Rehab meshes southern sound with hip hop elements.

Credit: Ben Breier

“It feels like a septic tank on Cinco de Mayo,” said Rehab about its sophomore album, Graffiti the World.

Graffiti the World, the second album from Rehab’s self-titled label, will definitely make its mark on the music industry as unique sound. Their debut album, Southern Discomfort, released in 2000 sold over 140,000 CDs and kicked off a two-year national tour that would eventually split the original group up.

The new Atlanta-based quintet brings its southern sound and meshes it with a hip-hop beat, and then furthers the combination with an alternative electronic voice conveyor. This concoction gives a distinctive vibe for the 12-song CD.

The Kid Rock vocals meets Outkast vibe with Everlast lyrics expressed in Graffiti the World is hard to listen to the first time around, but given a second chance, it is kind of catchy. By the third listening, you will find yourself singing along to “Last Tattoo,” “Graffiti the World” and “Walk Away.”

More than the music, the lyrics will drag you in. The members of Rehab give personal outlooks and deliver messages through the lyrics about issues facing the world today: war, drugs, infidelity and memories of home and past loves.

For instance, in “Last Tattoo,” the twang, soulful vocals of Danny Boone sing the chorus: “This will be my last tattoo, to cover the memory of someone I’d thought I’d always be. Cover her name with a smoking gun. Make it hurt as much as possible and make it bleed.”

Rehab wants to show the hurt, pain and struggle that has made them, individually and as a group, who they are. They each have been incarcerated or in some drug treatment, hence the name Rehab and have learned something they would like to share.

“The music and the lyrics are a place for me to vent my feelings,” said Boone, the only remaining member of the original Rehab. “I hope that the audience can take whatever they need from it.”

So if this sounds like something you will like, visit the Rehab Web site www.rehabcollege.com to receive a college discount on the music not offered anywhere else. The Web site handles all formats (digital, CD, including iPod).

Contact ALL correspondent Tiffany Strong at [email protected].