Get To Know H.E.R.

I’ve come to realize that in the midst of reviewing so many full length albums, there is much quality music that gets lost simply because they’ve been released as 4-10 track EPs. No more of that. From now on, EPs will get their much deserved shine as well and I’ll try to backtrack to older EPs as well. Today’s however are both from 2009.

Hits: Real As Can Be, Philistine David, Little Rodney, Palm The Joker, Good Lord, Talkin My Shit, The Believers (ft Slug), Begin Here

Strikes: N/A

Balls: Baby Don’t Go

First up is The Truth Is Here by Brother Ali, which was released recently as a CD/DVD combo. With three great full length albums (1 arguably a modern classic) and an incredible EP in the form of Champion, Brother Ali has been steadily moving up on my list of favorite emcees. All I can say is this EP does not hinder that forward movement in any way. Each of the 9 tracks are laced with some great beats from Ant of Atmosphere and Ali absolutely destroys each track. A nice guest appearance from Slug doesn’t hurt things as well, and I would actually love to see a whole album full of collabo tracks between them. It’s not quite as classic as Champion was but it’s still great and you should by all means pick this one up.

Hits: Nouveau Depart, Escaping Arkham, Brasso, Slow Down Moses, The Picture of My Delorean Gray

Strikes: N/A

Balls: N/A

Second is The Winter’s End EP by rap duo Common Market. It seems that after dropping a good album last year, both RA Scion and Sabzi wasted no time messing around and continued to hone their respective crafts. Sabzi continued in moving away from the soulful horns and upbeat drum beats of their debut and opted to concentrate more on the ambient, dark but relaxing soundscapes he started to experiment with in Tobacco Road. RA Scion also shows improvements as an emcee, employing both his signature flow and more slower one when necessary and sometimes switching between the two in the same song. At 5 tracks totaling14:14, the EP makes for a quick but rewarding listen and is in my opinion much better than their Black Patch War EP. Hopefully this means that their next full length will be an absolute killer. Anyways, do yourself a favor and check this one out as well.

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.

A previous comment on this site had me thinking a bit. It asked why I bothered to review albums by artists if I don’t wanna listen to their music. Well, false hope for one, but mainly it was to round out the categories of albums being reviewed. But now, I guess I really don’t see a point to that. This blog was originally created to promote good artists and I realize to do otherwise is a waste of my time. So from this point on, I’m only gonna inform you, my readers, on the finest.

Anyways, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Common Market’s new LP, Tabacco Road, due Sept.9, is gonna be top ten of the year material. The emcee half, RA Scion, has really been rising through the ranks of my favorites and I still listen to his solo LP on a regular basis. The man behind the boards, Sabzi, has given us some great beats in the past, and his work with Geologic on Bayani last year was superb. Black Patch War, released earlier this year by the duo, was also pretty damn good. Also if you go to http://spin.com/reviews/new-common-market-mp3-tobacco-road you can listen to the title track. However, my main reason for hyping this album so much is the quality music that was found on their eponymous debut. I was actually turned on to this album by a friend of mine, and I have to say, I’m eternally indebted to her for it. I can hardly wait to begin the damn review.

The Good:

1. Refresh - It’s really good for the first track. I remember the first time hearing this and thinking that RA Scion sounds a bit like Talib. Hell, I still think that. Anyone else think so?

2. Push

3. G’Dang Diggy - Considering that their overall sound is very feel good, their lyrics are usually pretty down to earth and usually focus on politics, life’s hardships, and more of that hard hitting stuff. At first it sounds like it’ll collapse from the contradicting nature, but their sound works very well. This song is a perfect example of that.

4. Connect For

6. Every Last One - On most hip hop albums, I have a big problem with the hooks. This album, however, is chock full of great hooks, and this track’s hook is probably my favorite off it.

8. Trinity - The darker, bass centric production on this song is a departure from the overall sound of the album, but who cares as long as it makes for a great song.

10. Love One

11. Succor MC’s

12. My Pathology

13. Keep Track

14. Doors - Probably my favorite track off this album. Everything about it is just great, from the train tracks intro (tying the real last track of the album to the first track) to the fantastic hook to both the KRS One and the Roots homages.

15. Every Last One (Cornerstone Remix) (ft Geologic and Gabriel Teodros) - The only thing that puts this above the original is the sheer awesomeness of the MassLine Media artists’ collaboration.

The Solid:

5. Crossbow - For some reason, I’ve always thought that this track lacked something that the other tracks had that made them better than the average track.

7. Poison - The lyrics are more than on point, but I thought the beat could’ve been improved.

9. Kampo - It’s just an instrumental track, but it’s still a decent track.

The Bad: N/A

Final Score: 9.5/9.0

It’s not a classic album, but it’s still an excellent, nothing but quality from track 1 to 15 CD. I would seriously say that this is one of the best albums to be released in recent years (recent being past 4, 5 years), alongside Below the Heavens and Game Theory. Give it a chance and I guarantee you’ll like it.