L Pro Chronicles (self-released)

[December 19th, 2007]

[HIP-HOP] My first earful of Portland MC L Pro came on Soul P’s ’05 album, Soul Affect—he makes back-to-back appearances on “My Freedom” and “Black Ghetto.” On the latter, he raps, “A little communism survived in ’75/ But we lost that war, now it’s on our shore,” before systematically critiquing the infrastructure behind failed housing projects and other concerns within the black community.

So it was somewhat of a surprise to hear L Pro launching from a short autobiographical introduction into a Jay-Z-style (complete with a brief twist on Jigga’s “99 Problems”) boastful banger on his latest release, Chronicles. The second track, “My Return,” continues the trend. Has L Pro lost his political consciousness?

Chronicles’ main producer, the Arkitek (a frequent collaborator of Lifesavas’ Rev. Shines, who also shows up on Chronicles), saves the day on the more thoughtful “Addiction.” Arkitek’s affinity for smooth R&B samples with an ’80s mechanical touch is the perfect complement to L Pro’s slinky-loose flow, which walks across beats like coffee-shop poetry as often as it pops with the track’s rhythm.

The Arkitek takes center stage on “Coming Into Their Own,” where talk of revolution gets spliced with superficial dancehall rap. Then L Pro takes the reins back on the funky “B.R.I.C.” to paint a blaxploitation-esque portrait of an inner-city freedom fighter. At least, I think that’s what it’s about—if there’s a downside to the dramatic Arkitek-produced tracks, it’s that his decorated soundscapes are leveled to the same volume as L Pro’s relentless rhymes.

Collaborations with Libretto, Destro (of Boom Bap Project) and Cool Nutz help Chronicles shine, as does the quasi-freestyle faux-finale “Back to One,” a party track that finds L Pro spouting acrobatic chain-link rhymes over a b-boy-ready drum ’n’ bass jam. “Speak,” the hidden track that follows, is an ambitious political slow-jam hampered only by a noticeable drop in its compression.

Chronicles doesn’t deliver the kind of mission statement I expected from L Pro, but that only keeps him from coming off as a one-trick MC. The album is instead a lively testament to the importance of style and lyrical density, and a great example of total collaboration between MC and producer. Here’s hoping we see more from both of them in the near future.