Show You The World builds on a prolific career, showcasing the issue-based flows and bouncy beats that have kept The Grouch on the tongues of the underground cognoscenti for over a decade. As a founding member of The Living Legends crew, The Grouch helped pioneer a vibrant independent scene in California, focused on relaying real life themes against the sea of gangsta rap. With a grassroots approach, the crew rallied against both the mainstream sound of rap and the nature of how music was and is disseminated. Show You The World gives Grouch a platform for self exploration. It's sometimes explicit and other times implicit, both tied directly to his career ups and downs.
"Yard Work," is a metaphoric song about getting down to business. Grouch rakes leaves and dirties his hands, while outlining the steps taken to stay afloat in the business. It's a short burst of energy, with a "real" refrain: "illegal downloads free, but this rap costs money." Considering the rags to immediate riches stories spouted on MTV by the trapper-rap set, "Yard Work" is wildly refreshing.
Connecting the Bay and LA on "The Bay to LA," Grouch and MURS spit bars about their respective hometowns' geographic differences. The beat has a hyphy bounce to it, and you might want to get stupid while listening; but the lyrics are pointed. MURS addresses his first experience with the Bay, while Grouch balances a Bay mentality with the ways of his new home. A little west coast unity produces one of the album's best tracks.
Grouch proffers his most thoughtful work on "Mom & Pop Killer." Taking on corporate entities and big boxes, Grouch name-drops throughout the song, sliding in quips over a melancholy vocal sample punctuated with a wicked high hat. The independent spirit of Living Legends shines through, and the song best exemplifies the new struggles in the recording industry. While proclaiming his status as an independent is a ubiquitous theme in Grouch's music, here he spells out clearly the biggest threats to the vibrant grass roots culture. In turn, "Mom & Pop Killer" is one of the most mature explorations of the corporate world on wax, with playful lyrics that poke with criticism rather than fun.
Show You The World suffers a bit from the "I'm this, your that," syndrome that infects the now hackneyed mainstream vs. underground hip-hop debate. Though the "monkey see, monkey do" commentary on "Clones" is well composed, there's no new ground covered, and The Grouch comes off kind of (had to do it) grouchy. He gets a little funky with the basic theme on "Artsy," where he drops a diss on hippie sets with some truly hilarious lines. Unfortunately the tone of his vocals is a touch too serious for the tongue in cheek quips to really land.
In the end, Show You The World is a collection of phenomenal beats, solid vocals and a simple and focused agenda. Short of brilliant, the material has enough to entertain for more than a few spins and sits well amongst Grouch's previous outputs.
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