Line of Fire: Armageddon is an album for any hip-hop fan, regardless of religion.
Local rap group The Alumni offer a throwback to rap music's early roots with its latest album.
The religious trio creates music free of the guns, drugs and stereotypes that have become a staple in popular rap music.
The Alumni is made up of members Jesse Harris, David Lucero and Josh Peterson. The three write, produce and distribute their own brand of faith-based rap music.
All of the songs on the album promote the group's positive outlook. Peterson said the album has something everyone will enjoy.
Line of Fire: Armageddon offers listeners thought-provoking lyrics accompanied by excellent production. Peterson, also known as Sever1, said "King's Life" is straightforward in its Gospel message, and "Follow My Dreams" is about just that.
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The album is positive in its nature and offers references to the group members' faith. Yet Peterson doesn't think it should be classified as Christian rap.
"I will never deny my faith, but at the same time, I don't attach the label," he said. "If someone asked a manager who was a Christian what their job was, would you expect them to say, 'I'm a Christian manager?'"
Earlier this fall, the group performed at the Grace Fellowship church in Las Cruces. Considering rap's stigma of being violent and obscene, the group's acceptance at the church was a welcome one.
"Usually if they know that our music is neither gangster nor degrading to women, they are more than glad to have us," Peterson said.
Members of The Alumni don't fall into the materialistic rap mold. Peterson said the group has never compromised its music to appease others.
"We just stay true to who we are and make the best music we can," he said. "No one in our group is either materialistic or chauvinistic, so we don't talk like that, because that's not who we are. And we don't have the slightest desire to be either of the two."
The Line of Fire:
Armageddon
The Alumni
Grade: B+
