Professor Elemental is the kind of slept on treasure the world doesn't deserve. Often showing up in explorers clothing, a pith hat, and goggles, he looks ready for as much of a journey through a jungle as he does time and space. And luckily for us, he readily explores all that and more.
Many of his albums have a contained story as he and his orange orangutan butler, Jeffery, set out on adventures told through alarmingly high quality rap lyrics. Often, his albums make for incredible live shows as well as they perform almost like musicals as much as they do concerts.
At the end of Professor Elemental's album Apequest, his butler Jeffery left him to become a celestial time cop and Elemental separated from him. In Apequest 2 he vows to find his best monkey mate.
During this time the Professor, via his heavily prone to malfunction "time trousers" (which are exactly what you're picturing) travels through both time and space encountering hostile pirates, friendly vikings, and, occasionally, kick starting all of creation. All the while telling the story through some absolutely insane rhymes.
And it's not just the clever lyrical content. This man is TALENTED on all fronts. His lyrics and rhyme structure are amazing. His delivery is clear where no matter how fast he starts spitting, you catch every word on the first lesson. And he changes up his speed and cadence so effortlessly you start to feel like you're listening to a high speed medley of Shakespeare's greatest hits.
Highlights:
Songs like Friendly Vikings and Pirates Hate Me capture the excitement of him encountering new situations by taking familiar beats and rapping at double speed over it. Friendly Vikings goes completely off by taking the standard disco beat of the Village People's In the Navy and using the familiar path as a race track that he absolutely tears up at high speed as a Pride parade of friendly vikings charges forward.
The song Another You stands out to me as one of my favorites as a stand alone. A song told in the middle of him traveling from one point to another, the Professor uses the multiversal theory to determine whether there is value of worrying about how things could be better instead of realizing that things could be worse. It's a track of positive self thought that honestly improves me mood.
Lock-In at the End of Time is a song that takes place at a bar at the end of the time stream filled with familiar time travelers like Doctor Who, Doc Brown, Bill & Ted, and more. It's a silly bit of science fiction name droppery that is heavily seasoned by the incredibly silky smooth chorus line song by guest singer, Madam Misfit. A woman who's voice stands out so hard that my son paused and asked, "WHO IS THAT".
All of this comes together as one of those rare albums that you can listen to from the first track to the last in order without ever feeling the need to skip. And long time fans will appreciate several throwbacks to classic Professor Elemental moments including a display featuring his original Cup of Brown Joy and a trophy case with the ripped off mustache of Mister B, references for only the most OG of Elemental fans.
All in all though, this creates an incredible listen for fans of science-fiction, hip-hop, and incredible and clever writing. It's the kind of thing that makes me truly wish time travel was possible if only so I could go back in time and witness myself enjoying this for the first time.
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