Face it, the rap music being overplayed on radio?hip hop stations and mainstream stations?blends together. Artists pop up every week that sound exactly like everyone else. People aren’t taking enough chances.

But at least one man is: Proe. The California-based rapper takes a big chance on his album, “Perfect,” by blending his raps over rock-inspired beats. He risks alienating a certain rap music fan who is hesitant to enjoy something out of the ordinary. But that’s a positive.

Proe’s chance has paid off, because each song on the album is distinct from any other song on the album, and any other song you’d hear on the radio or on music television stations. The album is much more than an attempt to join two genres; there is a distinct blues influence on several tracks, perhaps none more pervasive than on “Sleeping With the Television On.”

“Perfect,” Proe’s second album, is superb, but not perfect (no pun intended). He sometimes relies on the guitar rifts to carry the tune, which results in little more than noise, like on parts of the track “Big Step Little Step.” It happens rarely, but it happens.

Luckily Proe is only 20 years old. He has eons of years to perfect (again, no pun intended) this creative sound. Though even if he keeps this up for his next few albums, the sound would still be close to perfect (ok, pun intended, apologies).

3.5*
More info: proemusic.com






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