In 2004, Seattle’s Soul The Interrogator put out his debut album titled Beyond All Meanz, which featured production from Jeff Brooks, A-Won, and Soul himself. Four years later in 2008, his second album Prawdukt arrived. This project, executive produced by Nickels, contains more of the same flavor that Soul brought on Beyond All Meanz, but adds some bigger names to the roster this time. The very first song on Prawdukt, “Game Face,” has a fun, hype beat by the talented Apollo, and it’s an electric way to kick things off. “I ain’t trying to lean with it, rock with it, go pop with it, you need to stop, you can drop cause you’re not committed,” Soul raps. Title track “Prawdukt,” also produced by Apollo, gets autobiographical from the very first line, “I’m a product of the block and the Blade.”

“Been Waitin” featuring Jazz Digga is one of the strongest tracks on Prawdukt. The BeanOne beat is classy like a crystal chandelier, and Soul’s lyrics really find a groove. The song is a moving look at what happens when you develop a crush on someone, and can’t decide whether or not to tell them. Jazz Digga makes me look forward to each chorus, and Soul makes me look forward to each verse.

There are a couple of things that don’t quite work for me. “Haterville” is a tight four minute song, but it gets lost between the butt-dial-sounding one minute intro and one minute outro that drain the track’s momentum. The hardest track on the album is “What Happened?,” but Soul puts so much gravel and volume in his voice that the loud, angry tone could distract from the message. The theme of the album is struggle against adversity, and there’s no better example of this than “The Ropes,” featuring Indijinis, which tells how Soul fights to stay positive, especially under difficult circumstances. Prawdukt shows musical and lyrical growth compared to Beyond All Meanz, and to complete a second album is no small achievement. Well done. Written by Novocaine132