E=MC
Call It What You Want

Album Rating: 6.5/10

So I’m the ‘not-so-young-kid-anymore’ here from Canada. It’s the home of ice hockey, multiculturalism, snow, and bhangra. I’m not high on Indian Hajmola candy and yes I did in fact say bhangra! With India and the UK leading the way in the bhangra music scene, talent from Canada and the U.S. are about to make up some serious ground. Enter E=MC (a.k.a. Balwinder Dhaliwal), the hottest new rapper in the bhangra industry rising from Toronto, Canada with his debut album, “Call It What You Want”. The thing about him is he isn’t really an MC, as we’ve gotten accustomed to over the years with MC’s from England. E=MC the rapper can emcee and goes on to show that without having the need to mumble nursery rhymes like 5 year olds.

Released under the Untouchables label, “Call It What You Want” is a 13-track album that features all the heavy hitters of the bhangra industry. Manak-E, Sabar Koti, Surinder Shinda, and Lembher Hussainpuri make an impressive lineup to provide vocals over E=MC’s lyrics. The intro track sets the standard and is quite innovative by having the industry’s best “big” him up in Punjabi. It’s quite effective and straight to the point, which sets the mood for the rest of the album.

For those of you that have caught the medley video for this album on ZeeTV or MTV India will notice that those same songs are the first three tracks on the album. We are first treated with an update on the old school track, “Mahi Veh Mahi” that I recall very well singing along with as a kid. E=MC’s rapping gives it a new sound and some fresh new spins on an old tune. However for a debut album it hasn’t gotten me all hyped up and should’ve been pushed down the numerical order of tracks. It’s still very much enjoyed though!

What really should’ve been the first track is “Nachana Tereaya” sung by yet again (surprise surprise) Hussainpuri. This track would definitely have all the traditionalists dancing at their cousin Bally’s wedding. The lyrics are on point; the beat will have all the non-dancers stirring their bums, and might even get your uncle asking the DJ for another spin around. For the urban-heads, E=MC doesn’t disappoint on the dancehall flavored “Tere Mere” as this will definitely have some of the women shaking what their mama’s gave them. So fellas just nod your head and ‘whine ya batti’ too!

With 2 great tracks, 2 good tracks and another couple of decent ones, this album should be able to survive my 12-disc changer for a couple of months before it starts collecting dust along with other Untouchables artists like Indy Sagu and Gubi Sandhu. Also check out the collaboration with Manak-E on “Gal Sun Ja’ in which you can check out the Lil’ Jon-like voice screaming “Okayyyy”. So call it what you want? I’d definitely like to call this an above average album and would give it a 6.5 out of 10.

Tracking listing:
1. Intro 2. Mahi Veh Mahi 3. Gal Sun Ja 4. Tere Mere (feat. MC JD) 5. Pareshaan 6. Club 7. Freshie MC	8. Nachana Tereaya 9. Payal 10. Tere Naa Nee 11. Jind Yaardhe 12. Da Struggle 13. Outro

Reviewed by Ankur Sood
(the Desi Underground Project)