Rhyme and Rhyson

The timeless sounds of Marvin Gaye waft through the room as Rhyson Hall cautiously measures his words before he speaks, and when his words come out they are earnest and endearing. He's sitting at his kitchen table talking about his hip-hop, his poetry and his life.

"My mother was always playing soul and jazz records while I was growing up," said Hall, a senior psychology major. "I felt that emotion. If Marvin Gaye sings something, I believe that he went through what he's singing about."

That's how Hall's record, "Rhyson Hall Is... The Sleeper, Vol. 2," sounds. It is, for the most part, an honest portrayal of moments in his life, and he abandons the caution he speaks with when he rhymes.

"I've always listened to rap, but when I started rapping, I would break artists down with their poetry styles," Hall said. "Big L was the first cat I broke down. He's got a little bit of a higher pitch voice, but when he's on a track, you pay attention, even if it's whack."

"The Sleeper" does not have many whack moments, and even those aren't Rhyson's fault. When Hall is on the mic, it's with a combination of precision and thought that many underground rappers don't touch.

"This Can't Be Life" is a surefire single, with a radio-ready hook and well-crafted lyrics, but its lack of a third verse leaves it feeling a little empty. That is really the only problem with "The Sleeper"; a lot of the tracks are too short. Hall's tank still has fuel, and the tracks end up with not much doubt that he could've said more, and it would've been just as impacting.

Hall's similes and metaphors are tight, and work together as opposed to looking for the knockout punch with each rhyme. On "Universal Magnetic," he uses both Ike and Tina Turner and AIDS to strike an eerie connection with his prowess. As a result, the sound is both conscious and clever with locally resonating lines like, "I'm from the 'Lo so I can only go up."

What's promising about this effort is that Hall is still relatively new to his craft.

"I've only been rapping for four years, but I've been doing poetry since I was in eighth grade, and writing since I was five," said Hall.

Regardless of his time on the mic, Hall's writing has the sort of hard-hitting, unfeigned feel that has to be earned through grit and experience. Growing up in a single parent home - Hall's father went to prison when he was 11 - Hall rhymes with a complex understanding of the world that comes with grasping the simple inequities in society.

"If I pick a beat, it's not going to be strictly for the underground or for the mainstream: I'm going to spit something worth hearing," Hall said. "Don't get me wrong, I'm trying to be on TV, but I'm going to keep my integrity."

"I'm not trying to say, 'don't rap about guns or drugs,' because segments of the population grow up with that, and that's real," he added.

Hall is a genuine determination to make it in hip-hop, and "The Sleeper" is an incredible start. Released on Deep Thinka Records, a locally owned and operated label, "The Sleeper" is available for only $3 on the label's Web site, www.deepthinka.com, as well as by e-mailing Hall at rhysonhall@yahoo.com.

Hall has taken to the stage in Buffalo, Cleveland and Toronto with multiple different performances, from the accompaniment of a full band or DJ to strictly speaking his poetry without any backing.

"At first I wanted a The Roots-type band, but I've got a good show with DJ Cutler," he said. "At Buff State's poetry night, there was a full band and I went to the drummer, 'give me one of those (beats)' and then to the trumpeter, 'give me one of those,' and when it came out, it really brought me to life."

Hall's show comes to life with a poetry reading at the Black Student Union's Harlem Night on Feb. 12 at 6:30 p.m. at Harriman Hall on UB's South Campus. He'll also be performing at Black Xplosion on Feb. 26.

Whether he's dropping clever lines about his similarities to Minnesota Vikings' cornerback Antoine Winfield's hard-hitting or Barry Bonds's imposing presence, Hall is certainly a young emcee worth searching out.