Centri ‘Rise of a Veteran’ Mixtape reviewed on Soul Anchor Collective

Source: http://soulanchorcollective.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/centri-rise-of-a-veteran-mixtape-2012-album-review/

After the military Centri built up a name for himself in underground hip hop circles joining the abstract crew, The Lenzmen & debuting on The Persecution of Hip Hop compilation album in 1998 Cannibal Ox, Slug, etc. He recently dropped a military inspired album titled article 15: The Rebel Knowledge Story and will be dropping the headless Nobody featuring Akir. Blaq Poet, Sha Stimuli, Sky Zoo, etc

Congrats to Centri on the positive review.  Congrats to Dynamics Plus for producing a whole lotta cuts on the joint.

Quote:

Hard Core Wrestler 1 and 3 – Both tracks flex the lyrically advanced styling of Centri and his crew The Lenzmen. This track makes listeners remember when they first discovered that hip-hop could be more that just end rhymes and basic delivery. Whether that was via Rakim, Inspectah Deck, or Eminem on the Wake Up Show, once you hear hip-hop on this  (almost scientific) level of  representation, its hard to ever go back to monosyllabic word play.

They fully say :

Centri, the ex-military man with flow hits us with his latest project entitled  ‘Rise of a Veteran” hosted by DJ Jedi and masterfully produced by  Akir, Nickel Plated and others. Full of a slew of underground features ranging from Skyzoo to Blaq Poet and Sha Stimuli the project is laced with below the surface (and above the surface) talent ready to emerge.

Hold NY Down (Masai Bey) – The word play is reminiscent of early Canibus, with a true rapid fire approach and effortless delivery that connects the bridges and represents for NYC.

Culture Shock – This has the feel of that late nineties, hip-hop storytelling. that told social tales of urban environments within great production and lyrics that never let up. I feel that “Phone Tapped” vibe as he tells the story of a solider that has came home from 6 years in the service only to find out that the aftermath isn’t as sweet as envisioned.  That “Persecution of Hip-Hop” Centri is resurrected on this track.

Rot The Body – This track is a vacation from the emcees norm and enlists a heavy break beat package. With a flow that borderlines eccentric and sporadic the emcee creates his most diverse and improbable track. There are a couple reasons why this works…He allows himself to create a sonically nostalgic nod to hip-hops past via the beat; while at the same time bringing lyrically unpredictable rhyme schemes to the present.

Hard Core Wrestler 1 and 3 – Both tracks flex the lyrically advanced styling of Centri and his crew The Lenzmen. This track makes listeners remember when they first discovered that hip-hop could be more that just end rhymes and basic delivery. Whether that was via Rakim, Inspectah Deck, or Eminem on the Wake Up Show, once you hear hip-hop on this  (almost scientific) level of  representation, its hard to ever go back to monosyllabic word play.

Other stand out tracks worth the listen:

M.O.M.M

Residue (with The Lenzmen)

Black Light Sabre

Despite some awkward arrangements  and imbalanced mixing on a couple tracks, this mixtape goes hard and will offer a great precursor to further Centri projects. Stay tuned for Headless Nobody, the LP coming soon.  Also, we at SAC are hoping there is more from The Lenzmen. Centri seems to be at his best in this collective of big spitters.

Paz,

Antonio Cortez Appling

====================================

You can download it for FREE here: http://centri.bandcamp.com/album/rise-of-a-veteran

And learn the man here: http://centrimusic.com/

A Rapper named Centri

“I’m the Master of the Universe; a Man-At-Arms
Still heavily armed with only one arm like Carl Weathers in the Predator”

-Dynamics Plus in “Motion Lesson”

Lenzmen. We are a bunch of scientific emcees and friends. We’ve been recording together and hanging out (and bickering) for over a decade. There’s four of us. Me, producer and lyricist Dynamics Plus. Doktor Strange the Hybrid who moved back to Long Island recently. There’s Earthadox who’s now down south making his waves and Centri who’s in Brooklyn. We’ve been splintered but still stay in contact and each member is doing his own music-related projects.

Vetted Veteran

Centri has been doing collabos with other rappers (Skyzoo, Planet Asia, Supastar Straps and Sha Stimuli- to name a few). Great for him. Unknown to most is that Centri has had shoulder problems for years, with a shoulder that’s quick to dislocate and pop out. Of course, as boys, we had to crack on his [Special Ed] fake arm. Well recently he underwent surgery and had a complication, which left his arm useless for a minute. Instead of laying up lame and making excuses or pushing his projects back, he’s decided to go full force and keep pounding on his music. This has led him to come out to my studio and marathon-record tons of tracks.

I sometimes forget about the chemistry and friendship that forges a group that goes way beyond music. It’s also humbling and inspiring to see his bandaged arm stuffed in his pocket to protect it – all the while spitting verses like rapping is the most important thing in life. And you know what, as an Emcee, he’s right; rapping is the most important thing in life. That’s why he raps that way. If you’ve claimed to be a rapper or producer and you have any excuses as to why you haven’t completed your project, shame on you.

Grinding for most artists means worrying about music 24-7. For those better, it means working on music straight for 72 hours. For the best, it means grinding through adversity until you reach your goals. If he can do it with one arm, what’s your excuse?

New Music: Centri ft. Blaq Poet & Supastar Straps – “That’s Why I Rap Like This”

http://rappersdelite.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/new-music-centri-ft-blaq-poet-supastar-straps-thats-why-i-rap-like-this/

Centri featuring Skyzoo – RhymeGlue produced by Dynamics Plus

 Off of his upcoming Rise of a Veteran mixtape, Centri unites with Skyzoo and reinvents the concept of a hook over production from Dynamics Plus.

Centri ft. Skyzoo – RhymeGlue produced by Dynamics Plus

About a year ago, I produced a bunch of tracks off the Article 15 album from fellow Lenzmen Centri. Since then he’s been running around, traveling and meeting up with other emcees and also started featuring other rappers on his songs. Every once and a while I hear that someone else is on board and it seems like cats is really getting behind his mission. Now the thing about Centri (that I endlessly make fun of) is the fact that he’s a One-Man-Army like he done had too much super-soldier serum. When he goes in, he goes in…all in and so it’s almost no surprise when I see videos of him performing over my unreleased tracks and unfinished beats like nothing.

He mentions that he’s working on a collabo with Skyzoo. Cool. I got up on Skyzoo at a few iStandard events so I’m thinking Yeah, I can imagine them cooking up something kinda crazy. Next he tells me that it’s done and says “By the way Skyzoo picked one of your beats”. Nice, but they happened to pick a track from my Fallout Shelter instrumental album and so I had to replace it and strip down the track to create space for rhymes.  If you listen to the ending you can hear me playing the Jamisen <think Shamisen, a Japanese guitar> and I had a bridge and additional solos before the track was opened up.

The track was mixed by Big Earth and you catch it on Centri’s Rise of a Veteran. Right now he has it for free download on his Bandcamp site here. You can catch more on Centri by visiting his website here and check out his previous album Article 15: The Rebel Knowledge Story here.

Rapper’s Delite has a blog blast about this single too!

After the military Centri built up a name for himself in underground hip hop circles joining the abstract crew, ’The Lenzmen’ and debuting on ’The Persecution of Hip Hop’ compilation album back in 1998 along side Cannibal Ox, Slug, etc. He recently dropped a military inspired album titled ’Article 15: The Rebel Knowledge Story’ on 11.11.11. Veteran’s Day in preparation for his next project ‘Headless Nobody’ which features Akir, Blaq Poet, Sha Stimuli, Planet Asia and more.