The last song I heard from Shinobi Ninja, the funk hip hop, scratch rap and everything else you’ve ever dreamt of rock band, was one of their best to date. My friend and former rock nyc scribe Dave Machinest sent me “Rusty Stab” last year and it ended up on my best of list and if it had been officially released it might well have been in the top ten.
It has been three years since their debut album Rock Hood dropped and at the time I said their live show was much better but it was great any way. Today, I just say it is great period. It sounds completely fabulous and really couldn’t have aged better. In the interim there was the Baby Girl EP but other than that I think I got a song here and there because I had an in with the band. I haven’t seen the band live in years, mostly because they seem to never hit the stage before two in the morning.
In rock and roll years, especially in this day and age, three years is three hundred years, but it is a testament to the greatness that is lead singer D.A. and Baby Girl that anticipation couldn’t be much higher for their new album, the brilliantly named Escape From New York. The first song, “Power Strangers”, along with a wild part one video have just dropped.
“Power Strangers” isn’t as bloody minded as “Rusty Stab” but what it loses in brute force it gains in a performance that is very very tight with two great rappers and an insane chorus. This is made for Middle America White teenagers and rather than mean that as a back handed compliment , I say it as a benediction. The kids of today are either listening to full on hip hop or terrible rock and roll like Linkin Park. They need Shinobi Ninja and Shinobi Ninja better give it to them. Any time there is a new Shinobi release it is cause for celebration and a new album is gonna change the game in 2013.
The video is part one of a series and the story of Baby G’s search for the antidote to some poison. It is all blood red and close up and you can see it for yourself here:
Power Stranger – A-