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Through his website and social networking pages, Tha Truth makes no secret to the fact that he has featured as an inspirational speaker on various occasions to the public. As a writer, he has also had numerous articles featured in newspapers and magazines, addressing issues of education and the rich/poor divide. It’s obvious he works hard and is very passionate about his efforts to create a better world.

As a rapper, he improves with every album. 2008’s Tha People’s Music (his third) once again addresses various political, social, economic and environmental issues, providing the people with clear visions of how things can be done better, in a bid to inspire change. He still remains relevant and exciting in his subject matter, but, delivery wise, his rhyme scheme seems to have gotten more complex and the pitch of his voice has gone up a couple of notches since the Civil Rights Movement albums, demonstrating his maturity as an artist within the music industry.

This record is basically one pump-your-fists-and-shout-along song one after another. But Truth doesn’t preach change for the sake of preaching; his lyrics cite an extensive bibliography of works from influential political writers far and wide. ‘The Real History’ and ‘The Real History 2’, for example, are based on the rapper’s in-depth study of Howard Zinn's famous book A People's History Of The U.S.:

“They teach us to pledge allegiance to the stars and stripes/ but they need to teach alliance to people starving equal rights/ books they make an evil place/ and it’s a mystery ‘til they read ‘Howard Zinn’s The People’s History.’”

Truth’s songs help raise awareness of a number of highly important issues that are not often covered in the corporate media. The use of quotations from the likes of Zinn, Angela Davis and Cynthia McKinney assist in this (it’s actually rather funny, and somewhat worrying, also, that a quote from The Simpsons on the ‘Police Priorities’ skit holds more intellectual backbone than most of the news reports we see on Fox News today).

The running theme is to “question everything”, which is outlined in further detail on the excellent track of the same name. Here, Truth shows great energy and conviction, confronting political grievances to fetching, old-school pots and pans Hip-Hop beats. The educational poetry continues with ‘Military Recruiters Lie’ -- which raises the issue of soldiers developing long-term psychological problems after enlisting in the army -- and ‘We’re All Immigrants’, which outlines the positive aspects of immigration. In other words, his message is to think twice about government propaganda.

Truth knows that this is bigger than music (‘Revolution’) -- bigger than the Conservatives, and bigger than the Republicans (‘The Campaign Of Obama’). It’s not an angry record: His socially conscious approach comes across sincere and passionate, without the need for profanity, making this brand of Hip-Hop accessible to even those that don’t consider themselves a fan of the genre.

Essentially, Tha People’s Music feels refreshing and inspirational throughout. Truth can only be commended for creating a record that is educational as well as entertaining.

(C) Andy Carrington, 2010.