Encore: Self Preservation

Many underground and independent hip-hop producers draw heavily from the pioneering, influential work of Gang Starr's DJ Premier, but few have integrated his influence into their own work quite as impressively as The Architect, the producer behind rapper Encore's debut LP. Like Premier, The Architect understands that there's a fine line between effectively repetitive and brutally monotonous, and he's careful to straddle that line without crossing it. Artfully appropriating Premier's tastefully minimalist approach to both sampling and scratching, His masterful production on Self Preservation helps make Encore's somewhat limited lyrical breadth seem irrelevant. With a few exceptions—the reflective "084" and the political spoken-word title track, written by The Bishop—Self Preservation isn't necessarily "about" anything, but it doesn't really have to be. On such killer tracks as "Love And Hate (The Mellow Drama)," for example, The Architect's hypnotic, piano-based production and Encore's impassioned delivery more than make up for the lack of an over-arching message. Encore impresses more with his sense of rhythm and cadence than with his insights into the nature of the universe, but as an exercise in pure hip-hop, Self Preservation is an impressive debut.