Ill Semantics: Theory of Meaning

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * * )

The debut album by the South Auckland trio from the Dawn Raid stable is a sprawling, ambitious affair.

While it's one which impresses for its righteous spirit, its lateral-thinking lyrics and DJ CXL's mad scratching, it can't quite sustain the interest for its hour-plus 16 tracks.

It's wall-to-wall hip-hop seems mainly to concern the pleasures and pains of the genre, which can make it feel like an album that really only talks to those who appear on its substantial guest list.

But if it tends towards earnestness, it delivers some vital cuts, the highlights including the soul-kissed The Journey, the ukulele-powered and rampantly-funky Highway and their reworking of Ardijah's Watching You.

However, Theory of Meaning has its practical drawbacks - the main one being that it can get to be a bit of a slog unless you take Ill Semantics as seriously as they take themselves.