You Dare Call That Thing Human?!?
Adam WarRock
CD
Bandcamp
Release Date: February 13, 2012

Adam WarRock continues to perfect his unique sound as You Dare Call That Thing Human?!? shows the artist’s growth from comic book-themed rapper to serious emcee with a comic book twist.

Adam WarRock, otherwise known as Eugene Ahn, has grown considerably over the past few years and that is most evident with his latest album. Starting off with 2010′s The War For Infinity, the self-proclaimed “Internet’s Foremost Comic Book Rapper” showed hip hop fans a brand new sound that blended the east coast style of acts like The Wu-Tang Clan with the nerdcore sound of acts like MC Lars, while also telling a story centered around Marvel Comics’ event comic The Infinity Gauntlet. While WarRock has not abandoned this style at all, Ahn seems to have completely found his voice with You Dare Call That Thing Human?!?

On tracks such as “Inhuman,” “Andrew Garfield @ SDCC (Joules’ Remix),” and “Retcon,” WarRock relates issues stemming from his personal life to listeners by using comic book references to send home that message. Another thing that WarRock does to perfection is turning common mainstream rap phrases on their heads by switching things up a little bit to add a nice sci-fi flare with lines like “no homo-sapien,” in the track “Human?!?” WarRock has developed an incredibly unique sound over the past years in which he has completely dedicated himself to his music by releasing several mixtapes like the Firefly-inspired Browncoats Mixtape, his Parks and Recreation-themed album Parks and Rec EP, as well as many free single track downloads available through his official website and even Comics Alliance’s Rap Up, in which WarRock provides a run down of all the recent comics news in song form. Through all of this, Adam WarRock proves that he is currently doing something that no other rapper is doing on the same level, providing a legitimate rap sound that can be appreciated by hip hop heads and geeks alike.

Part of the credit for how this album comes across is through the production work of Vince Vandal. The beats throughout the album provide the smooth sound that east coast hip hop fans have come to know and love over the years. The sound of the music adds to the legitimacy as you could easily hear one of these tracks on a Ghostface Killah album at any point in his career. There is no actual music on this album that screams “geek” or “nerdcore,” which is just what I wanted from the musical side of You Dare Call That Thing Human?!?”, and while I love 8-bit tracks and the like, having a song like that would not fit on this album. No, the music itself doesn’t sound geeky, which is perfect because Adam WarRock and his guests from the indie rap and nerdcore scenes do their fair share of providing that. The guests like MC Lars, Doctor Awkward, Dual Core, Beefy, and more on this album read as a laundry list of some of the most dominate and innovative names in their field. All of these collaborations are solid additions and solidify the overall mature sound of this album.

Most importantly, the record is good. It’s got a nice laid back feel throughout the majority of the songs, while also providing pumped up anthems for fans with “616″ and “Retcon.” You Dare Call That Thing Human?!? is a perfect album for a serious hip hop fan who also happens to love comics. I expect nothing but great things to come for Adam WarRock in the future, and it’s a pleasure to see this artist continue to grow.