But it'd all be a gimmick if not for Wheelie Cyberman's proficient raps. His style is technical, fast, and clear, much like indie rap star Atmosphere. Cyberman's got a consistent sense of humor and refrains from boasting. That is, except for in "Ping Pong Song," where he describes his practice regime, intensity, and skill at the game. He's even got a ping-pong jersey. In "Sick Day," Cyberman talks about calling in sick after a crazy weekend. "Obey the Moderator" is about an online bulletin board. Optimus Rhyme are a deliberately different rap group with an amazingly tight sound.

Seattle Times, Tom Scanlon, July 7, 2006
Chop Suey has another nice show at 9 tonight ($8), with reggae man Clinton Fearon and Optimus Rhyme. This is a CD-release show for Seattle's quirky Optimus Rhyme — very different from most hip-hop acts in that its vocabulary is filled with computer references. Geek hop? The main MC of this crew goes by Wheelie Cyberman, rapping ridiculous rhymes over rock and hip-hop beats. "School the Indie Rockers" was produced by local rock legend Jack Endino, and the album sounds like a rock band desperately trying to be hip-hop, which is quite a humorous proposition at times — especially as Optimus Rhyme is eager to take shots at itself, kings of the nerd food chain. "Sittin' in the locker room liftin' weights getting' strong Sippin' Perrier playin' ping pong" Is that geeked-out enough for you? If not, how about the menacing "I know your other screen name, man."

Splendid E-Zine, Mike Meginnis, July 24, 2004
Rap really frustrates me -- its premise should allow for far more variety than the bragging and cashing in we're typically treated to. You can scream "racist!" at me all you want, but there has to be something wrong with a musical culture that can produce "Pimp Juice". Optimus Rhyme will make you forget the nightmarish orgies of excess and racial self-parody you've seen on the music video channels. They'll make you laugh, they'll make you feel smart, they'll entertain you -- in short, they'll charm your fucking pants off.

Optimus Rhyme don't throw the hip hop idiom out the window, but they've made some radical tweaks. Pretending to be magic hip-hop robots named Wheelie Cyberman and Broken English battling the Wackacons for the fate of Seattle (and more generally, the planet), for instance -- that's new.

They do spend a lot of time rapping about rapping, but it turns out that this can be pretty funny -- especially if the people doing the rapping (about rapping) are pretending to be robots. "Fuzzy Dice" is the best send-up of angst-ridden, self-serious rappers to come around in a long time. They brag some, too, but unlike most groups, they have the skills to back it up. Wheelie Cyberman wields a ridiculously fast tongue (think Bone Thugz & Harmony, think Twister; yes he's in that class of speed when he wants to be) with an offhand, irreverent style that will inspire more than a little resentment in rival MCs. No matter how fast he goes, Wheelie remains clear as a bell and rhythmically powerful -- see blistering album highlight "Ford vs. Chevy" for an example. Broken English can't match his robot ally for speed, but he has style and attitude to spare. In "No Memory", he snubs thousands, as if that's just something you do in the morning between bites of donut.

The most important element behind Optimus Rhyme's success is their backing band. Consisting of drums (Grumble the Consito Metranoid Build 1.312), "low end" (bass, and whatever sounds like it, performed by Stumblebee) and "high end" (things that aren't low end, performed by Powerthighs), the backing band is strong enough to make it in the rock scene on their own merits. The mindless tape loops, sample platters and scratch-fests found in most indie rap are replaced by dynamic, interesting, lively, funky, cool, engaging music.

If you've had trouble finding a rap act you can enjoy without reservation, fear not -- hope has arrived. For their irreverent lyrics, for their smart compositions, but most of all for their genuine rap skills, Optimus Rhyme deserve a chance. Rap from Seattle was a big enough shock; great rap from Seattle damn near killed me.

West Coast Performer, Jason Meininger, August 2004
Seattle's live music scene, while thriving, is not known for energetic crowds. People here don't move. The one guy going all-out down front? Well, everyone assumes he's from out of town. In a see-and-be-seen environment, nobody wants to be tagged as “that guy.” People appreciate the music, but somewhere during the whole grunge thing it seems like most people forgot how to show it. There were those who did not forget, though, and there is a burgeoning resistance movement, with Optimus Rhyme at the forefront, fighting the mindless and unimaginative (whom they've dubbed Wackacons) that have taken hold of our fair city. Shoegazing, dirty chords and boring loops are out; easy beats and tongue-twisting lyrics at a machine gun pace are in. The party-killing Wackacon oppressors may have Seattle now, but the five “Autobeat technicians” of Optimus Rhyme are leading the pack of those destined to prevail. Backed by a three-piece live band and the very occasional sample, the band can't be rightly plugged into a pure “hip-hop” bin. It's too geeky, for one thing: talk of servers and viruses (“I got five hard drives with 89 gigabytes / I eat databases, networks and websites,” from “Reel Estate”) mix right in with rapper braggadocio (“Incognito” is all about bashing a lame show promoter) and an interstellar mythology of P-Funk proportions. MCs Wheelie Cyberman and Broken English trade off rhymes ranging from Seattle-centric rants to the fictitious adventures of the Autobeat robots in the fight against the Wackacons, The lyrical delivery is fast and tight, popping like firecrackers in cuts like “Powder Blue Egg Hatch” and “JZ75”. Powerthighs (guitar), Stumblebee (bass), and Grimrock (drums) provide solid and peppy backings throughout. It's infectious and fun, and if these guys don't get people bouncing, the Wackacons have truly taken over Seattle, and there is no hope.

Rivet Magazine, R.S., Summer 2004
A new sound in hip-hop has descended on the Emerald City from the planet Cybertron! With a name indicative of their prowess, Optimus Rhyme laces guitar riffs influenced by Seattle's alternative roots with lyrics that flow from The Wasteland to create an inter-dimensional experience. The music transcends the traditional hip-hop exploitation of women, wealth and violence, instead battling the complacence of ordinary life.

Backed by a live band, MC Wheelie Cyberman enchants the crowd with his "cybernetic tongue muscles" while MC Broken English transforms prose into dynamic poetry. Incredibly, Optimus Rhyme manages to immerse their smooth flows and catchy beats with the greatest gift to their fans - fun.

Optimus Rhyme's debut CD, released under the banner of Narcofunk Records, was mixed by Jack Endino. Endino has a way with Northwest bands - he mixed and produced Nirvana's Bleach and has worked with Soundgarden and Mudhoney. Seattle filmmaker Chas Messmer is currently producing an indie documentary with Optimus Rhyme interviews and live performance clips.

Take a break from the inevitable and venture into the land of Optimus. It's a journey that will challenge your reality.

High Bias, Michael Toland, June 6, 2004
Loyal HB readers have probably figured out by now that I don't know dick about hip hop. I do know what I like, though, and I really like Optimus Rhyme. I like that the music is made by a tight, versatile funk trio, rather than a mishmash of sampled beats, and I like MCs Wheelie Cyberman and Broken English, who are not only mouth masters but also superlative wordsmiths, long on wit and short on repetitive sloganeering. The cuts are catchy, funny, danceable and, most of all, smart—this is a group that states a goal of "expansion of the English language, phase one" in "Powder Blue Egg Hatch." Jurassic 5 fans will love this.

The University of Washington Daily, Brian Kerin, April 22, 2004, Grade: B+
Seattle has a hip-hop scene? Who would've known?

The last thing our rain-drenched city would be associated with is hip-hop music. I mean, yeah, Sir Mix-A-Lot did have his posse on Broadway, but it seems all they were interested in was checking out the backsides on the honeys, not changing the local scene.

In the past four years, while most everyone's attention has been directed at the local rock scene, underground hip-hop has been growing steadily. Groups like Boom-Bap Project, Old Dominion, Source of Labor and newcomers Optimus Rhyme have all become the foundation for a growing scene that just might give Seattle its first real hip-hop scene.

The last group on that last list, Optimus Rhyme, recently released its first album on local label Narcofunk Records. The band's self-titled release was produced by studio legend Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden), and the result is 16 tracks of all instrumental hip-hop that possesses a sound all its own.

In the likes of Brooklyn's now-defunct Shootyz Groove, Optimus Rhyme's rhythm tracks are the result of real instrumentation -- just drums, bass and guitar. The group's two MCs, Wheelie Cyberman and Broken English, have a style and delivery that is as credible as it is original.

Optimus Rhyme's message is simple: Rid the world of wackacon oppressors. Similar to Del the Funky Homosapien's Deltron 30-30 project, the Optimus Rhyme record has an overall theme centered on Wheelie and the rest of his autobeat robots battling against the monotonous mass-produced hip-hop found in popular music.

The MC's distinctive delivery can be just as serious as it is humorous, as heard in the track "Powder Blue Egg Hatch": "I can't sing, I can't even rap, so for now I gonna throw some punch-lines all over this track." Some of the highlights on the disc include "Ford vs. Chevy," a track with a bass line that won't quit. Another track, "Organix," shows you don't need a grip of samples to make a catchy melody.

Optimus Rhyme's real attraction can be found at its live shows, where the sparseness of the recorded sound is enhanced on a proper sound system. You'll want to check out the group's sound; it is set to perform live on KEXP (90.3 FM) May 1 at 6 p.m.

 Seattle Times, Tom Scanlon, April 2, 2004
"The year was 2000. The Wackacons had invaded the Emerald City. Parties grew listless and nightclubs suffered greatly under the Wackacons' ever-growing influence. Repetitive loop manufacturers, lackluster DJs and angst-filled metal pushers aligned with the Wackacons and quickly flourished in our once-great city ... It is the primary objective of Optimus Rhyme to rid the world of Wackacon oppressors."

Optimus Rhyme's self-titled recording lives up to the spirit of the bizarre press release from which we quote above. If you get the weirdly creative "Optimus Rhyme," click immediately to track No. 2, "Cybernetic Circuits," a hilarious, fast-flowing rap that meshes technology and hip-hop boastin'. Only in Seattle will you get an MC thumping his chest about hacking:
    "I got five hard drives with 89 gigabytes.
     I eat databases, networks and websites.
     I got vicious viruses that devour these satellites.
     Encryption deciphering all that you read and write."
Optimus Rhyme features a programmer (Powerthighs, the guitar player) and Web designer (Wheelie, one of three MCs).

Optimus Rhyme celebrates its new album with a show 9 p.m. Saturday at the Rainbow ($5, with 100th Monkey also performing). And "live" show really does mean live, here. Powerthighs plays guitar, Stumblebee bass and Grimrock drums, with Wheelie, Cyberman and Broken English on microphone duty.

Wheelie explains the band's name: "It's definitely not Optimus as in 'number one' or 'the best.' It basically represents that we don't take ourselves too seriously and that we're in this to have fun and get creative."

Produced by Jack Endino, who messed around with Nirvana recordings back in the day, "Optimus Rhyme" is released by Tacoma's Narcofunk Records (www.narcofunk.com), which is also home to 100th Monkey. Endino also worked on the 100th Monkey album, so he is getting used to hip-hop — well, maybe not quite: "The funny thing is that Jack normally works with rock bands, so when he was feeling the music he'd make these air-guitar moves," Wheelie says. "I've never really seen that done before to hip-hop music, but I felt like doing it myself ... "

Getting back to a recurring Optimus Rhyme theme, what about all this Wackacon stuff? One can imagine it's an extension of the hip-hop word "wack" (meaning: lame), but what exactly is Wackacon? Wheelie answers, more or less:

"Have you ever been to show in Seattle and seen a whole room full of people standing almost perfectly still while some band is rocking out on stage? That's weird to me. It seems to me like people should be dancing or moving when they listen to music. I definitely think that that's a manifestation of the Wackacon presence around here. They have a hold on people."