Album Notes

Dominant Intelligence is a two man team: Homeboy Face and V-Tech the Vocabulator. They grew up together and have shared a common interest in hip hop and rap since 6th grade. They began freestyling in freshmen year and started writing and recording at age 18.Balance of power is the groups 2nd album, the long awaited follow up to their first album “Partners In Rhyme” in 2004. Both emcees share a common distaste for the mainstream garbage pop that is shoved in our faces everyday. They grew up listening to the likes of Wu-Tang 36 chambers and Forever, Outkast's first 3 albums: southernplayalistic, aquemini, and atliens, and other legends like Redman, Ice Cube, and Busta Rhymes. They consider the golden years of rap from 94-2001, when mainstream artists actually made really good music.
“Balance Of Power” has exquisite production mostly done by homeboy face with a few contributions by V-Tech, BMB, and WeeDee G. Featured Emcees include Knowble from serendipity Project, Carrie Robinson, Govind, Daily Chores, BMB, Antibiotic, and Dope Nutz. The album has a smooth feel and is the kind of album you can listen to all the way through. Similar in feel to Outkast's “Aquemini”, you can put the headphones on and get lost for about an hour without having to skip tracks. The songs transition smoothly from one to the next providing a cohesive entity similar to a mosaic, lots of pieces that form one large picture. The topics covered range from growing up, to death, politics, to staying mellow, all the way to the problems we face today and our children will face tomorrow. The song styles cover a large range as well; from punch you in the face bangers like “epicenter” and “stage” to the composed and complex emotions of “Through Whose Eyes” and “Balance of Power” Where the combination of classical style piano combined with the beautiful voice of Carrie Robinson serenading your soul will give you goose bumps every time.
If I had to think of one phrase to describe this album it would be “musical masterpiece”. The production of the beats is top notch and the vocal quality is superb. It all comes together to elucidate a beautiful landscape of mental stimulation with thought provoking lyrics and smooth aesthetically pleasing beats that intoxicate your soul. If you like just plain good music and your sick of empty pop beats with an overly emphasized clap track and meaningless lyrics then you should definitely pick this one up. You are guaranteed to be impressed.