The Fevers

Album Review

Detroit native Terrell McMathis has been popping up on recordings for nearly ten years. Known as Lacksidaisycal, then Lacks, and now Ta'Raach, he has appeared on tracks by Carl Craig's Innerzone Orchestra ("The Beginning of the End"), Jay Dee ("It's Like That"), Amp Fiddler ("This Is How"), As One ("It Ain't Nothin'"), and Dabrye ("Pressure"), just to name a few. While The Fevers is his first chance to step out on his own with a full-length, he dialed up a number of collaborators and billed it to Ta'Raach & the Lovelution. Like Platinum Pied Pipers' Triple P — yes, Ta'Raach is on that as well — The Fevers juggles hip-hop with R&B, albeit with a heavier slant toward MCing. Recorded in a couple studios near his adopted California locale, a spot just outside his hometown, and even Cologne, the 40-minute album is of a piece, as if it had been laid out in one session. Once frantic and bugged-out, Ta'Raach's delivery as an MC is now deep, stout, and steady. Production-wise, it's not a surprise that he's somewhere between fellow Detroiters like the late Jay Dee and Platinum Pied Pipers' Waajeed, whipping up ruggedly elegant (or elegantly rugged) beats that are equally efficient whether supporting hazy vocals or rapid-fire spitting. A lot of territory is covered, from the somber-yet-motivating "Hey!," to the dreamy daze of "Liberation's Lullabye" (featuring Joy Jones), to the fierce "Service" (with a beat that resembles one of house producer Moodymann's blue-in-the-face jack tracks). After factoring the guest verses from ex-D12 member Fuzz Scoota, Tha Beloved, Big Tone, and Cashius King, the coordinates of the album outside the R&B flashes land somewhere between hardcore at its most hot-blooded (if your idea of hardcore involves BDP and Nas) and the Native Tongues at their most playful.