Glue is a hip-hop trio consisting of MC
Adeem, producer
Maker and turntablist DJ DQ (a member of the Animal Crackers crew), and the sound they make together is amazingly fresh, funky, and sharp.
Adeem came up on the mean streets of, er, Keene, New Hampshire, and his flow is exemplary. Having little to no apparent experience of the thug life, he tends instead to rap about things like science fiction and the state of the world. When he spits the line "crush, kill, destroy," you know he's talking about old B-movies rather than what he's going to do to his competitors; he's also one of very few MCs who could wrest a funky cadence out of the phrase "that Renaissance type of demeanor." To their credit,
Glue are more than willing to take elements from any number of musical sources: "Making a Mess" is hard and rock-ish, while "Never Really Know" is spooky and jazzy. On every track, DJ DQ amazes with his turntable skills, sending skittering cuts and deft sound manipulations flying in all directions while always anchoring the beat with complete solidity. This being a hip-hop album, there are waste-of-time interludes scattered throughout the program, but they're a small price to pay for gems like the strangely touching "Vessel" and the sharply whimsical "A Fly Can't Bird." Very highly recommended. ~ Rick Anderson