Rating:
  Review Date: January 22, 2007
  Website: Civil Mics Website
  Label: Independent

Civil Mics Movement “We Shall Overcome” Album Review
The English word civil is derived from the Latin word civilis, which basically means citizen. Therefore, a civil mics movement would have to be a movement that represents the mics of citizens. To me, this means music that represents the common man. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? Well, ironically enough, it isn’t. 

Most of us know nowadays that the most visible and marketed hip-hop is anything but civil. It doesn’t represent the common man, but some materialistic and misogynistic minority that many to this day mistakenly confuse for the hip-hop generation. Luckily, Civil Mics Movement’s “We Shall Overcome” gives the listener an example of socially conscious hip-hop that represents real people.

With laid back soulful production and more than thirty contributing emcees and deejays from all kinds of local and foreign locations, “We Shall Overcome” contains a wide array of styles and influences that all manage to combine in the formation of a comprehensive hip-hop album. With song topics ranging from love and struggle to politics and society, the Civil Mics Movement has created an album that represents the thoughts, feelings and philosophies of everyday hip-hoppers from all over the world.

Of the myriad emcees and deejays featured on this album, most are individual artists working on their own projects and headed in their own directions. For them to come together to work on a project and come out with such a cohesive sound says a lot about their abilities to mesh their skills with those of others. I look forward to seeing where they go individually as well as collectively in the future.