I recently had the opportunity to review Maurice Dew’s CD entitled Primary Program.  When I volunteered for the job, I didn’t realize it was rap, of which I’m not a fan, but I was willing to give it a try anyway.

When I received the CD in the mail, I admit I was slightly confused by the title. When I see “Primary Program,” I expect a CD of Primary music to prepare kids for their yearly Primary program in Sacrament Meeting, not rap.  I found the CD’s insert of song titles to see what I was getting into, but still saw no indication of rap.  However, I thought it was clever as Maurice listed himself as presiding and conducting, and then each title was listed as either a hymn or special number.

When I started the CD, I was ready to hear rap, but again was actually surprised to hear Primary music.  After a few measures, though, came the rap coordinated with Primary music.  As I mentioned, not being a fan of rap, the overall sound became cumbersome to my ears rather quickly.  I thought I’d give the lyrics a try and after some serious concentration determined some were good and funny, but some made me feel uneasy.  For example, I didn’t really appreciate the lyrics about a frustrated parent wanting to send his kid back to Jesus.

After a couple songs, and my kids not seeming to overly enjoy it, I’d had my fill and decided I needed to find someone who was less biased and who liked rap to review this CD.  My cute neighbor, Jessica, a mom of one, preschool teacher, and swim teacher volunteered.

She listened to the entire CD and sent me her notes.  Overall, she felt the CD was all right.  She said it’s better than what you hear on the radio.  She felt some of the songs had a good message, but didn’t like the tone in others.  She enjoyed the fun songs like “Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes,” yet felt it was disrespectful to rap to songs such as “Praise to the Man.”  Overall, she’d prefer her kids “listen to the songs the way they would sing them at church, that way they can learn the words and understand the spiritual meaning behind the lyrics.”

So, if you and your kids like rap, you might like this.  If you don’t like rap, I don’t think it will convince you to do so.  Nevertheless, it’s still fun and interesting to see the unique things people can do with music.