Persona Non Grata - Chicago Live 1995

The Urban Dance Squad's penultimate album was also its most heavily metal-influenced. "Demagogue," the album's opener and centerpiece, is an utterly bracing concoction of raw-throated rap and spare, bright metal guitar, all underlaid with minimalist funk drums. That formula remains basically unaltered throughout the rest of the album — "Good Grief," "(Some) Chitchat" and "Selfstyled" all step to the same stripped-down hip-hop beat. It starts sounding pretty samey by the end, of course, but taken in measured doses, the funky beats are guaranteed to move your booty, while the roaring guitars clear your sinuses. It's too bad DJ DNA was no longer in the band by this point; his turntable scratching would have given a welcome additional dimension to the sound. Bonuses abound: like the original release, this one features two hidden tracks, one a remix and the other a live version of "Demagogue." This reissue also adds a bonus live disc.