Plantation Graffiti is an underground hip-hop combination of aggressive lyrics impressively layered with cuts and scratches from DJ Maxmillion. The sound is rough and independent but there is smooth song sequencing and a strong sense of purpose. The album starts with “Libation,” a conglomerate of spoken word cuts and a mellow rhythm introducing the sense of community behind this work that exists throughout the whole album. “New Orleans’ Finest” is the star track and picks up the pace with flowing lyrics concerning the “love/hate relationship” with the city that comes from struggling against racial profiling, corruption, and discrimination. There is a positive use of irony that manages to balance anger with a call for education and action. Describing himself as an “intelligent hoodlum” Truth Universal allows this anger and darkness into his music while keeping a sense power and direction present. Unlike so many self-proclaimed hoodlums, who achieve their power through the submission of others, TU seems to look inward for his strength. My only complaint is that although he does not disparage women, comments such as “never weak for no female flesh” seem to alienate the female role in the artists’ call for struggle against non-egalitarian systems.