Get To Know H.E.R.

Shit…I hate people messing with my stuff. I’m still not sure whether it was a password breach, or if the guy I upped the picture from changed the url every single freaking hour for the heck of it. But either way, I’m fucking paranoid as fuck now.

Anyways, on a brighter note, today’s album should be a blast to review. Opio is an emcee from the Hieroglyphics crew and has steadily been rising up to my number one spot in aforementioned crew (although Pep Love is still the man). His last solo effort, Triangulation Station was a pretty damn good album, and I have no reason to suspect otherwise with this one. O, other than the fact that the previous Hiero release of the year Del’s Eleventh Hour kinda sounded like pure garbage, I guess. But, Del is Del and Opio is Opio, so with that horrible album out of my mind, let’s begin.

The Good:

1. Guilty As Charged - Despite not being labeled as such, it’s really just an intro. Although there is actual rapping to be found so overall I would bill it as being better than your average rap intro.

2. On The Outside Looking In - Opio may be one of the only rappers who I’ve actually enjoyed after his voice changed since his early appearances (as opposed to Q-Tip, G Rap, Del, and the like). He always had the flow and the rhymes, but damn his voice used to be annoying as hell. And now, even that’s not an issue. Amazing.

4. Chaotic Erotic - It’s basically a reinterpretation of Gang Starr’s Soliloquy of Chaos. That being said, it’s pretty good and deserves to avoid comparison to a classic track.

5. About Love

6. Don Julio - The dark, creepy sound seems a bit out of place with the rest of the album, but the track is good enough to overlook this little fact. Besides, I love dark beats.

8. To The People

10. Original Lyricist - This track shows that Opio can more than hold a mic to Del, Pep Love and Casual any day. It’s kinda unfair, then that he almost never seems to get any props in Hieroglyphics discussions.

13. The Prize - I can’t exactly place my finger on what it is about the beat that makes it so appealing to me, but I think it’s great. Opio’s raps do their job as well, and makes for one sick track.

14. With Or Without You - I wish they would’ve somehow sampled the U2 song for this track, but then again, that song wouldn’t exactly make for the best rap track I guess. Besides, the song works as it is and I see no reason to tamper with something that doesn’t need to be.

15. Superfly Remix (ft Del Tha Funkee Homosapien and Guilty Simpson) - Del doesn’t make up for the entirety of the mistake that was the Eleventh Hour, but he at least makes up for a couple of tracks with his verse.

The Solid:

3. Some Superfly Shit - The beat ends up dragging the whole song down.

9. Vice Versa - It’s interesting what they tried to do with the song, but it ends up making for a confusing and unfocused listen.

12. I Need A Money Tree

The Bad:

7. Stop The Press - Combined with the beat and Opio’s slow, lifeless flow on this, it’s just not a good track. The random instrumental skit at the end doesn’t do much to save it either.

11. Cali Girls

Final Score: 9.0/8.5

Although I would’ve liked to see a couple more of Opio’s Hiero mates on some tracks, there’s something refreshing these days about an album that’s able to be carried out without an excess of guest artists. Sure there’s a couple of missteps here and there, like damn friggin Cali Girls, but Opio shows that he’s more than capable of handling things by himself. Pep Love you better watch yourself.