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A Best Third Release Nominee in the 2005 Awards

Professional Rapper begins with the fan favorite “Move”. It’s a good track with mostly intro-type lyrics, yet like pretty much all of John’s stuff it contains nuggets of insight.

“Have No Opinion?” calls out hypocrites, false revolutionists, and people who are automatically argumentative, while explaining that he doesn’t want to dispute his personal opinions and beliefs with those people.

“I Haven’t Been Myself” (featuring Adrienne Camp) is musically dark/downbeat. Lyrically, he speaks words of regret for some things that have happened in his life, wanting to go back to how it was before.

“Life Is Short” is a cool, upbeat, catchy tune, lightly encouraging you to appreciate the time you have and to try and make it count.

“Treats” is another fan favorite. It begins with a hilarious clip of John supposedly talking randomly between songs onstage, and a frustrated girl in the ‘crowd’ loudly protests and even taunts him; she wants a real show, not just “that stupid arm thing”. From there on, the song is cute, fun, and very catchy. It also contains the ‘crowd’ occasionally shouting in unison (“Give us what we came here for! Encore, we want more…”, etc.). [And since this CD came out, we actually once heard a real crowd chant that, instead of the standard “one more song”, to get a John Reuben encore!]

“Freedom To Feel” (again featuring Adrienne Camp) is another dark track that gets fairly intense at the end. Lyrically, John observes (among other things) that if no one really shows their true self, how can anyone know what’s real?

“Time To Leave” first describes what he was told by society about what he should do and what relationships are like (which wasn’t right or true), and then his insightful observations about how it really is. He also reminds you: Never forget to truly live life. Lyrically, this is one of John’s best tracks.

“Re-Record” is an upbeat song, with John supposedly recording a message to everyone. He keeps on ‘re-recording’ it, but the whole thing (as usual) is good, and also (as usual) insightful.

“Jammin’ John And Mixin’ Manny” is a cute, short track that ‘describes’ himself and his DJ.

“All In All” (featuring Tom Skipper from House Of Heroes) is a more musically laid-back track.

“5 Years To Write” is a tribute from John to his wife. It goes through all of his conflicting thoughts, emotions, and the changes he went through as their relationship grew; yet, again, it’s insightful for the rest of us as well.

Finally, “Higher” (featuring Alan Auguste’) lyrically begins in the first verse as a simple closer track; but in the second verse John squeezes in some more insights.

Professional Rapper is simply another great album from John Reuben.

Our rating for Professional Rapper: 5 Stars.

A Best Second Release Nominee in the 2005 Awards

Interestingly, as compared to Reuben’s other projects [both past and future], Hindsight has a nice laid-back feel throughout most of its entire length.

The album kicks off with “I’ll Try Harder”, a humorous diary entry that leads right into the next track (“I John Reu”).

“I John Reu” is a song that John has often played live; and while this version is obviously quite good, the live version is even better because of John’s humorous interaction with his bandmembers during it.

“Hindsight” is a great song about how to live life; as usual, John’s insight serves him well.

“Soundman” is a catchy and fairly humorous tune that, as you might expect from the title, is pretty much about live show soundmen. (…Or then again, maybe not. )

“Breathe”‘s excellent music and great lyrics make this song another one of John’s best.

From the chorus and some of the other lyrics of “I Pictured It”, you might think that it’s about a relationship of John’s, but it’s really another life-song.

“01/08/02” is another diary entry. This one is actually somewhat serious; but like the other diary entry, it leads right into the next track (“Doin'”).

“Doin'” is a great track— one of the all-time fan favorites, played at every show. The CD version (as opposed to the live show or music video versions) actually features a couple clips from some of the ‘dippity-doers’— one of whom is Cleaze (!), who seems to have chilled out somewhat since the previous album.

“Thank You” (featuring Manchild and Othello) is a quite catchy track. There’s a bit of humor at the end, too— John’s DJ puts the beginning of the song “Him Her He She” (from John’s previous album) onto the turntable, and you then hear John hysterically yelling “You see, I told you!! That’s a hit!!!”

“DJ Manuel (Turntablism 101)” is a short DJ-only track, providing a nice segue.

“Up And At Them” is another great upbeat song. In it John humorously uses a lot of large words that often start with the same letter.

“Defensive Offender” is the only rather dark track on the album— it addresses hate and harsh/manipulative words.

Finally, “Pataskala” is one more life-song that is slightly humorous but mostly just true. (John’s DJ finishes it with some humor, too.) This track caps off the album in style.

Hindsight is an excellent record, and we definitely recommend it.

Our rating for Hindsight: 5 & 1/2 Stars.

A Best First Release Nominee in the 2005 Awards

Are We There Yet? begins with “Divine Inspiration” (featuring Alan Auguste’), a good start to the CD as it explains what John is all about. The end of this track introduces “Cleaze”— John’s ‘nemesis’ in several of his songs and music videos — and it serves as a lead-in to the next track…

…The classic “Do Not”, one of the all-time fan favorites [and played at live shows to this day]. It’s easy to see why— the whole thing is quite catchy, and the lyrics are excellent.

“No Regrets” is a great song that describes John’s struggle to live with no regrets (and his eventual success).

“Him Her He She” is what John would call one of his ‘occasional dance tracks’— it’s a song that’s fun and fairly catchy.

“X-Ray” changes the mood completely— it’s a dark and very serious song about depression and denial. It’s sort of an eye-opener for people who may not realize they’re going through that.

The next track “Gather In”, however, brings the mood back up; it’s a catchy tune featuring the “Whoa, ba da-da-da” line that John sometimes used by itself to tease the crowd in his live shows.

“Rest Easy” is another good song. Lyrically a sequel to “No Regrets”, it’s also strong on its own.

“Hello Ego” is a truthful yet at the same time very humorous tune directed at those with overly large egos. John is actually talking to one of these people on the phone during the song, and it’s Cleaze! In fact, one of the funniest parts of the song is Cleaze trying to console himself after John gracefully hangs up.

“Jezebel” (featuring Cristina Elen) is a song that describes, and warns against, a dangerous relationship with someone who’s only playing for pleasure. It ends with John seeing through the façade and doing the right thing: saying goodbye and walking away.

“Draw Near” is another great song that is filled with firm hope.

“Identify” details some of John’s struggles during the verses and his victories and hope during the chorus and bridge.

“Place To Be” (featuring Speedy and Alan Auguste’) is a literally hilarious track in which Speedy, Alan, and John all attempt to freestyle in the studio.

Finally, the last track “God Is Love” (featuring tobyMac) closes the album off nicely.

In all, Are We There Yet? is a great debut.

Our rating for Are We There Yet?: 5 Stars.

BEST LIVE SHOW 2005 Award Winner,
and a Best Live Show Nominee in the 2006-2011 Awards!

Runners-Up: tobyMac, The Newsboys, Flatfoot 56 (Cornerstone Festival IL. set),
The O.C. Supertones.

First, let’s introduce you to his music. John Reuben’s projects are mostly Hip-Hop (Rap)/Experimental/Rock— meaning, he uses full rock instrumentation as well as DJ scratches and beats; has very understandable rapping (in fact he’s the slowest rapper we’ve heard!) along with occasional singing; and he also has an excellent sense of timing, very unique lyrics and wording, and a great personality.

That personality, by the way, is fairly humorous; so he does have a lot of lighthearted content on his albums. But he doesn’t shy away from the heavy stuff, either— John does literally bare his soul on many tracks. Most of his songs also include comments and insights on life and culture; some consume an entire song, others are contained in one line. Those insights hit you in amazing ways, making you see or understand things in a new or freshly different light. In fact, when commenting on such things, John often has stunning clarity, admirable honesty, and piercing wisdom.

All of these elements combine to create some impressive albums… yet onstage, he’s even better.

(Photo Credits: Ember)

As we mentioned before, John Reuben has a fairly humorous personality; and, because of this, his interactions with live show crowds are usually downright hilarious. John likes to tease the crowd into participating, and the even more funny element is that not only does John like to tease his fans, his fans also like returning the favor! In fact, many people who have been to a few of his shows (and so know a fair amount of what he’s going to do) will tease him right back during the show— often prompting more funny dialogue from him. And his recent shows have even incorporated hilarious costumes, too!

(Photo Credits: Ember)

In all, the aforementioned teasing, his humorous expressions, and constant interaction— taken with the songs as well— make a John Reuben show quite enjoyable, indeed.

(Photo Credits: Ember)

Live Show Rating: 5 & 1/2 Stars.