Rap & Hip-Hop Music Reviews, News & Interviews

"Ab-Soul has had quite a year. The previous rhyme is an excerpt from "The Book of Soul," which was dedicated to his long time girlfriend Alori Joh, whom committed suicide back in February. In March, he and his Black Hippy crew (which consists of Soul, Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q, and Kendrick Lamar) signed a deal with Aftermath/Interscope. And in May, Ab-Soul released his second independent album through Top Dawg Entertainment, "Control System." Ab-Soul is definitely the most unique emcee out of the Californian quartet, as his style is very lyrical and introspective. "Control System" has a very dark feel, thanks to in-house production provided by various members of the Digi+Phonics production crew. The Danny Brown assisted, "Terrorist Threats" is a very paranoid track where the two up-and-coming lyricists trade verses speaking on government conspiracy theories: "I seen images of Hitler in the picture when the Twin Towers dropped." Another one of the album's many gems is "Double Standards," in which Ab-Soul raps about the double standard of male/female relationships. "Control System" isn't an entirely bleak affair however. There are many less serious tracks that perfectly balance out the album and show that Ab-Soul, while not as versatile as say Kendrick, is a pretty well-balanced emcee. "Bohemian Grove" is a nice smooth party track, in which he displays his intricate lyricism over a pretty lighthearted track. "Lust Demons" is another example of Ab-Soul's versatility, as he can make a sexual song, which features Jay Rock and BJ the Chicago Kid's best Marvin Gaye impression (and frankly he nails it), while still being able to make a song as deep and analytical as "Double Standards." He holds his own against one of hip hop's brightest young stars in Kendrick Lamar on "Illuminate" and the drugged out "Mixed Emotions" is equally phenomenal."

"A-Wax has the California hard knock bio you've probably heard before, save for the fact he came from a neighborhood called Pittsburg that's nowhere near Pennsylvania. He did a few years bid in jail, spent his free time writing rhymes, and got out determined to hustle in the rap game legal. He sold albums hand to hand, out the trunk or at shows, and his role models were fellow Bay Area entrepeneurs like JT the Bigga Figga. After grinding for long enough, he graduated to the next level - getting signed to a distribution deal and getting "Everybody Loves Me Chapter 1" available at Amazon.com. He's even got a catchy and colorful crossover song called "Willy Wonka." A-Wax obviously has good connects, because besides getting the sample from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" cleared, he gets some candy sweet cameos on the album. French Montana and Styles P make appearances on "Fly Pelican," and Mistah FAB drops bars on one of the album's best songs - "Been Thru Everything." Other stand out songs on this 12 track release include the electro-futuristic "The Way I Hustle" featuring Luke Bingham (like a Future song, but good) and the Gotye sampling song (another hefty clearance I'm sure) of the same name "Somebody That I Used to Know." "

http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2012_07_elmc1.html

B-Pos :: Pos Tapes - The Album :: One League Entertainment
as reviewed by Matthew 'Matt G' Gutwillig

"Conscious rap has played an important element of hip-hop culture since the early 1980's. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's "The Message" was the first conscious rap single to propel the genre into the radio waves and TV screens of mainstream America. "The Message" was able to accurately depict the bleak social conditions of poverty, violence and alienation experienced by many living in the ghetto. This track fundamentally shifted rap music from the hands of deejays who dominated the scene with their scratching and blending techniques to emcees with the ability to express their own rhymes creatively and report what was occurring in their respective communities. San Francisco based rap group, B-Pos (short for Be Positive), has contributed to conscious rap independently throughout the years with the release of several mixtapes and albums. The rap collective consists of emcees D-Wiz, Goodword and Khafre along with DJ Johnny Venetti. Their latest record, "Pos Tapes- The Album," is said to be a "best-of" compilation of their trilogy of mixtapes, "Pos Tapes Vol. 1-3," which were released over the past two years. As a group, B-Pos is able to carry on the tradition of golden era hip-hop at times with a decent combination of consciousness and ability to showcase their technical rhyming ability."

http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2012_07_postapesalbum.html

Childish Gambino :: Sick Boi :: Childish Gambino
** RapReviews "Back to the Lab" series **
as reviewed by Steve 'Flash' Juon

"Even though Childish Gambino recently blew up with a major label album, the actor turned rapper had been dropping free mixtapes for years, dating back to "Sick Boi" in 2008. The thing is Donald Glover for whatever reason decided to literally be a SICK BOY on this first album, rapping the entire time like he had a bad cold, tissue stuffed up his nose or both. At the time I just couldn't take Gambino seriously, thinking he was mocking hip-hop and that he should probably not quit his day job as an actor and writer on NBC sitcoms. It was only on his later releases including "Camp" that I turned around on Gambino, and realized he actually takes his rapping seriously. Given that knowledge I decided "Sick Boi" is worth a second look. Having slept on the song the first time, I didn't pass on the dopeness of "Tru Dudes" on the second listen or any of the repeated ones since. A collaboration between mc chris and Gambino is like a nerd's hip-hop dream, but sadly it would only happen one more time on "Poindexter" before the two would part ways for unknown reasons. In fact the longer Gambino has been rapping the fewer collaborations he seems to do, which I find perplexing since they're some of the best tracks for him to cut loose and have fun. You can hear the same thing when he gets down with my man Chaz Kangas on "My Hoodie." "

http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/BTTL_gambinosickboi.html

Frank Ocean :: nostalgia, ULTRA :: Odd Future
** RapReviews "Back to the Lab" series **
as reviewed by Steve 'Flash' Juon

"No pun intended, but this is a bit of an odd album. This is the album that really blew Frank Ocean up in a big way. This is the album Jay-Z was listening to when he decided Ocean should sing hooks on "Watch the Throne." The story goes that Beyonce had a bootleg of it playing in the car, and Shawn was just amazed at how good of a crooner he was, and the rest is history. This is one of those apocryphal hip-hop stories that's so good I'm not even going to complain if it's not true, because like most stories that revolve around Odd Future members, the more unlikely they are the better. It's just as likely he was a ghostwriter for one of Beyonce's songs - but again, who cares? Frank went from "that singer from Odd Future" to "that dude on 'No Church in the Wild' I like." He really took off, to the point that "nostalgia, ULTRA" was supposed to get a major label re-release and wind up on store shelves nationwide. Unfortunately it never happened, and the reason why ISN'T a mystery. When he was just "that internet crooner" he and his producer pals freely sampled from various sources it would be cool for Ocean to sing over. He They didn't really go out of their way to hide this fact - the album is called "nostalgia" after all. He sings over Coldplay's song of the same name on "Strawberry Swing." He sings over Mr. Hudson's song of the same name on "There Will Be Tears." Those weren't even the ones that got him in trouble. "

http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/BTTL_nostalgiaULTRA.html

Gee Dubs :: AM Shift :: Gifted Hoods
as reviewed by Steve 'Flash' Juon

"You can call it "New York to Cali" if you like, but it's more like Queens, NY rap artist Gee Dubs linking up with his favorite producer Mike Cali to release a new album called "AM Shift." Even that needs some clarification though, as Mike Chops produced 3 out of the 13 tracks on this album. SFAIK that's no relation to the ORIGINAL beat wunderkind Chops, but I think that's it as far as clarification goes. As long as we're giving out credits for this album though, Jay.W did the mastering and DJ Djaz provided all the scratches. Speaking of scratching, the album got off to a good note for me on the "Intro" by combining scratches of an alarm clock with KRS-One screaming "WAKE UP!" as he did on the song "Blackman In Effect" from "Edutainment." There aren't enough KRS-One samples in hip-hop these days. Gee has a nice delivery, lyrics that don't embarass me for listening to him speak, a flow that definitely shows some potential. Even though Gee hails from Queens, his vocal inflection reminds me more of Yonkers, being at times a dead ringer for either Styles P or Sheek Louch, and perhaps an amalgamation of the two. Songs breeze by very quickly, with all but one being under 4 minutes in length, and all but four being under 3:20. 2 of the 3 longest songs on the album "Anonymous" and "No Questions" feature his friends in the All City Crew, which explains how they were able to be stretched out."

http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2012_07_AMshift.html

Open Mike Eagle :: 4NML HSPTL :: Fake Four Inc.
as reviewed by Patrick Taylor

"L.A. rapper Open Mike Eagle first came on the scene in 2007 as part of Thirsty Fish with Dumfounded and Psychosiz. He came up through L.A.'s Project Blowed, and was also part of the Swim Team. He released his first solo record, the excellent "Unapologetic Art Rap," in 2010. On that album, he attempted to forge his own path in the hip-hop world with something he calls art rap. Art rap is a criticism of both the shallow, disposable mainstream hip-hop and ossified underground hip-hop that is so obsessed with the four elements that it can't evolve past 1995. He released another album in 2011, and has put out several EPs. "4NML HSPTL" is his third solo record. All of the production on the album is handled by Awkward. Even though he's from the U.K. his beats fit in with the glitchy aesthetic of L.A. producers like Shlohmo and Take. The beats are equal parts electro, IDM, and distorted electronica. It's miles away from the sample-based boom-bap that the underground reveres and the pop sheen of mainstream rap. One of the most haunting tracks is "HSPTL." Awkward lays down some lonely, mournful synths, and Mike raps about dealing with recovering from alcoholism. "

http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2012_07_4NML.html