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Manafest
Epiphany
2005, Manafest Productions
Following 2003‘s My Own Thing, an independently-released project that caught the ear of Thousand Foot Krutch ringleader Trevor McNevan, Epiphany is Manafest‘s for-real debut album, with the backing of Tooth & Nail Records, who financed the project in part, though their logo doesn‘t appear on the album itself. Manafest, aka Toronto kid Chris Greenwood, wrote his first rap in 1999, put out an indie EP in 2001 and played anywhere that would have him to achieve his current success. His credibility can‘t be questioned, but simply put, being a Christian, rapping and then putting out a record on an established ‘Christian‘ label means that some of the rawness, the street swagger that might be present originally will perhaps have been sanitized by the time the songs hit Christian bookstores, and such is the case here. This is a good album, verging on very good, but it feels so squeaky-clean it irritates me. Opener ‘Rodeo‘ is a strong tune, sounding like a harder John Reuben (another decent, good-times rapper and casualty of the heavily-filtered mainstream gospel scene), with washes of raw guitar colouring the chorus, and right off the top establishes Manafest as a good rapper, able to improvise and come any way he wants to. Second track ‘Skills‘ was featured on a Canadian Christian-music compilation CD months before Epiphany was released, and with TFK‘s McNevan throwing down guitar chunk and backup vocals, was probably no small teaser in alerting north America to Manafest‘s arrival. Two tracks in and already the album feels mildly preachy, but Manafest has genuine mic skills, with better-than-average hooks in his family-friendly, G-rated rap and a good sense of humour.
There‘s an awkward-feeling fusion of hard-rock guitar and hiphop lacing Epiphany, namely in the forms of ‘Rockin‘ Me‘, ‘Changes‘ and ‘Stressed Out‘; the entire rap/rock thing was done a few years ago already, and basically, at this point, unless Rage Against the Machine decides to reunite (oh please oh please), it‘s better left alone. MTV-ready glitz rages on ‘Not Ready To Die‘, and there are several good cuts culled from My Own Thing re-introduced here; ‘What I Got To Say‘, ‘U Don‘t Know Me‘ and ‘Manafesto‘ are all solid bangers that keep true to Mana‘s hiphop mandate, dabblings in rock and the lone ‘chick-singing-the-chorus‘ song notwithstanding (that would be eighth track ‘Let It Go‘, featuring newcomer Bre). I do have to say for the sake of fairness that ‘Be Yourself‘ and its rock feel actually inspires, making me wanna stick my foot up on the monitor, Creed-like, and rock on with the air guitar.
Manafest‘s biggest strength is his sincerity; some listeners might find it heavy-handed, but the honest Christian sentiment (particularly on ‘My Life‘, about Greenwood‘s father, who committed suicide when Chris was five) is presented without apology, and for that he deserves his props. Predominantly solid songs + decent production + huge appeal to target market = a good first outing for Manafest.
- Mike Postma
Copyright ©2005