I'll be honest. Sometimes at cMusicWeb.com we disagree. For example, I'm not
a T-Bone fan. His rap is too mainstream for me. Give me mars ILL, John
Reuben, or GRITS, and I'm feelin' you, but T-Bone is mostly out of it from
my perspective. But my fellow reviewer is into it, so here we go. Check out
his latest which isn't as experimental as
Gospelalphamegafunkyboogiediscomusic, but definitely more of a keeper. (So I
just mentioned his last album because I like the title. Nobody said you had
to read my silly introductions to this e-mail.)

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BONE-A-FIDE - T-BONE (2005)
By Ben Forrest

It's a simple question, really. A question from a man who has seen it all
and been through a lot but somehow come out the other side blessed. This is
a man who left home in his mid-teens and ate out of trash cans just to
survive. This man's name is unknown to me, but he goes by T-Bone, and his
question is this: "Can I live?"

It's a question posed over and over on track five of his latest rap
offering, Bone-a-fide, and aimed at the haters who can't handle him being on
top. The folks with fake smiles and nothing but love shown to his face, but
nothing but envy when he's not around.

He tells you some of this story in the song's first two verses, then begins
the third by telling you he's not going away.

"I'm in it for the long haul," he says. "Committed to the end like John
Paul... If you can do it better, then by all means / Shoot for the stars but
stop crushin' on my life's dreams / And let me fulfill my destiny and
purpose / Why you tryina make me feel no good and worthless / This life is
all a playa got to give, so back up and give me room to breathe / Can I
live?"

The track is impeccable--poignant, meticulously crafted, and thought
provoking--and in these ways not unlike most of the album's cuts. If 8 Mile
was a semi-autobiographical look into the world of Eminem, much of
Bone-a-fide is the fully authorized story of the man they call Bony Soprano.


With an indictment like that, you'd expect the verses to be narcissistic and
the emcee to be overly self-absorbed, but that's not the case. With a skill
rare among Christian emcees, T-Bone has the ability to put you in his own
shoes, and then lift you up to a better place than you'd been previously.

"Hard Streets," for example, tells of his own time in the gutter, but
doesn't dwell there. The song is ultimately an inspirational one of
hardships overcome, aimed at those in similar situations but also resonating
with those of us whose "everyday struggle" can mean grinding through a day
at work or the drudgery of academic life.

"I Been Looking Around" takes a similar tack, relating further details of
the rapper's rags-to-bling rise, ultimately concluding that God was what he
was searching for all along. The final verse is empathetic to other
searchers but ultimately points them in God's direction.

There will be some, no doubt, who will turn up their nose at Bone-a-fide due
to what Bone would call "versatility" and others might call trying to be all
things to all people. The album contains bangers that draw on the production
styles of Dr. Dre, Kanye West, and Lil' Jon, even crafting an answer to
Terror Squad's club track "Lean Back" that is only subtly different from the
original.

Potential accusations of plagiarism aside, there will no doubt be some who
will criticize the rapper for trying to find such a wide audience and never
really finding a sound all his own. But those folks need to behold the emcee
apart from the beats, regardless of how deliberately he chose them. Truth
is, in a world of Toby Macs, John Reubens and L.A. Symphony members other
than Sharlok, T-Bone is a cut above. You might not like everything he stands
for, but skill is skill, and as the man himself asserts on track 11, he got
stuff.

Bone-a-fide has some low spots (stay far, far away from the old-school cut
"12 Years Ago") but you really ought to give it a chance. If you like holy
hip-hop at all, this needs to be in your collection. If that's asking too
much, so be it. But be the bigger person and let him shine in peace. Let him
breathe, let him drink it all in. Let him live.

Read more about T-Bone at his official site:
http://www.houseoftbone.com/


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