I can remember hearing a 9th Wonder track for the first time. After being disappointed by Hiphop for some years, the internet had opened up a whole new world of music for me. I found out there is so much more than what you find in the regular record stores, and what you hear on the radio. Can you even imagine nowadays only being able to hear the music that other people choose for you? And not to be able to go to something like Emusic to buy some real underground hiphop? Anyway, I don't even remember what track it was, but it was like nectar for my ears. A beautiful melody, accompanied by hard hitting snare drums, this was the type of Hiphop I had been longing for ever since the time I still used to go to this CD-library and borrowed every new album they put in the Hiphop section. It was an eye opener, which made me realize there is a much bigger world of Hiphop out there, which will probably remain undiscovered by the bigger crowds brought up on pop-rap.
Anyway, here we are in 2007 and 9th Wonder has always remained one of my favorite producers. Sure, critics say he hasn't really evolved his style much, and if you listen to his back catalogue, some of the tracks do blend together a little bit, but when the guy is on form, he can make some of the most beautiful hiphop out there. And his new compilation album, The Dream Merchant 2, finds 9th Wonder right there, at the top of his mountain, telling all his copycats to take a good listen to hear how things are done. Yes, it might be familiar stuff for his many fans, but when it's this well made, who cares?
