On his debut album,
Cali Quake, rapper
Raphi splashes into the underground with an impressive set of skills. Offering a tight rhyming style that brings to mind the mid-'90s work of
Nas,
Raphi manages to constantly impress when it comes to his actual abilities. The only problem is that he hasn't managed to find an effective production style to compliment his skills, which leads to a fairly dull album altogether. A lot of the songs rely on repetitive beats that never change up, pasting sounds and mildly melodic tones over flat beats without a sense of change or dynamics applied to any of it. Although it can be quite hard for underground rappers to get decent producers to handle their material, it would have been nice to hear what someone like
Peanut Butter Wolf or
Dan the Automator could have done with his talents. As it is, this sounds very much like a demo tape: filled with all sorts of promise but not delivering a satisfying finished product.
Raphi is obviously quite talented, but his clever rhymes and effective lyrics are rendered weak by the bland and uninspired beats that are found here. ~ Bradley Torreano