On the surface, the name Soul Rebels looks just like any of the endless array of names that your eyes would pass over while browsing the racks at a music store. But there is actually a lot in the name Soul Rebels that is implicit in their music, especially when the words “soul” and “rebel” are seen as a contradiction. “Soul” suggests a more traditional sound while “rebel” indicates a new sound never heard before. This odd pairing of words represents the odd pairing of musical styles blended on Rebelution, as the band combines customary hip-hop and reggae music with marching and big band influences.
The result is music that is all over the radar screen, that features one track as a hip-hop song with a tuba playing the bass line, while the next is somebody dropping serious rhymes over a salsa beat. This may seem like a puddle of too many sounds to rope together into cohesive song structures, but the reality in each track retains enough of the traditional song structure to pull off a clean sounding album. While these mixtures are certainly a strange brew of horn outbursts and riotous cacophony, the end result is a rejuvenated approach to a musical form that prides lyrics over music.
For more information, please visit soulrebels.com.
