My Gut Reaction: The Vultures - 7 Rings Of Saturn (2008)

When you write a hip hop blog, it's inevitable that you will be sent a lot of music from up-and-coming artists. It's hard to find the time in the day to actually listen to everything you get, and a lot of it is bullshit anyway, but one of the reasons I listen is because you occasionally come across projects that surprise you, such as 7 Rings Of Saturn, the second crew album from The Vultures. (The first, From Parts Unknown, was released one year prior, and it clearly reached enough people to warrant some more work by the group, so there you go.) So let this be a lesson for all of you who want to promote your work: I will listen to it, and I will post it if I feel it warrants a mention. So hit me at the email on the right.

Now, I could just cut and paste the press release, but that's no fun, so here's my version: Hailing from San Antonio, Texas, The Vultures aim to "restore balance in the hip hop ecosystem" (their words). They are a collective of solo artists (Jus The Destroyer, Jamar Equality (wouldn't that be great if that were his legal name?), Ruler Why, Ruin, 7ISH, and Stealth Entity, with occasional assists from others), not unlike how the Wu-Tang Clan marketed themselves. All of the production is handled by Ruler Why, who also released this disc on his own Ruler Why Records. They also keep a deejay in the fold, 7ISH, to provide scratches at random intervals, usually when the crew is enjoying their Big Red and their breakfast tacos. The Vultures are also, apparently, part of a much larger crew called Psytology, a German-based supergroup, which explains away the random verse dropped in German that I'll get to in a bit.

7 Rings Of Saturn (named as such because their city is frequently abbreviated as SAT, so the extension was kind of natural in a "not at all"-sort of way) sounds so unlike anything you would ever expect to hear come out of the Lone Star State (read: rappers from Houston, Port Arthur, Dallas, etc.) that you would be forgiven if, after you got a chance to finally hear this, you thought the guys hailed from New York. But in order for that confusion to happen, I have to convince you that listening to 7 Rings Of Saturn would actually be worth the time.

Is it?

(Note: since it's listed as such on the back cover of the album, I've listed each emcee and the order of their appearance on each song, as a way to help introduce the crew to my two readers.)

1. YOU BEST STOP (EQUALITY, RUIN, STEALTH, TOPCAT)
Not the biggest fan of the hook, but this is an otherwise pretty damn effective intro to The Vultures. The music is much more majestic than you would expect (thanks to the work of Ruler Why behind the boards), and all four rappers featured come across as the missing link between the Wu-Tang Clan affiliates and Jedi Mind Tricks, which I mean in the best way possible.

2. MIND WEAPON (RUIN, DESTROYER, EQUALITY)
This reminds me of something from Killarmy's unheralded second album, Dirty Weaponry. In fact, the rappers on here come off as a bunch of Holocausts with their attention to detail and lyrical clarity, even with the sometimes gory imagery that I'm sure most of my two readers could do without. This isn't bad. (And yes, I realize Holocaust was never a part of Killarmy, but he was a large part of Dirty Weaponry's success with his two guest spots.)

3. KILL THE NOISE (DESTROYER)
The sampled piano keys behind this one-verse wonder by Destroyer is haunting. Well, not so much when the drums and vocals are laid upon it, but it still lingers in my mind. This shit is not bad at all.

4. YOU AIN'T READY (EQUALITY, STEALTH, 7ISH, DESTROYER)
I'm always amazed at how rappers can twist almost any word into an acronym for something. After a lengthy intro that leads listeners to believe that this is an interlude, the rhymes come in fast and furiously. The drums on here are ineffective (I wish they would have hit harder), but this still came off as pretty interesting regardless. The funniest line by far is “We suck no dick here”, an odd, yet very much to the point, way to establish your dominance, I suppose.

5. WAY OF THE JEDI (EQUALITY, STEALTH, BAD BUDDHA)
Well, no way to get around the Jedi Mind Tricks comparison now. I quite liked the many pop culture references sprinkled throughout. The verse in German was unexpected, and the jacking of “Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme)” may sound pretty cliché when I write it out, but this still clicked for me. The scratching at the end was a nice touch. The vulture sound effects at the end, though, were simply creepy as shit.

6. THE MENACE (EQUALITY, DESTROYER)
This shit hits fucking hard. It sounds as if the rhymes are cut off at the end (even though the beat continues to ride), but this still rocks. I'm finding it hard to believe that this is coming from the same city as the Alamo, as it contains an obvious East Coast influence. Optimistic Max would say that good music transcends territorial boundaries, but when have you ever known me to be optimistic?

7. TRUE UNDERSTANDING CIPHER (DESTROYER, TOPCAT, RICHARD GEIN)
So far, The Vultures have proven that Texas rappers don't always shave to rhyme about driving around, wasting gas, sipping syrup, buying grillz at Paul Wall's shop, and the other shit Texas artists tend to do. I could have done without the throwaway line about eating children (a lyric in the hook explains this away, but still), but this sounds pretty good otherwise. (According to the group's MySpace page, Richard Gein is their go-to guy for horrorcore, so if that's your cup of tea, then you're not invited into my fucking home.)

8. ONES PERCEPTION (EQUALITY, DESTROYER, STEALTH, RUIN)
It's not often that you can listen to a rap song and hear references to Daisy Duck, Randy Savage, and Oscar Meyer products, all within a single verse. I liked the whimsical beat much more than the words presented, but as a whole package, you had best believe I would blast this on repeat.

9. SUPREME THOUGHT (EQUALITY)
The hook is too wordy, but it is just wordy enough to qualify as underground rap, so it works. Barely. You'll probably never hear The Vultures on any Clear Channel radio station, but these guys (Equality, especially, is a standout to me right now) can rap circles around a lot of the bigger names. Lace these guys with some Stoupe throwaway beats and other bloggers will eat this shit up, guaranteed.

10. WAR JOINT (7ISH, DESTROYER, EQUALITY)
Ruler Why's production was moody enough, but this track didn't really work for me.

11. CHECK THE CULTURE (RUIN, DESTROYER)
Meh.

12. HEARTLESS MCS (EQUALITY, RULER WHY, STEALTH, DESTROYER)
And now we're back on track. “Real recognize real – if you don't recognize it, you ain't shit”? That's a pretty fucking funny way to start off a song. The hilarity quickly dissipates, though, as The Vultures are obsessed with picking apart haters in increasingly creative ways. Ruin's second verse brings the energy down a bit, but with a different beat underneath, he would sound pretty good. If you told me that these guys have actually been recording for the past twenty years, I'd believe it, with the level of expertise presented.

13. FORTRESS STORM (RUIN, DESTROYER, EQUALITY)
A Timothy Leary reference in a rap song? Can't say I saw that coming. Everyone comes across as pretty awesome over this dark beat, even if the drums sound as though they don't mesh well with what passes for melody.

14. KEEP YA EYES ON HIM (EQUALITY, RUIN, DESTROYER)
Ruler Why's beat is appropriately full of darkness and despair, which I tend to like in my hip hop (unless I'm at a club or drunk or something). The dialogue samples that pop up throughout are jarring, and they don't really add much to the proceedings (they do give the song its title, though), but maybe that was the point.

15. HARDEST CLICK (EQUALITY)
“Flopping like a half-assed album released in '94”? I'd love to hear some clarification on that line, even though it's still pretty funny. The beat gets the blood flowing, and all of the rappers involved rip shit as well. This is just nice.

16. 7 RINGS AROUND SATURN (7ISH, TOPCAT, EQUALITY, DESTROYER)
The final song, which, oddly, does not contain all of the members of The Vultures. The instrumental loop, admittedly, gets a bit boring after a while, but the rhymes all hit their mark. As good a way to end an album as any, I guess.

THE LAST WORD: 7 Rings Of Saturn is not the first album by The Vultures, but it's still commendable that the crew sounds fully realized on here. Ruler Why's production is mostly moody and effective, and everybody involved shows a capacity of ripping shit in a most glorious way. The disc is chock full of dark themes and pop culture references, almost as if the talking heads on VH-1 I Love The '80s marathons were also inclined to beat you to death with their scientific and religious texts. The Vultures not only fit right in to the current hip hop landscape, they have the potential to dominate, if provided the right platform. Fans of Jedi Mind Tricks and Sunz of Man will love 7 Rings Of Saturn, while everyone else that reads this write-up will find at least one track that will end up in shuffle rotation on their iPods (I would probably recommend “The Menace” if that description fits you).

As an added bonus, The Vultures actually want you to have their album for free, so you can instantly hear 7 Rings Of Saturn for yourself. Just click on the link below. This probably won't happen too often on Hip Hop Isn't Dead, so enjoy while you can. And be sure to leave your thoughts below.

The Vultures – 7 Rings Of Saturn (download link - Megaupload)

The Vultures MySpace page

-Max