Early in 2011, HipHop group Sons Phonetic released their first official album Twelve Labours.

The group were formerly known as Correkt Minds and released a mixtape along with a slew of tracks but they switched up, added a new member, a new DJ, formed a new sound and Sons Phonetic was born. The addition of new member’s Tommy Tyler(emcee) and Tom Dunne(DJ) gave the group a much fuller sound and unbeatable live experience. The group consists of six members and are all from and based in Waterford ;

Mook

Tommy Tyler

Kavsputin

Mouse Hughes

Sammy Dozens

Tom’ShotGun’Dunne

The only features on the album come from Ri-Ra of Scary Eire, who propels solid rhymes, deservedly earning his legendary status and the production of all tracks goes to SP member Mook.

The production on Twelve Labours I would describe as an integration of some well chosen samples that have been chopped, tweaked and filtered to create a raw, undeniable underground sound with a bounce of heavy beats pushed with sub but hard bass, twisted into a combination of dark, solid, head nodding tracks. Mook has created heavy hitting beats that he laces with chops of eerie key samples, guitar plucks and strings. The sub resonating basslines bounce and push the hard low end kicks as coupled, punchy, big hitting snares explode. Tightly timed, closed hi-hats hold the rhythm and the use of splashy open hi-hats keep a level of precision on certain tracks. Overall the production has written a score for the lyricists to drop on. Dark, eerie, crackly and antiquated but also heavy and explosive is the musical emotion here.

From the Intro on this album the whole lyrical concept is implanted as you get the feeling you are being brainwashed or hypnotised into the world of Sons Phonetic, as they take you deep into the mezzanine between life & death. This album takes you through the eyes of each member as they each spit their own individual fury of where they are, both in their own mind and their place in the unfortunate modern world. To say the album follows a stereotypical HipHop style of how “I’m the best” is far from correct, there is a solid sense in the bars dropped on the album of how they are superior at their craft but in no means like any other has done. From the start of the album each emcee takes you into that mezzanine to their individual dark place and struggle, to their place in life but also integrated with their survival means and goals. The track Isolation which is the first vocalled track can show an example of this where Mouse drops in first twistedly describing in poetic, contradicting imagery, the pits of life we are living and how some don’t see like he does

I write these butterfly knife lullabys with the blood of christ

for corrupted minds who were born colourblind

like they never seen the green blades a grass on the otherside

it’s like I wanna see someone die everytime I see my mother cry

Mouse holds the hook too as he laces his dedication to succeed in the dreary hold back of present life

Dwellin’ in isolation, I pass the day by writin’ pages, ain’t no skyscrapers, or frightened neighbours, just timewasters waitin’ for the day to pass us by and the night chase us

On verse two Sammy drops heavy bars claiming his status as a man but yet elite, done with a solid hold on mythology

Resurrect ghost writers so my pen flows timeless

I do this for the most highest to the lowlifers

Soul survivors, standing on the shoulders of giants getting stoned with Goliath, I roll with Titans

Yo its like Im throwin’ bolts of lightning, I’m no Poseidon but my flow’s the reason that the oceans rising

Sons Phonetic – Isolation ft RíRá (Video) – YouTube.

This album holds to its title with the mythology and the journey of it. From the beginning you have the sense of the despair and of fall from grace, that purgatorious mezzanine. As the album progresses you feel the struggle endured in the Twelve Labours and also how that progresses to the realism of being of a greater level of person. All this is extremely deep and genuinely seeps through the music and lyricism. The use of the groups combined style of rhyming and even pronunciation is very easily heard and so the lyrics become visual stories that parasitically infect your brain and cause a lucid listening experience. Each track on here creates sharp lyrics that cut finely through the dark production and the rhyming schemes jump from well crafted phonetics to strongly linked historical reference all mixed into sonically beaded tracks.

On Domino Effect, the seventh track, Kavsputin & Tommy tell of their progress in the labors as they become more confident in their journey. Kavsputin verse ties the theme as he describes how they(SP) are of greatness but yet still don’t follow that commercial path

Last descendants of the emperors blood, Phonetic Sons raising up n never settling for anything less than first while we’re second to none

Find me an the boys in your resident slumped, wherever there’s skunk

heaven sent benevolent ones, fuck the mainstream we dwell where these estuaries run

The hook is taken by both emcees as they explain the motives to their craft

Move back is the solitary set, laboring for honor and respect not for profit or a cheque, your just another notch on the belt and so we kick back and watch it fall like the domino effect

Next is Tommy as he breaks down the path that has created them(SP) to that of dominators in the game, through their working the Labours

Cause potentially we’re legendary, like we’re similar genetically to Hercules,

Many traits passed to the sons thats hereditary, the twelve labors a legacy,

Deeper than the seven seas, destined to be put on pedestals for centuries

It’s hard graft till we all rest in peace in the cemetery, cos the day Sons Phonetic cease, thats the day hell’ll freeze

There are so many tracks on here that could be broken down and deeply analysed and for many reasons…Casino…Danger Danger…etc. Each track holds to the their own place on this album with a beginning, a journey and an end; from the pits, to the realisation of being better than the average, to contentment with who you are, culminating on the final track, Off The Hinges. On this track the feeling of achievement and comfort with that achievement is positively sensed, no longer a struggle but a sense of appeasement from the journey. Mook is in on the second verse and captures this vividly

The modern Pythagoras, and for every rapper taken out I move another marker on my abacus,

How you gonna hide from the ravenous, you can burn us down but remember from the ashes rise savages,

Armed with the dragon-kiss, wanna beat us get a gun, no, then you better run, ‘cos emcees are blowin’ chunks down they sweatin’ fronts, even from standin’ next to us

With the album title based on the Twelve Labours of Hercules, you can sense the strong grip that theme holds within the tracks. The always constant feeling of a lost man is carried by all emcees but yet on a belief of their superior self in a struggle that they are capable of, so long as they keep at it. The mirroring of the mythology is profound and so well grasped within the tracks both musically and lyrically and the strong use of mythology intwined within the bars of the tracks adds such a visual element to the album enhancing the glory of the all too despairing life. The darkness and eerie vibe of the production but yet lyrically immortalised with the knowledge, craft and homage paid to ancient wisdom, hero and legend. A classic album….. no doubt…!

Next up for Sons Phonetic is the release of solo EP’s by all five emcees, which will be dropping very soon. The group have also began work on their sophomore album and will be taking their time to perfect it as they want to up their game even more with the next album.

You can check out their Facebook pages at

https://www.facebook.com/sons.phonetic

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sons-Phonetic/135262443168847

You can check out their blog at

http://sonsphonetic.tumblr.com/

You can listen and pick up the album here

http://sonsphonetic.bandcamp.com/album/twelve-labours

And the album is also available on iTunes