For years people have been saying rock’n roll is dead, hip-hop is dead, R&B is dead, jazz is dead. Without a question, funk has been dead. At least with the other genres you’ve got people still making music, even if it may not be what it once was. When funk died, very few have ever tried to resurrect it. Meet PlantLife and the “Return of Jack Splash!” To put things in perspective, this is like the bastard love child of George Clinton, Prince and Sly & The Family Stone. DAMN is the result funky!
The only member of the group that may ring a bell to hip-hop heads is Panda One (member of LA crew The Animal Pharm). Panda One, along with singer Jack Splash handle the production and instrumentation while Dena Deadly and Rashida add vocals as well (Rashida is also the DJ). The album has been heavily praised by the likes of Mos Def, Cee Lo and Rjd2, and with good reason; this shit is classic material.
Jack Splash really spearheads this madness when he encompasses his ideals in the first lines of the album; “Yeah, fuck their lies and fuck these wars/I put my thang on 24’s/I love these queens but fuck these whores.” From there Jack covers the spectrum of broken hearts (“Beautiful Babies,” “When She Smiles She Lights The Sky” & “Why’d U Call Me?”), addiction (“Bottle of Hope” & the incredible “We Can Get High”), and politics (“Got2Get2gether4luv”). Of course a funk record wouldn’t be a funk record without some flat-out party jams, such as the deep sea electro-funk “Underwaterluvboogie.” Don’t forget the oh-so-Prince’ish “Precious Heart” and “Stardancer.”
The list goes on and on, I really can’t say enough about this album. I received it back in May and I’ve probably spun it front to back 50 times at minimum. I realize this is a hip-hop site, but don’t expect anything but a trace of influence of it from this album. This is just incredibly funky funk from the soul. Breath it in deep.
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9.5/10
