Denver, we have a rising star in our midst. After just one listen of Input’s third full-length release A Radio With Guts, it’s hard to believe this artist has been at this game called music writing for only two years, having two albums under his belt, including Poetry On Top Of Heart Beats and Elusive Candor.
Teaming with UK’s Abstrakt on production, from the lyrical contemplation and reflection to the eclectic and creative lines of soul, Latin, and heart-pounding hip-hop pulse, the album’s overall track-to-track presentation is completely fresh—not in a ‘what up g’ kinda way, but in the way a crisp dollar bill feels in your hand, in the way the 60 degree air feels when you open the door to the street that’s wet from a recent rain, or the first drink of an ice cold beer with little slivers of ice floating on top.
This is the thinking man’s (or woman’s) hip-hop, with an intellectual perspective taken on a variety of topics that connect to our every day way of living—“The World’s On Its Last Breath” takes on the inconvenient truth of the earth as it is today, or the cheerleading track for music and its power to take us a better direction on “Welcome Back.” Input definitely has a way with those words, “We’ve lost touch with the importance of feeling / We’ve lost touch with our keen sense of hearing / It’s up to music to alter its appearance and reinvent itself instead of shopping for a clearance.”
While the musical element, the instrumental icing on the cake, is a big part of any hip-hop song, the artists that really lead with his or her words has more pressure on the lyrics than other forms of music. This is where artists like Slug, Immortal Technique or Talib Kweli run circles around others that rely on pop samples and bikini clad/Benjamin flapping music videos, providing nothing more than a backdrop for a night of freaking, ear-ringing commercial radio tunes and bottle service, leaving one regret, a headache and stench of the mouth the next morning.
This is not to say that Input is all work and no play, at least when it comes to the introspective radar on his own personal day and night treadmill. “I Don’t Know” puts it out there, contemplating the numbing aspects of alcohol “I don’t know how many bottles I’ve taken part in while waiting for things to get better / I beg your pardon / I don’t know how much whiskey I’ve consumed after splits with women and waking up in the bathroom.”
Input has guts, there’s no doubt about that. But without heart, soul and mind, guts only gets you so far. With an entire embodiment of what hip-hop is meant to be—a medium to both inspire, analyze and entertain—Input’s current course will take him far.
