That voice is so identifiable. The overall tone I got from this is muted distress, slow and ambling. Placing Mayfield's 'Hard Times' track besides RUN DMC's 'Hard Times" track nine years later was like night and day. Mayfield sings about what's happening in the present tense 'life sucks', while DMC raps about future expectations and a healthy positive vibe ... "hard times are coming, to your town, don't let them get you down..." Though it's slow and melancholic, I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would.