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(Eternia/Shogun)
From the word go It’s Called Life is a brutally honest presentation of one of hip hop’s most solid female MCs. From the collection of childhood photographs covering the inside and outside the covers to the intimate and often introspective nature of her rhymes, Eternia’s debut LP comes across with a naked ambivalence, like Aguilera’s Stripped concept without the chaps.
It’s Called Life is made up of 15 tracks, all titled with one word, usually an emotion, giving us a nicely varied insight into how she raps, who she is and what she’s made of. Evidence has a banging beat and is a great introduction, Hate addresses the fact that she’s white, she raps and she’s a female, in one of the most aggressive assaults on stereotypes to date. Whilst the production is a little melodramatic the lyricism is what keeps you listening, fiery words in the key of ‘fuck you’ to those that believe hip hop to be a black, male thing.
Cesar Commanche (Justus League) makes an appearance on Beef as a comic rant and nod to Eternia’s Canadian roots, followed by the joint Family featuring Helixx C & DJ Dopey. In the liner notes Eternia states ‘this track may confuse some, as I profess my love for my family in Love & now I am doing the opposite. Quite simply: this is not about my mother’s side of the family’ to which I say ouch and father family issues, especially with the sampling used in the hook. The track doesn’t suffer from self indulgence or sook syndrome and nor does it come off as an indignant rant but one thing I notice is the melodrama. Obviously as a listener I have no history and it isn’t explained to me so it can be difficult to make a connection with the track without being able to relate or understand any of it, apart from the fact that she’s angry about whatever has transpired.
Time makes for some manic production and feels a little overdone, there is a lot of instrumentation and sounds going on and it can detract from her lyricism. But on the other hand the general urgency and intensity of the beats match the subject well so it’s well justified, whether you like it will be more of a personal taste issue than anything else. Control is fucking brilliant, she opens with the line ‘Relationships are a power struggle, whoever has more has control, but I refuse to be subordinate’, which I think every megalomaniac female can relate to but she absolutely shines on the subject and from the beats to the hooks to the lyrics, everything fits perfectly.
Understand (If I), featuring Freestyle, suffers the speed sampling treatment that’s going on at the moment yet the baseline is so smooth that it goes relatively unnoticed. Subject wise it deals with understanding and character flaws, some simple statements that amount to a ‘This is the way I am’ sentiment. Balance sees Eternia on another outstanding beat, once again shining lyrically on subjects of the heart. Death takes a stab at spoken word, which can be difficult on the ear especially due to the desolate nature of the subjects but Eternia proves again what a talented poet and lyricist can be.
Love features Eternia’s sister’s vocals and delves deeply and personally into her life and particularly her birth but above all her family. Another example of how brutally honest this LP is. Struggle is reminiscent of the heaven like ambiance of Pete Rock production with some craftily executed harp sampling and a nice rolling minimal beat, the track features Wordsworth & Ken Starr and is one of the highlights on the album as it shows Eternia stepping back a little from the intense stuff and making a really solid hip hop joint. Girls sees Cesar Commanche being ironically comical about female rappers which is much more interesting that the Beef skit.
Inspiration is a nice update from A to B that deals with basically the inspiration behind Eternia’s music and involvement in the culture. And then finally we go out with a bang, literally, Bang wraps up the album, showing that whilst Eternia is brilliant when it comes to emotive lyricism and introspective raps she can still bring it like the boys and shit out a nice solid jam.
I wasn’t really feeling the first few tracks off the cut but that was definitely more of a problem with production than anything else, after Control the LP goes from strength to strength and Eternia always shines the brightest when she’s really feeling the subjects; relationships, family & proving herself.
