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Median - Median's ReliefAlbum Review by:
John Burnett
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
 There’s a lot more to the South then what’s displayed through the mainstream. Typically, the average Hip Hop purist will generalize all Southern emcees as purveyors of snap, crunk and bounce music, yet there’s so much more if you look beyond the surface. There’s a cadre of talented emcees that lurk below the Mason Dixon line who truly do justice to this thing we call Hip Hop. In said group of artists resides a member of the Justus League and a native North Carolinian named Median whose debut, Median’s Relief, reminds true school heads of a time when good music could exist without fabled tales of shootouts and cracks vials.
Median’s refreshing approach on this LP is down-to-earth and steeped in honest and unwavering creativity. The ethereal and relaxing “Love Again” has Median, in his nasal tone, musing on various real life topics such as improving his health, dealing with a difficult break-up and being the laughingstock of his clique for being the romantic type. This type of honesty is prevalent on the album, but Median’s forte is his masterful wordplay. Median has a number of tracks that display his wizardry with words that seem to be beyond the capabilities of a rookie. On “Personified,” 9th Wonder lays the track down with his signature crate-digging, sample and loop techniques while Median masterfully skips through his daily routine giving life to inanimate objects. Median rhymes:
I woke up energized, my clock speaking/closet door open, my clothes looking at me/fresh kicks sleeping, they want to freak it for daddy/shower just a stressing me begging me for action/last night I washed my hands, the soup bragging/lavish, bubbly, laughing in the lather/touch the bath knob she turned on automatic/told her give me shower head, don’t want to take a bath in it.
“Personified” is only one of the many instances of Median’s boundless imagination on Median’s Relief. On “Simile,” Median uses the entire track to spit similes comparing himself to the various emotions and objects with lines like “hunger me like the black beans on the rice/love me like the first crush in your life” and continues this pattern throughout the track. The crown jewel of this LP is hands down the poignant “Brenda’s Baby.” Here, Median shows a knack for story-telling picking up where 2Pac concluded intertwining the tale of Brenda’s (from “Brenda’s Got a Baby”) offspring with the storyline from the movie, Maria Full of Grace, where a young women resorts to becoming a mule (someone who swallows drugs and travels across states or countries delivering them to someone else). The result of the mixture mentioned above is a classic jewel that deserves to sit in the esteemed ranks of its predecessor, “Brenda’s Got a Baby.”
Median’s Relief easily deserves to be considered with some of this year’s top LPs. In a time where not sticking to the formula assuredly earns you a seat on the bench, figuratively speaking, Median bravely ventured off into a realm that is imaginative, inspiring and just plain dope. And with Khrysis and 9th Wonder handling the majority of the production duties, you already know the album contains that jazz-like, laid back vibe that 90s Hip Hop heads are accustom to. Watch this kid, Median. He has a bright future, and if he continues on the path that he set with Median’s Relief he’ll surely be destined for greatness.
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