Prozak extends his dark winning streak with 'Black Ink'
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By Alex Dionisio
Rap-rocker Prozak fits right in at Strange Music, and besides being a good fit, he also has a strong catalog with them that just got bigger with the addition of Black Ink (Oct. 9), his fourth solo LP and fifth studio release with the KC imprint. On Black Ink, the Michigan-bred rhymer, who gained fame in both the Bedlam and Project: Deadman groups, is still enveloped in darkness and shrouded in blackness as he mixes it up with new collaborations and new combinations of hip-hop and heavy metal, yet still, he fights to live another day, avoid eternal sleep and find a way through life's maze with his motivational mental pick-me-ups.
Unlike We All Fall Down, his last album, which had no guests, Black Ink is more social and a company affair, featuring various Strange Music artists and a good number of stylistically in sync outsiders. Tech N9ne, Krizz Kaliko, CES Cru, Mackenzie O'Guin, and Bernz and Wrekonize of Mayday all get turns boosting the Strange likeness, but on the flip side, Twiztid, Kate Rose, Zodiac MPrint, Madchild and Tyler Lyon also show some nice external support for their friends at the label and their mission. For every morbid view of life, each depressing tone, there is a coping strategy and an understanding. Though Prozak and his bunch may seem to tolerate wading through muddy waters, settling for a life of despair and confusion, their intent is never as serious as to hurl listeners into throes of sadness, just to describe the feelings.
Black Ink is no new terrain for Prozak, but it has strength in numbers, aided also by applaudable vocal performances and a balanced ratio of rock to rap beats. The attraction is not necessarily in what is said but in how it is said here. Black Ink is a masterpiece of vocal technique and a paradise for fans of rap-rock music, an updated take on the classic cocktail of those two genres. The course is changed in each new song, and it never gets boring, cut into thirteen tracks and trimmed down to forty-seven minutes for a pristine, hurtling ride that stops smoothly and right when it needs to.
