Dubious Bros: Trade Secrets

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * * * )

The debut album by the Dubious Bros is one of those pleasant local instances where the question arises: where on earth did that come from?

And even if the answer is "Hamilton" it's, as they keep on reminding us, all good.

Trade Secrets is an accomplished hip-hop album which manages to be as lyrically distinctive as it is often wondrously funky.

Across the dozen tracks the duo of Tyna and Chris Macro (and assorted guest MCs and singers) offer up both ripping yarns and infectious jams.

Of the former, The Accident cleverly delivers a Rashomon-like multiple perspective on a car crash involving four separate suitably dubious characters.

On Johnny and Jenny, it's a sharply drawn Once Were Warriors scenario with a real kick in its tail.

And on The Future they paint a world a few years hence when hip-hop has become an illegal substance.

That might be a good idea, if the local variety was always as strong as the Bros make it on the funkier jams such as Who Got Flow, the soul-baked Rage (with feverish scratching care of DJ Sir Vere) or The Makers (a cool mix of tongue-trippin' vocals and blues guitar).

And while this comes with lyrical lashings of swearing, sex, and drug references, they have their sensitive side, too.

This is highlighted by Lonely Skies, a hip-hop lament for rap blokes who act tough but need a good cry every now and then.

They might be Dubious, but they're certainly sure of themselves.

A great debut.

Label: Mai Music/Shock