Asia. Add a host of Hiphop who’s whos like Large Professor, CL Smooth, Ol Dirty Bastard, Roc Marciano, Denmark Vessey, Homeboy Sandman, Diamond D, and to Shady Records signee Conway The Machine into Dean’s production credits and you’ll start to get the picture. His sound is analog, ranging from MPC3000 to SP1200. Gensu is a one of a kind, back to basics, head nodding, beat making, smash mouth producer with as many chambers as Khufu at Cheops.

Now the two legends have teamed up in Atlanta to record a new album together over the past 6 months. From there Gensu brought the record home to Austin for some preliminary mixing, then flew out to the equally legendary DITC Studios in the Bronx to mix the record with Parks. After a quick flight back to Texas and sessions with Jimi Bowman at Klearlight studios in Dallas, the masters were complete and a new project ready for the masses: “Game of Death.”

Rooted in Universal Science, the album takes dead aim at mediocre, dumbed down, manufactured rap while treating Music as the weapon it is. This is cultural warfare bridging the gap from Roxanne & Biz Markie to Jay Electronica & Erykah Badu. Bending time & space, Gensu & Wise take listeners through history with amazingly wide-eyed clarity. With statements as straight-forward as “Your shit aint Hiphop if it’s corporate” there is no missing the message of self-determination. This is the type of liberation that starts with your mind and is more about what you shed than what you add on. Somebody say Amen.