Rating:
  Review Date: August 20, 2007
  Website: Prop Anon Website
  Label: Mindspray Records

Propaganda Anonymous “Todo Corazon” Album Review
Propaganda Anonymous’ “Todo Corazon” is a textbook example of what an EP is supposed to be. It’s seven tracks and just less than twenty-five minutes long. It introduces something new and innovative, both in terms of emceeing and production. And it demonstrates Prop Anon’s verbal skills by showcasing a versatile ability to impose his lyrical will on seven distinctly unique beats.  

Although all of the beatmaking was handled by either euphAmism or Domer of the Mindspray Crew, the seven tracks that make up “Todo Corazon” all take different directions in terms of production. Who Do You Love? is an epic-style track laid over choppy piano breaks and subtle horn samples comparable to muted Superman theme music. Warrior Stomp is a harder banging electro beat with a synthetic sound that seems to perfectly accentuate Prop Anon’s chosen flow. What Is This? is a dirty, grungy futuristic hip-hop symphony reminiscent of vintage El-P beats.

Ourselves Alone, my personal favorite, is a ridiculous Celtic-sounding track that uses bagpipes, fiddles, and miscellaneous strings to create the perfect platform for Prop Anon’s reflection of his Irish upbringing. Vice Grip incorporates a heavy baseline and organ-esque backdrop to produce what could best be described as a “holy” sound. Buddha Bless is more heavily sampled with recurring crescendos and what appears to be a xylophone or replication thereof. And Heartburn Medicine is a surrealistic psychedelic track that provides the necessary canvas for Prop Anon’s most introspective lyrics.

It was in Heartburn Medicine that Prop Anon laid down his most heartfelt verse, in which he told a story of his father and the profound impact their relationship continues to have on him:

Yeah I got too much passion and a heart that burns
I can hardly contain the pain – I put it in words
Maybe this shit can free up the suffocation I felt
My father choked me on the bed – I was punching to get out
I been punching all my life and now I got a broken hand
I gotta walk the other path of mathematics – a broken man
Like my father was the day he died I know he gave up
He crumbled under the weight of being a man and feeling so alone
An alcoholic so seduced by his sickness he didn’t know
All the panic and terror – memories so bittersweet
But I know he in love, he swept my mom off her feet
All fairy tale beginnings, they got married on Halloween
He was charming a clever, a member of a revolution
Since he passed I understand the DNA strand pollution

Todo Corazon
Overall, what impressed me most about “Todo Corazon” was Propaganda Anonymous’ amazing versatility. Despite working with seven uniquely produced tracks, Prop Anon mastered each beat with a different approach, flow and theme than the one before. Fast or slow, serious or comical – Prop Anon successfully demonstrates a wide range of microphone styles. And above all, the subject matter is highly intellectual, and combines aspects of Gnosticism, Shamanism, Hinduism and various other realms of theology, philosophy and mythology.

With this in mind, I find “Todo Corazon” to be the perfect title for this EP. From my limited linguistic perspective, todo corazon means “all heart” or “every heart.” Perhaps Prop Anon’s purpose in creating such an all-inclusive EP was to attempt to appeal to any and every person who holds a special place in their hearts for hip-hop – to show “all heart” and reach “every heart.” Because whether you’re into lyrical content, skill of flow or quality of production, “Todo Corazon” has something to offer you.

“Todo Corazon” is a textbook EP that will definitely open some eyes. It presents an innovative sound. It showcases a rising and evolving emcee. And it is an enjoyably complicated listen that had me rewinding verse after verse, and researching word after word, in endless attempts to decipher the lyrical content. If this is any indication of what we can expect from Propaganda Anonymous’ upcoming debut LPs, I can’t wait for his next project to drop. Check it out and you’ll see what I’m saying. Peace.

Album Track Listing:

1. Who Do You Love?
2. Warrior Stomp
3. What Is This?
4. Ourselves Alone
5. Vice Grip
6. Buddha Bless
7. Heartburn Medicine