Finally! Someone is bringing that Tribe vibe, that Native Tongues sound back. This CD is incredible. The beats are just beautiful (sampling can be a beautiful thing). These cats have some serious lyrical ability, and I can understand what they are saying! Fave cuts are "Seasons","I Try", "Love", and "The Rhyme". As someone else pointed out, the skits do get in the way - this is the only downside to this CD. They could have eliminated them, or made them individual tracks to themselves. Overall though, the CD is bangin! If you dig N.T's, Pete Rock, J Dilla, then this is for you.

Orlando-based Superiority Complex creates underground hip-hop of a particularly melodious kind. On Stand Up's strongest cuts (the snappy “Stand Up” and soulful “Rightside”), the trio's melodic sound recalls Cyne if at a slightly less developed instrumental level; like Cyne, Superiority Complex also sometimes caps a song with a nice instrumental tag (“The Rhyme”). MCs Poisoned Fetus (acronym for: Possession Of Infinite Skills Overwhelm Novice Emcees Daily Flows Exceed The Usual Standards) and Iron Monk distinguish themselves well enough but it's Blackology's soul-funk backings that prove most memorable, even if he does little to conceal the material's origins (elements of Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas are woven into the funky backing of “Seasons,” and “Palladium” from Weather Report's Heavy Weather and the Phil Collins-Philip Bailey duet “Easy Lover” work their way into “Butter” and “Deathwish”). Nice touches include the hiccupping soul vocal loop in “I Try” and the crisp snare thwack that powers the easy flow of “Relax Yourself,” and following “Love” (“Love make you not believe when you know she was creepin'/ And love make her stay with you when she know you was cheatin'”) with “Hate” (“If I could eliminate all those I hate with one wish / I'd probably be the only bastard left on this bitch”) makes for interesting contrast that's unfortunately diminished by banal lyrics (“I love it when you come to my show / I'm glad you came… But most of all I'm happy you listened to this song”). Still, as there are strengths, so too are there weaknesses. It's easy enough to ignore the stereotypical braggadocio (“That's right bitches, we are better than you / We don't just think it, we be it”) but the group should immediately retire its habit of interrupting the music with spoken word episodes (studio banter in “Bad” and a mock argument in “Club That Much”) which are merely tedious and severely cripple the album's flow.

With two emcees who can switch easily from witty battle rhymes to poignant life observations and a producer hooked on gritty-but-soulful samples, Superiority Complex might quickly grow tired of the Little Brother comparisons sure to be thrown their way, no matter how complimentary. Luckily, this Florida-based trio possess enough character on their entertaining long-player “Stand Up” to ensure that those who look beyond any surface similarities to North Carolina’s favourite sons will be rewarded. On the self-explanatory “Seasons”, Iron Monk and Poisoned Fetus wax lyrical over a tight Blackology beat about hanging-out under the summer sun and stomping through the snow in your Timberlands. The group put their collective influences on display for “Butter”, a clever remake of the Tribe Called Quest classic of the same name which stays faithful to the original musically, but finds Monk and Fetus twisting Q-Tip and Phife’s verses to fit their own experiences with the fairer sex. The short “Hate” stands in stark contrast to the overall feel-good vibe of the album, as Fetus vents over Blackology’s melancholy track (“I hate the cats that’s been put on that I’m a cut above”). On the evidence presented throughout “Stand Up”, Superiority Complex are a group definitely worthy of wider attention. You can find them at www.myspace.com/superioritycomplexmusic.

Every now and then in the cluttered jungle of rap, an album comes along that stands out not so much because of its greatness, but because of its individuality. Stand Up> (BRU Records) by Superiority Complex is one of those. This under-the-radar trio hails from the unlikely city of Little Rock, Arkansas, but you wouldn't think so judging from the product. MCs Iron Monk and Poisoned Fetus do producer Blackology's jazzy and diversely sampled beats justice with witty rhymes and clever punchlines. And, once you get past his name, you'll observe that Poisoned Fetus (it's an acronym) is pretty nice lyrically. On the aptly titled first song, "Intro", Fetus asserts that the group's bold name is based on truth and he and Iron Monk proceed with back-and-forth verses, which over the jazzy loop and hypnotic beat make for a good example of why they have that complex. The title track is a more up-tempo introduction to the group with Poisoned Fetus proclaiming, "I do laps around acts/Until my lungs collapse/Essential to the game like cards to spades/And dice to craps/The last straw to make people quit rap." "Bats" is a creatively produced track that switches up to a different beat after the first verse only to go back to the previous one, and then ends with the sample it was taken from. That technique is also on the album's hardest song, "Deathwish", whose dramatic guitar riff you find out at the end is from none other than an old Phil Collins tune (now how often does a Genesis track get flipped for a rap song?). Also noteworthy is the smooth "Butter", an inspired ode to the A Tribe Called Quest classic. Even though it could do without the interludes, which are amusing but too long and unnecessary, the laidback Stand Up deserves a chance to be heard because it's a nice and calm diversion from the usual stuff.