Initially I was hating on these dudes. They put a little girl on the cover cleaning a gun. I wasn't having that! But after I heard "Say Goodnight" with Sosay, I gave these cats a chance and was hella impressed. Definitely some hip hop for every type of listener.

Enter Clean Guns from South Philly, PA to remind me of why I fell in love with hip hop in the first place. Their new album, Sometimes There Is Trouble, is fresh and thrilling, rife with unexpected sounds and scintillating thoughts. The duo's members, lifelong friends Zilla Rocca and Nico the Beast, have clearly been deeply influenced by rap's greats, but they also add a lot of their own to the equation. Taking a little from Cannibal Ox and Company Flow (including their name from a "Simian D" lyric), mixing in a bit of Wu-Tang with some Heltah Skeltah, sprinkling on some Nas, Jay-Z, and Immortal Technique et al., they've distilled their influences' best elements and veered off from there. The album's opener, "Blast Off" is a terrific introduction to their sound, full of swagger and dynamic, nimble rapping. With its malevolent piano loop and menacing worldview, it's also the track that'd fit seamlessly on a Defintive Jux comp. After that, Clean Guns branch out further, seemingly intent on fulfilling their label Beat Garden's mission statement: "Many styles. Many styles." Over the course of twelve tracks, Zilla's production samples everything from Waking Life to Cesaria Evora, the Highlander soundtrack to a Polish classical string CD he checked out of the library. Their raps get cynical and raw, they get philosophical and funky, they get celebratory and sentimental. No matter what the mood they set or subject they broach, it works. There's not a weak song in the pack and not a moment of filler, a near-miracle by hip hop standards. At the moment, my favorites happen to be "These Words I Write" and the surprisingly affecting "Ode To The Dead," but all of it is straight-up quality. One of the most evident characteristics of Sometimes There Is Trouble is the immense love behind the project. Zilla and Nico got started around age fifteen, making "bullshit cassettes on a karaoke machine." They've been honing their skills ever since, paying their dues and soaking up the riches of hip hop culture. And yet, even with the seriousness pervading much of their album, you can tell how much fun they're having too, what a passion this is and what a culmination of hard work these songs represent. Somewhere in America right now, there's a fifteen-year-old who thinks all rap is stale and bloated and materialistic like I once did. He needs to hear this album right away, but then again so do you.

Sometimes There Is Trouble covers everything from club joints (Say Goodnight) to introspective tracks (Hold Your Glass High), and the group capably handles the varied subject matter. Great production, great MCing. Easily the best independent release of 2006, Sometimes There Is Trouble is well worth the eight bucks. What are you waiting for? Go buy it!

This is a hot ass cd...enough said!