♫ Spoken Soul - Album review

In the name of God, compassionate & merciful بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ | Peace be with you السلام عليكم

I bought Dasham Brookins aka Brother Dash's album Spoken Soul back in November 2009. It's taken me over two months to write about it *doh!*

Popular psychological theorems talk about how successful powerful reviews are in influencing people, in making you believe what they want, to purchase such historically kh'amazing pieces of life-transforming art work that resonate in your mind subconsciously, coaxing you into following suit and supporting the artist who produces chart-topping mega-mixes of words! *buyitbuyitbuyitbuyit*

My short review consists of

An earlier mention on my group blog {Muslimness} listing the album tracks including FREE audio previews. I was very, very excited when I heard about Spoken Soul.

The Greatest Album Format, Ever

What was even more innovative in releasing Spoken Soul was Brother Dash's album format - a biodegradable card posted to your home with the album download code printed on the card which users can then type in for online downloading... That was cool, I thought: save on packing, shipping, recycle and save the planet. His idea didn't stop there. This card is embedded with wild-flower seeds! So after you downloaded your colourful and powerful Spoken Soul poetry, you lovingly poke the card into the ground and watch it blossom into even more delicate artistry. Awesome, said I.

Ordering the CD

I had to order a CD, living abroad and in sodding UK, where little cards can't be shipped... but alhamdulillah. The CD arrived one week later and I uploaded the tracks onto every piece of technology, the sound system, CD players, laptops and PCs, MP3 players... the microwave...

Listening & converting

I don't have favourite tracks for I adore each of them for different reasons. In honesty, and I said this to Brother Dash, I didn't expect such a strong hit of... intellectuality (?) through poetry. Poetry is associated with rhythms, spirituality, rhyme, history, and contextual messages. Brother Dash's Spoken Soul poetry takes 25 steps further in stirring up in your heart, making you think of social mistakes, your environment, what was and what could be, and unlike most artists, his album gives us objective solutions to fix them. Masjid Marauders is an example of this; throwing a rhetoric at the holy men in masajid who have exclusive memberships, denying the rights of women and of certain groups to enter, all the while preaching unity and equality. It's a brilliant piece all by itself.

I Will Not Fall leaves a tangy bitter feeling on my tongue as I listen and read the temptations of "Dunya! Dunya! / OPEN ALL NIGHT / Step inside..."

Then you have the poet singing praises of the women in history, in our life, in his life. The Most Beautifullest ends with: "The Most Beautifullest Thing In This World is a Mama, Daughter, Wifey, Sister!" At this I reacted with 'yes! amen, and wohoos!'. To read The Most Beautifullest poem {click here.}

Truthfully, I want to say more about the structure of this album and why each poem/track is not a 'song', it is not a generic electric ramble of meaningless words thrown together for the hell of it; it's faithiness, wrapped in a smooth, jazzy or jutting American accent, honest, extremely clever and articulate, and an absolutely important album to own. 9★

End.

Listen to Spoken Soul on CDBABY and order insha'Allaah.

LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF THE POEMS