To be a real rapper, you must have a theme (or motive). Slick Rick's theme: the dispensing of moral advice to the young; Heather B's: the proving that she's more manly than all other male rappers; Lil' Kim's: the financial advantages (if not empowerment) of being a woman with very low morals.

Sometimes the theme is not about what one raps about but the way one raps. For instance, Mace's theme: rapping slow; Das EFX's: rapping fast. The young local rapper Grynch, who recently released his second album, My Second Wind, has finally found his theme: the virtues of being good at hiphop.

On track after track of The Second Wind, Grynch stresses the importance of being good on the mic. Without this concern—the active pursuit of mic perfection, mic competence, mic control—what's the purpose of being a rapper? Some rappers just want to be heard; Grynch just wants to do the art right. And it is this preoccupation with the quality and substance of one's rapping style that connects young Grynch to an older, more noble, ethical, and often forgotten hiphop order.

In My Second Wind's peaks, which number four ("Dear Grynch," "Peer Pressure," "The Youngest In Charge," which features D.Black and Fatal Lucciauno, and "Good Morning," which is produced by the great BeanOne), Grynch makes it perfectly clear that he is willing to sacrifice everything, even fame, for the attainment of hiphop virtue, excellence, arete. CHARLES MUDEDE

Grynch plays Sat June 21, Chop Suey, 8 pm, $7, all ages. With D.Black, Xperience, Khingz, Sonny Bonoho, DJ Marc Sense.

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