Few artists are able to uncover honesty and depth in their debut albums as vividly as Dahlak does in Dual Consciousness. The long-awaited follow-up to the Sacramento native's 2005 Innerworks Mixtape, Dual Consciousness is a journey through the conflicted (and often contradicted) experience of being a rapper in today's spinning social climate. Accompanied by some of Sacramento's hottest new producers and vocalists (i.e. Ben Rosen, Authentik, Josh Watson, N.I.C., 5th Ave), Dahlak serves a balanced spectrum of some of the best hip-hop circulating the independent scene today. His opening track, "Move," is the perfect offering to help acquaint the listener to the theme of Dual Consciousness, as he explains his sense of a greater purpose, predicting "something important's 'bout to come out of me like Afeni," while also adhering to his egotistical emcee side, objecting that "I ain't perfect, it's just I got better flaws." What follows is a generous helping of music and lyrics that display a multi-dimensional artist, with no holds barred in any of the aspects, but still conquering the challenge of cohesion throughout. While socially sensitive songs like "Coincidence" explain that "either you've mastered the system or you're trapped in a prism, you think it's a coincidence Blacks and Latins in prison?" songs in the tradition of party hip-hop such as "D.R.I" (an anthem to being simultaneously drunk and high) catch Dahlak "blown like a saxophone or bassoon." Regardless of the temperament of any given track, the entire album is packed to the seams with witty punch lines, metaphors, and wordplay, laced with Dahlak's charismatic mic presence that will satisfy backpackers and radio junkies alike. In classics like "Let 'Em Breathe" and "Welcome to My Cipher," Dahlak offers gems with every line, unrestrained, as "the best thing under the sun/son since Jesus' sandals." However, the hot-headed emcee is balanced by the introspective artist, as "SelfDestruction" and "Everything Okay" deal with internal conflict with a maturity some artists can't muster even three or four albums into their careers. Whether youre savvy to Dahlaks acclaim in the realms of spoken word as a member of iLL-Literacy and two-time feature on HBOs Def Poetry Jam (Dahlak delivers an exclusive performance of his never-before-released poem, The Club, for old school fans), or newly introduced to the emcee (who has already shared the mic with the likes of KRS-One, Mos Def, Keak Da Sneak, and Common), Dual Consciousness is definitely an album you shouldnt think twice about checking out.