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Artist: Malcolm Palmer
Label: Orange Van
Length: 12/60:03
Malcolm Palmer is a hip hop poet that centers on social commentary. _Between the Womb and the Tomb_ could serve as a soundtrack to Chicago's street life, albeit only in the bad sections of town. Societal woes permeate the entire disc, with the first track, "Nothing Ever Changes", setting the tone for a bleak but honest outlook at the darker side of humanity.
Palmer has skills – his voice is a combination of Beck and Everclear, set to a Donald Fagen soundtrack. Like most urban rhymers, though, his language is of the street, and laced with frequent profanity. <b>This is definitely a rated "R" album</B>. Yet, the sentiments contained here are only offensive to those who will get bogged down with certain words…Palmer's lyrics are poignant, honest, painful, and deal with people we often try to ignore.
Consider the lyrics of "Preferred Form," a song that decries man's focus on materialism:
all these possessions, mental obstructions,The Prostitute Song" is a gritty, stark tale that pulls no punches. It depicts a day in the life of a street walker, then compares her to the woman Jesus caught in adultery, and shows her to be a multifaceted individual. Palmer's ability to glimpse the human side of this character is revealing, and convicting.
man and his money and his soul seduction...
his only mission is his ambition,
his only function is his corruption,
ain't no way this could be god's production,
our only legacy is our self destruction.
Unflinching in his portrayal of the problems of the world, Palmer has a lot to say about what is wrong in the world. It would be equally refreshing to hear his solutions. But the bottom line is this: most of what he says (regardless of how he says it) is unmistakably true.
Brian A. Smith
25 January 2006
