Andrew_Hicks's Full Review: Free at Last by DC Talk
Between their embarrassing Rappin' White Boy days and crossover alternapop phase came dc Talk's Free at Last, the magnum opus album of my private high school days. It hasn't aged particularly well -- you can tell it was influenced by the C+C Music Factory / Color Me Badd junk of the time -- but you'll find some killer hooks, infectious grooves and surprisingly clever songwriting on Free at Last. The rapping is the weakest link by far.
You're best off skipping the album opener, "Luv is a Verb." It's the worst song on here. No, go straight to the Proverbs 30-influenced "That Kinda Girl," a fast-paced rap about the trashy broads the dc Talk guys inadvertently attract. ("She said, 'I love to smoke and drink,' while cursing like a sailor / I asked her where she got her mouth and if she had a tailor.") That segues to the Doobie Brothers rip of "Jesus Is Just Alright," which has some laughable lyrics ("A DC track that's jacked beyond comprehension") but not-bad Dance Mix USA production.
There are a pair of other heavily sampled tracks on Free at Last -- the title tune offers an organ-driven rap riff on a classic hymn, not to mention the requisite clips of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. And the boys do a remake of "Lean on Me" less influenced by the Bill Withers original than the Club Nouveau cover from 1987. Credibility-wise, both these songs are substandard, but Free at Last is nearly off the guilty-pleasure charts no matter how you look at things.
Three downtempo songs saved the album for me even today. The best song of dc Talk's career, hands down, is "The Hard Way," which details the depths the boys fell to before turning to Christ. (Like Dennis Miller says, no one comes to Christ on prom night.) Only one brief rap verse in the middle; the rest is strict soul, including a sad-sounding muted trumpet solo. And "Say the Words" and "Socially Acceptable" blend rap with melody, both to satisfying results.
If it's hilariously bad white-boy rap you want, though, check out the chastity anthem "I Don't Want It" ("S-E-X is a test when I'm pressed / So back up off with lessa that zest") and "Word 2 tha Father," a song God himself might have to disown at some point. It even uses that "Puh-puh-puh-pump it up!" cliche sample. On the other hand, I have to give "Time Is..." credit for sampling the ominous-sounding narrator from the '60s "Batman" show.
Free at Last musically has some highs and lows -- like the rest of these Christian albums I'm reviewing, I honestly don't know how good it is on an unbiased level -- but it does more to remind me of my ninth and tenth grade years than anything that got played on MTV at the time. It's an odd musical heritage, to be sure, but I won't be giving up my copy anytime soon.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.