Sho Baraka – Talented Xth

Sho Baraka

Lions & Liars Music (2013)

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog

Stellar Award-nominated Amisho Baraka Lewis, known as Christian hip hop artist Sho Baraka, tosses a cold bucket of needed reality on the public with his third studio album, Talented Xth (Talented 10^th).

Blend the indignant frustration of Stokely Carmichael, the insight of Nelson George, and the intellectual oratory of Cornel West, and you have some sense of how Sho delivers his meaty social commentary.  His unflinching declarations spill out as if he had been waiting for this moment to purge his soul.

The “talented tenth” concept comes from W.E.B. Du Bois, who wrote in 1903 that “it is the problem of developing the Best of this race that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the Worst, in their own and other races.”  Sho takes on the Worst of all peoples in its various disguises: corporate and personal greed, racism, classism, thuggin’ rappers, egomaniacs, war, corrupt pastors, the AIDS epidemic, and those who consider life of no value.  For Sho, class behavior trumps swag, and shames those for whom “life is a slam dunk when you’re living with low goals.”

On “King,” Sho outlines his dream of an ideal world, one filled with skillfully established peace and harmony.  That he released the CD a week before Dr. King’s birthday was no coincidence: Sho’s dream was King’s own.

In the backdrop of Talented Xthis Jesus as shelter and rock, and Sho takes to task those who use the name of Jesus to advance their own agenda.

Some may be offended by the edgy language on some of the tracks, but not listening for that reason is like refusing to read Steinbeck’s Of Mice And Men because it contains curse words.  Sho lets loose to depict reality, not for titillating shock value.  The message of his creative and clever rhymes is clear: humankind is a mess and needs to clean up its act today, before it’s too late.

Talented Xth could well establish Sho Baraka as one of the most refreshing and influential voices of his generation.

Picks: “Jim Crow,” “Madoff,” “King.”