Album Review

The Ambassador is a veteran of fifteen years in the hiphop arena, with a major difference in that he‘s a Christian rapper, a title that tends to both a) isolate and b) stigmatize. It‘s a sad commentary on the general public‘s thinking of Christians in the arts, but whatever your beliefs are, one thing has to be stated: this guy is one heck of an emcee. Founder and member of the Cross Movement crew out of Philadelphia, Ambassador has been at this game for years, with no end in sight; this, his second solo album (following up Christology from a few years back) is once again aimed precisely at the demographic he‘s after: anyone within earshot. This is a Cross Movement production, meaning it has an easily-recognizable sound and a defined niche in the market, and that the first mention of Jesus is within the first five seconds of opener ‘Thesis Pieces‘ (get it?...‘Thesis Pieces‘?...Reese‘s Pieces?...anyone?). As previously mentioned, the Ambassador can straight-up mangle on the mic; few rappers possess his gift for wordplay, similes and cohesion. However, even with good production and great rhymes, this is so overtly evangelical that it will turn off ninety percent of secular listeners who don‘t enjoy being "preached to", as the saying goes, and that‘s another downpoint. For the sake of this review, we‘ll simply focus on the music here, with its emphasis squarely put on the need for the modern church to pop its bubble and reach out.

‘Amba-ss-ador‘ sounds a lot like Kanye West (obviously Ambassador himself is a far better rapper), with heavy, dubby bass under skittering high-hats; really catchy track. ‘Song For You‘ exemplifies most of the album‘s mechanical, club-ready beats - and a line that goes "there‘s trouble like when blacks run into the Klan", which will clearly upset conservative Christian listeners - too bad, since this critic found it pretty funny. ‘Feels Good‘ brings the full-on club sound: sweeping female choruses, thudding beats and layers of different samples. Some of these songs are so complicated musically it makes me long for the simplicity of New York City raps from 1993 or so.

‘Get You Open‘ references Snoop Dogg‘s latest "hit" ‘Drop It Like It‘s Hot‘ around the one-minute mark with a dead-on impersonation - man, has Ambassador‘s sound changed since the Cross Movement‘s 1999 masterwork House of Representatives; gone are the organic beats, and very much in is the new school: glitz, glam and a right-up-to-the-minute sound. ‘The Elements‘ features an enormous, Beastie-Boys-circa-‘So Whatcha Want‘-size backbeat with deranged keyboards to spice things up as Ambassador excels at his talent for instructional narrative, while ‘Crown Him‘ brings a decent, staccato beat with string arrangements - and a very well-known vocal sample that any churchgoer in the last hundred years will instantly recognize.

It occurred to me somewhere around tenth track ‘Oh Wretched Man‘ that as cheesy as this album may sound to some ears, the Christian message is timeless and here is uncompromisingly presented, and I commend any artist/songwriter for being one hundred percent behind what they believe in. But while Ambassador comes correct spiritually, as The Thesis wears on it veers too close to ‘Christian schmaltz‘ territory, ie tracks eleven onward. Decent songs, all of them, touching on themes like devotion, outreach, and controlling oneself physically (particularly the ladies out there), but not matching up to the first half of the album musically. Disappointing, to this admittedly hackneyed critic - it‘s really only because I prefer simpler, more homespun hiphop - but overall, Ambassador has crafted an album that does what he intends to do: spread the message of the Gospel in a form that‘s easily digested, and this style of hiphop is it - for now.

- Mike Postma

[The Ambassador Online]

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