It is rare for a hip-hop album to be both catchy and relatively bling-less. Benny B’s debut album, World Peace, scores in both categories, and he’s a local act -bonus points. Benny is part of the hip-hop group The Greater Good. I see Benny every so often around town. He had been introduced as Benny B from the ‘Burbs (the B stands for Blanco). Benny always appears happy and upbeat when I bump into him. Maybe the better word to describe Benny on his new album is ‘self assured.’ On one of his tracks he sings, “From the ‘burbs but I represent Boston; Sorta like Bruce Wayne repped Gotham.” Such cathartic moments are what make World Peace a unique album.
Chris Faraone had this to say of Benny B in the Dig, “The Good’s Flavor Flav is Benny B who often looks like he accidentally stumbled onstage while hunting for the pisser. Benny makes ill impressions at Greater Good shows, partially because of his dramatically un-hip-hop uniform and mind-fucking of fans, but more so because his lyrical panache far outweighs expectations set up by his appearance.”
Benny avoids many of the pitfalls of young underground MCs. He sticks to tried and true rhyme schemes. He never rhymes on a weak word; he is always making a point. His production sounds professional. On the track, “Only,” the production adds real originality to the song. The album has the sound of a live hip-hop (see The Roots), but one track, Benny B wrote and produced all of the beats and melodies on Garage Band, a computer program. Benny said that sampling had been done to death. He is interested in doing something different.
World Peace is about as danceable as any other underground hip-hop album- not very. The greatest movement I would recommend while listening to this is a slight swaying of the upper body. I would like to see Benny B team up with some other MCs on his next album. There is no drought of exceptional MCs in Benny B’s circle, k-to-the-i comes to mind as a like-minded MC who always seems to make tracks hotter.
To check out Benny B, visit www.theflowingofthedao.com