D.C. emcee/producer and Diamond District member yU emerged as a solo artist last year with his debut release Before Taxes. A lot of people slept on it (including this publication), but it was a very strong debut from a mature artist with clear vision. In case you still haven’t caught up with him yet, yU came right back with a sophomore effort that’s even stronger than his first. the EARN is an incredibly complex album that features a top tier emcee painting a stark portrait of a struggling artist in a period of nationwide economic strife.

yU is a top tier emcee because he uses his entire tool set to great effect. He can bring some battle raps, and he can come up with some really clever turns of phrase and metaphors, and he can switch up his flow. What really elevates him as an artist, though, is his ability to use all of these skills together to tell stories that are both extremely personal and deal with big picture issues. His lyrics are so dense that even his hooks require some study before you catch everything. The chorus to “If U Down” has a catchy melody, but it’s so packed with words discussing frustrations with race relations and condemning jails, that it will take you several listens to really comprehend all that’s being said. If the artist hadn’t already created interest, this would be all for naught, but what makes yU special is that he takes this lyricism and presents it in a fashion that is very accessible. He’s got a great ear for hooks and manages to put so much of himself within his rhymes that even when you don’t catch everything being said, you can still catch the emotion and basic message coming through. Once that happens, the desire to go back and catch what you missed the first time will settle in. As you might expect from the title of the album, there are plenty of songs that discuss economics. This includes the title track, “Money (The Ahh Yeah),” “Fast Money,” and “Make a Living.” This presents an opportunity to belabor a point and get boring, but yU does an excellent job of balancing between the personal and the political. This balance is what keeps the interest going. One such example is “Money (The Ahh Yeah),” in which he states, “Big problems, why the banks be robbing us/Businesses fought for her, now they overcharging us/Talk to a girl & let her know you riding a bus/50/50 chance she won’t respond to him at all.” It takes the large problem and shows how it affects the guy on the corner. On “Fast Money,” a track he produced himself, he does a brilliant job of co-opting a couple of audio clips to put in dialogue with lyrics that are actually function with a lot of space. The track preceding it, “Delay,” ends with a clip of someone explaining that you can plead temporary insanity for murder, but not for a bad check. “Fast Money” then kicks in with a great jump blues beat that features a call and response as yU puts different lines in dialogue with the phrase “fast money.” The track then closes with the infamous Gordon Gekko from Wall Street about how greed is good. It’s fairly simple, but extremely powerful when everything is put together. The way he follows it up with the extremely personal “Better Man,” about his own upbringing and how he struggles to make good decisions and wants to make his parents proud makes for a great juxtaposition. Individually, they are both good songs. Played back to back, it’s a powerful message about priorities and makes me wonder about where our country is headed.

While yU produces a number of tracks on the album, he also enlists the help of fellow producers Slimkat78, DJ Roddy Rod, 00GENESIS, Kokayi, Usef Dinero, Choppy ChopPe, Charlie Ross, and Kev Brown. The flow of the album is fantastic, and everything fits together very well. The music moves from the immediacy of the intro with a sample that sounds like it’s taken from the soundtrack to The Taking of Pelham 123, to the introspective and dark tone of “First.” There are laid back soul samples, while other tracks like “Fast Money” are more upbeat and aggressive in structure. If I was going to compare overall tone of the album, I’d say the closest fit is The Roots’ Tipping Point. There’s plenty of laid back and darker songs, but it can get more aggressive when it needs to, and even get fun, such as the great soul/funk of “Even If/The Willingham.” Even though the majority of the album is very serious, there are moments of humor that seep through. It all comes together to make a very complete album.

2011 has been an interesting year in music, and there’s been plenty of strong hip hop albums released, and this album is right up there with the best. It’’s also been a turbulent year in America, and the EARN does a brilliant job of capturing this moment in time while simultaneously transcending it. I have a feeling that we’ll be going back to this album for years to come.