With rappers claiming vet status after their soft-more, it’s tougher to discern pretentious youngin’ from a true thousand mile gazer. Still, lines of division are their boldest between West Coast underground legend Ab Rude and just about anyone else not of his era, a nineteen-ninety-something haven where the words ’seasoned’ and ‘experienced’ find their homes. See Abstract is Goodlife-trained, you know, the open mic sessions that made Los Angeles a 90’s hip hop mecca, promised land for technical delivery. In ‘94 when he hit the scene with the Project Blowed collective Rude struck balance between a then-avante otherworldly consciousness and the lyrical proficiency of his Blowedian peers. With countless albums featuring his crews ATU, Haiku d’etat, and A-team, as well as other collab records and solo work, Abstract Rude has gone the distance alongside a who’s who of hip hop pioneers. Enter Rejuvenation, the latest from the prophetic chopper of White/Hayes buttah tones, Ab’s most anticipated release.

What we know about Ab Rude from years past has gone unchanged: technical chop, depth on the chords, positivity and substance, and of course that OG consciousness. What tends to blindside new converts and longtime LA undergrounders on Rejuvenation is the grand stage it plays out on. In ‘08 Ab joined Rhymesayers’ already solid lineup and the union’s potential to be commercially viable while maintaining an independent flavor has brought Abstract’s music to new heights of exposure. Rejuvenation is also elevated by top tier production quality with Vitamin D backing Ab’s verses.

Smooth, soulful, mature in tone and message, Abstract’s still repping the street savy of a lifetime West Coaster with cuts like ‘Hip Hop Ryde’, and awareness on ‘The Conch’. Perhaps most impressive and also most fitting, are the two renditions of ‘Thynk Eye Can’ where Ab gets a little help from his Project Blowed brethren on one of Vitamin D’s finest bass-heavy entries. It’s rhythmic lines beg to be cut up with staccatoed syllabic’s from Haiku d’etat’s Acey and Myka 9 with new school Blowedians on the final hidden version of the track. As a whole, Abstract Rude’s latest brings together the best elements of style and new levels of accessibility without compromising his allegiance to a faithful underground.

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