Turn your radios off. It’s time to talk about some REAL music. We’ve all said it, probably more than once – that “Hip-Hop is dead”. The fact of the matter is, hip hop is very much alive and patiently waiting for the right vessel for its triumphant (and ridiculously overdue) return to center stage.

All you Soulja Boy fans? Hit Alt+F4. Enter Lyriciss.

If you’re talking DMV Rappers, you’re bound to hear that name mentioned more than a few times. And now he’s about to drop his latest mixtape The Practice, mixed by DJ Furious Styles. Now I’m usually one for eloquence and I pride myself on being able to articulate myself with polysyllables, but the only word that seemed fitting enough for this mixtape is: DOPE. Twenty-one tracks; twenty-one gems. And before I hear all of that DMV cliqued-up BS that seems to be the norm, let me put it out there that IF I’m repping anywhere, it’s gonna be Brooklyn, New York. #kanyeshrug

So, let’s start at the beginning.

The title track for The Practice opens up with DJ Furious Styles having Lyriciss clue us in on what made him fall in love with Hip-Hop and the track that inspired him to start rapping. Credits go to Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock’s “It Takes Two” and The Lox featuring DMX and Lil’ Kim on “Money, Power, Respect” respectively. The next thing you’ll hear will be a classic Allen Iverson sound-byte… listen, we talking ‘bout practice… not a game… not the game that I go out there and die for… we talkin’ about PRACTICE man!

Then Lyriciss proceeds to tear the Money, Power, Respect beat to shreds.

In preparation for this review, I listened to the The Practice about 10 times, in an effort to be as detailed as possible, and to pick my personal favorites to list. What I learned is that it is virtually im-pos-si-ble to choose a favorite track… so I’m not even gonna try anymore. But, for those of you who need to be spoon-fed, give your ears a treat and skip to The Future, Give ‘Em A Show (below), What You Thought, New Day and Thank You. Those will be more than enough to make you want to listen to all of the other tracks, then you’ll understand where I’m coming from.

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Lyriciss – Give ‘Em A Show

Now as much as I may want to, all props can’t go to Lyriciss, because The Practice was a wonderfully executed collaborative effort. Production credits include Jab the Future, Lord Vada, Sheezy Beatz, E-Minah, Soulful!, Ben Pramuk, Mark Henry, G-Way and David E. Beats. And while there are limited features, they include talented artists like Theo Martins (Like Me), Pro’Verb, KT and Chris Barz (Microphone), RAtheMC (New Day), Cayan (You Wrong) and Fashawn (Cross Country Connect).

There isn’t much more to be said.

Lyriciss. The Practice. January 26TH. Cop that!!!!!

While you’re at it? Go ahead and make a donation, then check Lyriciss out on MySpace, BlogSpot, Twitter, FormSpring, YouTube, Tumblr, ReverbNation, Ustream, SnapVine and Facebook. He’s made himself available to his fans and supporters so definitely don’t be shy!!!

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