Get To Know H.E.R.

If you’ve been following hip hop for the past year or so, no doubt, you know who Blu is. After appearing on a couple of guest features on Exile’s Dirty Science, he and Exile teamed up to rock the 2007 hip hop scene with the absolutely incredible Below The Heavens. Earlier this year Blu did it again by teaming up with fellow rapper Ta’Raach as C.R.A.C., dropping the strange but enjoyable The Piece Talks. And now we have the official release of his work with Mainframe in the form of Johnson and Jonson. Blog frequenters may have had a “copy” of this since last year. That however was a bootleg and what we have on our hands now is the final project. Let’s see how our wonder boy did on this one.

Hits aka Why You Should Care:

1. Blu. This boy just can’t be stopped. In all honesty, he’s not nor will he probably ever be one of the greats. In terms of skill, he’s not even one of the greatest cats out right now (that’ll be Royce, Elzhi, Joe Budden, and Sean Price). And yet, one can’t help but love any track he’s on. It may be his confident swag behind the mic that is entirely apparent as on listens to him. You know he’s comfortable rapping and that transfers over to the overall listening experience. Whatever it is, Blu is one enjoyable dude to listen to.

2. Mainframe. I won’t lie, I was a bit worried to hear an entire album by a producer who I’ve never really heard before. Those worries were put to rest only a couple of tracks in. Dude is nice. He works on a complex multi sample layering level that most low profile producers just don’t do, and the result is some great quality beats that are a whole lot better than what one can usually expect from non big label projects these days.

3. Some good tracks: J and J, Up All Night, Mama Told Me, The Gusto Room, Wow, Spell Check, Long Time Gone, Still Up All Night, A Picture Perfect, The Oath, Hold On John (Hidden Bonus Track)

Strikes aka Reasons You Should Be Wary:

1. Not the biggest complaint but some of the album just felt very chaotic and the sequencing a bit unorganized.

2. I just couldn’t get in to these tracks for whatever reason: Half A Knot, Anything Is Possible

Balls aka Whatever Floats Your Boat:

1. Numerous interludes are found all throughout the album, whether instrumental or spoken. Some of them aren’t bad, some are actually pretty good, and one I really couldn’t understand the point of. If you like interludes, this is all for you.

2. Solid tracks: The Only Way, In The Building, Bout It Bout It

Final Thoughts:

It’s Blu. Right now this dude can make a track about taking a crap and that shit would sound great. So the ultimate question here is how does working with Mainframe stack up to his work with Exile. Well, that’s almost entirely up to you. While both albums are dope, the difference in producers makes a huge difference and that’s where your preference comes in. Below The Heavens sounded like one big, chill contemplative session with bits of unrestrained partying mixed in. Johnson and Jonson on the other hand is one big party with spots of contemplative moments thrown into the mix. Whichever you prefer, I would recommend a pickup, although just for the record, I will personally still bump Below The Heavens a whole lot more than I will this one.

I realize that this album isn’t brand spanking new anymore, especially in the fickle hip hop community of today, in which 50 Cent’s Get Rich Or Die Tryin album is considered old school (fucking Soulja Boy). But since it was released less than a month ago, can we just say it’s a new album review? Yeah? Good.

Anyways, hot off the heels of their spectacular Black Patch War EP, Common Market has dropped their second full length LP. The duo, consisting of MC RA Scion and Producer Sabzi, has a lot of hype (relatively speaking of course) to live up to with this album. Their first album was highly acclaimed, and even though nobody knew about it except for the bloggers (and you if you’ve read my previous write up on them), Common Market earned the respect of the underground hip hop society. Their objectives with this album are simply to avoid the dreaded sophomore curse, beat the expectations that their debut placed on them, and keep the respect that they’ve worked so hard to earn (like it or not, the underground can be just as fickle as the mainstream). Alright, maybe it’s not that simple, but judging from the quality of their 2008 EP, I think they got it in the bag.

Hits aka Why You Should Care:

1. Sabzi’s production on this is nothing short of excellence. From the calm ambiance of tracks such as Weather Vane and Tobacco Road, to the more upbeat urgency found on Gol’ Dust, to the darker sounds of 40 Furrows and Certitude, Sabzi provides the perfect soundscapes for RA Scion to rhyme over. Dude is one of the best in the underground hands down.

2. Guest spots are kept to a minimum so that you get more of what you really want, pure Common Market. The rappers who are featured more than hold their own. On a side note, I’ve heard people say that Geologic is a talentless herb of a rapper. Well I say fuck that. Blue Scholars had one of the best albums last year and he definitely brought his A game on The Crucible.

3. The good songs on this: Trouble Is, Gol’ Dust, Back Home (The Return), 40 Furrows, Winter Takes All, Weather Vane, Nina Sing (ft Funklove), Certitude (ft Chev), The Crucible(ft Geologic), 40 Thieves, Swell, Tobacco Road

Strikes aka Reasons You Should Be Wary

1. The album was slightly boring at times. I mean, I like it and both members of the group did his thing, but something was missing. Kinda like with Finding Forever and Graduation, it just felt too polished.

2. Nothin At All. This track isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s different. Different isn’t always something that deters me from a song, but in this case different means that I’ll likely push the skip button next time around.

Balls aka Whatever Floats Your Boat

1. While Common Market’s debut sounded like one big rhymefest party, this one is more focused and more serious, dealing with issues such as religion and politics. If you’re like me, and actually prefer that stuff sometimes, then great, go buy this now. However, if you’re one of those people who thought that the Roots’ Game Theory sucked because they delved too much into politics and came out with a darker sound, then this may or may not be for you.

2. There’s no knockout tracks. There were good songs, but none of them were holy shit that just kicked the crap out of me and woke me the hell up caliber. On the flipside though, the whole thing was a good consistent listen.

3. The more or less solid tracks: Service, Slow Cure, House, Spits

Final Thoughts:

They overcame the sophomore curse. And I think they’ll manage to keep their respect. However, there’s no way this album lived up to the expectations I’d set for it. Mind you though, my expectations for this album were pretty damn high and even though I think it falls in comparison to their first, it’s still a good album and definitely worth your time, if not your hard earned cash.

So in conjunction with the release of DJ Revolution’s King of the Decks LP, which is out today and should be reviewed by me within the week, Duck Down Records has decided to put out a free mixtape for you, the customer. Of course, this means that they want you to buy some of their albums now and why shouldn’t you? Duck Down Records has slowly become one of my favorite record labels of today with the quality of their releases (The Formula, Shell Shock, The In Crowd) and the way their future projects are shaping up (DIRT, and that proposed KRS/Buckshot collabo album). Here’s the link and the tracklisting.

http://www.duckdown.com/hotline

1) DJ Revolution INTRO & Buckshot Interview

2) 9th Wonder & Buckshot “Brand Nu Day”

3) Buckshot Interview

4) 9th Wonder & Buckshot featuring Mickey Factz “Concrete Jungle”

5) Buckshot Interview

6) Buckshot “WHO GOT THE PROPS 2008″

7) DJ Double O of Kidz In The Hall Interview

8 ) Kidz In The Hall featuring Estelle “Love Hangover” (Video debuted on MTV’s TRL)

9) Naledge of Kidz In the Hall Interview

10) Kidz In The Hall “Driving Down The Block Westcoast Remix”

11) Ruste Juxx Interview

12) Ruste Juxx “Vic Flair”

13) Ruste Juxx “Wipe Off Ya Smile” off INDESTRUCTIBLE in stores October 28th

14) Heltah Skeltah Interview

15) Heltah Skeltah “Everything Is Heltah Skeltah” off D.I.R.T. (DA INCREDIBLE RAP TEAM) IN STORES SEPTEMBER 30th

16) Heltah Skeltah “FUCK THAT RAPPER”

17) DJ Revolution Interview conducted by DJ LOGIC

18) DJ Revolution featuring KRS-ONE “THE DJ” off KING OF THE DECKS IN STORES SEPTEMBER 16th

19) DJ Revolution Interview

20) DJ Revolution featuring Bishop Lamont, Crooked I & Styliztik Jones “Funky Piano” off KING OF THE DECKS IN STORES SEPTEMBER 16th

21) DJ Revolution Outro

In other news, Joe Budden’s Padded Room LP has been pushed back from October 28th to February 24th 2009. However, Joe Budden fans will still get something on October 28th as he’s planning on releasing a digital download intermediate album, Halfway House on that day.

Also to prepare for the Termanology album that’s coming out soon, here’s yet another track from it titled Drugs, Crime and Gorillaz, featuring Sheek Louch and Freeway. As an additional treat, I’ve also put up the link for a non LP track bonus track, produced by the man, Pete Rock.

https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=R3ozRkJkR0ZOMUIzZUE9PQ

https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=R3ozRkJkR0ZHa09Ga1E9PQ

Here’s a producer you guys should all know about by now: the underground sensation from Detroit, Black Milk. He’s been responsible for some dope tracks in the past year or so, including the bulk of one of the best albums of the year, The Preface by fellow Detroit resident Elzhi. He’s set to release Tronic, his third solo LP on October 28th, but in the meantime you guys can check out this mixtape I got in my email yesterday, Music From The Color Purple. Haven’t given it a proper listen yet, but check it out anyways.

http://www.zshare.net/download/1848845275da4c78

Next up is a leaked track from Peedi Peedi, who is steadily rising in my eyes as a respectable emcee. So I know before it was announced that his LP would be named Camel Face Hunting Season but it seems that he’s decided to change the name to A Night In The Life. Regardless it should be at least decent. Here’s the track, titled More Towels.

https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=R3ozS3d1dzhwM25IRGc9PQ

Well…seeing as how I’ve been out of it for a good while, there was a lot of hip hop shit to sort through in my email. Some of this stuff you may have seen elsewhere but whatever, I’ll post it up anyways.

First up is a freestyle from the Boot Camp Clik duo Heltah Skeltah. It ain’t really an official track I guess but I’m posting this to remind all ya’ll to look out for D.I.R.T. (Da Incredible Rap Team), which is set to hit stores September 30th.

https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=Smp2Zm1kOW5TSUJjR0E9PQ

Next up is a track of Politics As Usual, the debut album by Termanology. The track’s called Please Don’t Go, and it’s not exactly the best thing I’ve heard  but it’s worth giving it a listen. This track doesn’t change my opinion of how the album is going to turn out by the way. With that lineup of producers and guest emcees only the shittiest rappers would manage to fuck up. And Term is not in any way a shitty rapper. So look out for that, also dropping on the 30th.

https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=SmpzNHA5WkJrUmswTVE9PQ

Last for today is an unreleased track from an album that I really need to write about before the end of 2008, Buckshot and 9th Wonder’s second dope collabo, The Formula. I haven’t had the chance to give this a listen yet, but if it’s anything like the rest of the album was it’ll definitely be worth your time.

http://www.zshare.net/download/180261144480a927/

It’s been a long time, I shouldn’t have left you..without a strong rhyme to step to. Seriously though, apologies all around for the long ass hiatus but I’ve been busy as hell lately with school starting up again and whatnot. But I’m back, and I’ll try not to go on such a dragged out break ever again (no promises though). I’ve also decided to change the format of this whole thing a bit more. I’ll have three categories: hits, balls and strikes. Under hits will be reasons that I believe you should absolutely pick up this album. Strikes are the reasons that may cause you to want to avoid the album in question. Balls are the things that are totally up in the air and are ultimately up to the reader to decided whether it’s a good thing or not.

Anyways, to pick up right where I left off, Beats Rhymes and Life is the fourth album by A Tribe Called Quest and comes a full three years after the bonafide classic of an album, Midnight Marauders. With the Tribe’s first three albums having received the enormous amount of critical acclaim that they did, they had a lot to live upto and most likely felt a lot of pressure throughout the recording sessions. As such, Beats Rhymes and Life sounds a bit darker than all of it’s predecessors. Some other things were changed from the tried and true Tribe formula of the late80s/early90s albums, but I’ll get into that as the review continues.

Hits:

1. It’s Tribe. I mean, if you’d read my last three reviews and have gone out and listened to those masterpieces, you should’ve already hunted this shit down and listened to it.

2. Some people are bound to disagree with me on this but fuck it. Tribe’s fourth album was the first to feature production from the super production group The Ummah, which consisted of Ali Shaheed, Q-Tip, and J Dilla. There are a good number of Tribe fans who argue that Jay Dee’s inclusion into the production led to a change in sound that ultimately led to Tribe’s work being of a subpar quality. Fuck that. The beats on this album are actually pretty damn good except maybe the ones for Baby Phife’s Return and Word Play. They’re different, I’ll give them that, but in no way are they subpar. I’ll say it again, The Ummah did not ruin A Tribe Called Quest.

3. This album is really the last time you’ll hear such great chemistry between our two lead rappers as the next album is…well, we’ll get to that when we get to that I guess. But the point here is, appreciate as much of it as you can while it’s there.

4. These are the tracks that I’ve picked out to be good: Phony Rappers, Get A Hold, Motivators, Jam, The Pressure, 1nce Again, Mind Power, The Hop, Keep It Movin, What Really Goes On, Stressed Out. Out of those, The Pressure and What Really Goes On are really the stand out tracks. Seriously, What Really Goes On is a damn monster of a track.

Strikes:

3 words. Lack Of Phife. Since People’s, Phife Dawg has steadily evolved from throwaway sidekick rapper to an integral part of the team. On Midnight Marauders the man was on all but 2 of the tracks (not including the intro) and he ripped it up. I mean, Midnight Marauders has some of the illest shit ever spit by dude and he outshone his partner Tip on a good number of tracks. You would think that this album would make more use of him but on the contrary he’s missing on more than a third of the album. Hell, he only has three more tracks than Consequence who’s not even an official member of the fucking group. As much as I love Tip, I love it even more when the two of them work together. That’s it for strikes really. There were no tracks that really jumped out at me as bad.

Balls:

1. The frequent appearance of Consequence was a puzzler to me. For those who don’t know, Consequence is Q-Tip’s cousin and the average rap fan today probably only knows him because of Kanye West. Anyways, the man is featured on a total of six tracks throughout and led lots of people (including myself) to think that he was soon to be an official member of the Tribe (kinda like Cappa and the Wu). We know now that that didn’t happen, but regardless ‘quence pops up again and again throughout Beats, Rhymes and Life. He’s actually not bad at rapping and holds his own on the tracks, but ultimately his presence is offsetting. Awkward if you will.

2. The sequencing of the tracks, specifically of the first, could’ve been better. Phony Rappers is a good track no doubt, but it sounds strange and really abrupt as a first track. I honestly believe that Pressure, with it’s mini Tribe Called Quest medley intro or 1nce Again, with it’s throwback to Check The Rhime, should’ve been the first track and have helped ease the fans into the newer sound.

3. These are the tracks that I thought were just alright: Crew, Baby Phife’s Return, Separate/Together, Word Play

Final Thoughts:

Beats Rhymes and Life is a seriously underrated album when it comes to A Tribe Called Quest. Most people dismissed it because it didn’t live up to the standards of Midnight Marauders and A Low End Theory, but honestly, nothing is fucking with those two. Besides, this album is pretty darn great in its own right (I would actually place it on par with People’s, which I think is a slightly overrated album) and the edgier, darker sound isn’t as different as a lot of people think and would have probably ended up doing great things for the group if The Love Movement hadn’t happened. Overall, I would recommend that you do yourself a favor and check it out