Def P - Het Ware Aardverhaal (The True Earth Story). Osdorp Posse’s Def P delivered a new concept CD that was in the pipeline since 1999. A CD with a story to tell. No seriously. Willem Davids tells the story and Def P raps the story. Music was composed by Warlock. The concept is this: a journey how humanity and civilization began and probably will end.

As Saul van Stappele remarked in his review in the Nieuwe Revu: “Coffeeshop philosophy”. It’s easy not to take any of this serious. Just as they stated on their CD that the whole story is up to you to believe it or not. To take it seriously or not. But keep in mind that he first one that said the world is round was also not taken seriously, too. Think he got executed too.

As the CD begins, you get hooked up into the story. In the case you can’t follow, the whole story is also printed out in the booklet. Is it a fairy tale or does it contain some truth? Well, it’s remarkable how many times the whole story matches science, many subjects are already proven to be the truth. Where you like it or not, when you are ready or not. In the booklet you also will find a booklist that is worth to study. And include books that are very interesting to pick up. Remember a famous quote by KRS-One on Edutainment or was it Chuck D in an interview? That the best way to keep something hidden from the black man, is to write something down in a book and put it in a library. You can take black out. People in general should pick up more books and start reading. And do not be afraid to get a discussion started. For example about Islam versus Christianity in Europe. Al though it sounds radical or evil, take notice what the man is saying. By the way, as it’s in the intro of the CD: “…years before the Koran or the Bible were written…”. Scientist easily do point out when the Koran and the New Testament were written, and who it wrote. But who wrote the Old Testament?

What can be said about the whole project is that it got the quality of a coffeeshop mentality. Meaning promising but not to be expected to result in any high (not that one!) quality. The idea is great and challenging. What is next for the Osdorp Posse guys? They already did almost everything. So making concept albums which takes HipHop to new frontiers is great. Sadly the flow of Def P is not up to his level. There is no progress in his musical skills. Sometimes he sounds as a borring preacher. Musically, it’s sometimes o.k. but not challenging. You know they can do a lot better. And the content of the album deserves to be a lot better wrapped into. I have to say I hope that they continue to experiment as the story is good enough to play it once in a time. I hope people will have a listening ear.

In the office I played the album. My girl came in and told an anecdote from her youth which the sound of the CD remind her. Once her father came into her bedroom and said to her: “One day there will be a sound on the tele that will make people start to run… and you…, you will not have a clue. Because you are only listening to your music.”

Boombox AQ