Lewis Parker It's All Happening Now (The Ancients Series Three) LP A long, long time ago… Mr. Parker dropped “Masquerades and Silhouettes” on Massive Attack’s Melankolic label back in the late, late 90’s and he’s kept us on tenterhooks since then. Having kept his name out there with Champions of Nature and production on the horn driven monster that is Klashnekoff’s “Dago Mentality”, Lewis has subliminally been preparing us for his return, and “Intro to The Sky”, with its falsetto vocal samples forms a perfect backdrop for Lewis’ freestyle-like flow while the new single “Incognito” hits hard with its shrill strings and scratched Lord Finesse sample. L.Parker also rips on “What the Ancients Say” over a cooing vocal sample and he sounds more than comfortable on “Mum’s The Word”s (his ode to crate-digging) Hawaiian guitars. Lewis isn’t afraid to bring his C.O.N muckers along for the ride as the plethora of guest spots shows and there are almost too many highlights amongst them too mention (bound to happen if you put Jehst and Profound on more than one track each. Honourable mentions also go to Apollo and Supa T). Cold Sun (Featuring Jehst and Profound) with its rock-hard beats and ominous brass sample is as hard a battle tune as you’ll hear anywhere this year, and DJ Bias makes the equation complete, getting ridiculous on the 1 and 2’s, while Sunny Dedications (With Profound) rocks an orchestral samples that will do funny things to ya heartstrings. A-Cyde and Blade both pop up as well but the show is well and truly stolen by the title track, with Parker and Ricochet Klashnekoff going off over what sounds like recorders and a brass section playing the Star Wars theme tune (but chopped beyond recognition so Mr.Lucas doesn’t get aggy) and on “No Escape”’s blunted flutes the duo trade introspective lyrics. Now, I’m gonna stick my neck out here, because although this review has been hampered by a lack of production credits (Even though Lewis blatantly put his share of beats in I don’t want to do any guest beatsmiths out of their props), I have to say that this is one of very few albums I’ve heard in the last few years that has the same level of confidence in its sound as albums like Gangstarr’s “Hard to Earn”, Tribe’s “Midnight Marauders” and Jeru’s “The Sun Rises In the East”. The production swings effortlessly from brutal to beautiful throughout, and all the MC’s rip on their cameos, and at 24 tracks long (including skits) the album does not feel over-long either. This is evidence if any is needed that we have artists over here that can make jaws drop with their mastery of the arts. Welcome back, Mr. Parker. It’s been a while… - Kobi | profile © ukhh.com 1999 - 2002