Rittz really is a 'Top of the Line' emcee in his third LP

Top of the Line by Rittz

Great Strange Music ambassador and commanding, torrential rapper Rittz (Jonathan McCollum) took a year off from releasing anything last year, but it was definitely for a good reason. He needed the time to perfect his double-disc-sized third studio album, Top of the Line (May 6, Strange Music Inc). The Gwinnett County, Georgia native's last album, Next to Nothing, saw some repetition with his first, The Life and Times of Jonny Valiant, but this time he's trying a few new things and they're really working for him. Besides having a longer time-length, the emotionally streaked Top of the Line is adorned with real personal experiences from Rittz's own life, lessons in tow of course, plus fresh new rhymes in Rittz's staple rapid fire delivery. There are a few down moments between the most remarkable songs, i.e. more generic guest cuts or loose parts without majorly dedicated subject matter, but the album absolutely never skitters or drags, but rather rides smoothly along through the highs and lows of Rittz's memory.

At every stop along the way, Rittz is generous with his relentlessly incredible rap-lyricism as usual, but the way he works these vocal/poetic capabilities of his around situations, stories and topics is truly something to marvel at. He is dissatisfied with parts of the game in "Ghost Story," lends a hand of support to Black Lives Matter and the anti-bullying movement in "Until We Meet Again," fights to stay away from depression and drugs in the uplifting "My Window" and "Just Say No," and humbles up cocky outsiders by informing them of the pure misery of the ghetto with Cheeto Gambine in "Diamonds & Gold." Starting in on the theme of family connections and afflictions, "KISA" cherishes reciprocated love, "Back To Yesterday" drops off separation woes, and then we seem to almost experience with Rittz firsthand one of the most devastating losses he's ever had to endure in "Nostalgia," the official closer.

Rittz can't help but be stunning here with his flows. He's got skills good enough to run a million good mills, and they're all the more useful in tracks like "Day of the Dead" and "Is That That B*tch" where he's forced to keep outrageously hateful violators and trolls at bay, or better yet drowned beneath the waters of said bay. Authentic and real to be correct, Rittz is open, honest, forthcoming and intimate about his experiences and affairs, with the hope that we the listeners can take something valuable from them to help our own lots in life, and it's all a joy ride to take in. The music can come with some calm pulsing sounds and cool rhythmic soul or harder bumping, knocking beats of household hip-hop blends. In a like manner, the name brand value is given variety from the input of E-40, Mike Posner, Tech N9ne, Krizz Kaliko, Devin The Dude and MJG (of 8ball & MJG). Although Top of the Line has the same basic structure and arguably makeup (a little) as the first two Rittz albums (just lengthier obviously), it definitely feels closer to the man's heart, and it definitely shows growth in him. Top of the Line: an all around excellent project with different shades, dimensions and flavors from Rittz.

4 out of 5 stars

(Review by Alex originally appeared on Examiner.com on May 6, 2016.) 

O'hene Savant has not 'A Lack Of Convention' in the clear-minded album éclat

A Lack of Convention by O'hene Savánt

While the portrait of hip-hop's true nature gets obscured and falsified by media-created creatures like Drake, Young Thug, Future and still others, bands of noble artists keeping the music grand and pure are deliberately pushed out of view by the ruling commercial classes of America and the other first world states. Atlanta producer, rapper and multi-instrumentalist O'hene Savant (pronounced Oh-hen-knee Sah-vahnt) is one of those good true-schoolers in the game working to preserve hip-hop's greatness. His second album of 2016, A Lack of Convention (May 4), follows a number of other projects (including Os The Great And Powerful, Illuminated, I Am Ohene, etc.) and offers clarity on examining life so that it remains worth living and a deep, inquisitive look at how people conduct themselves and how they should, if they're not doing it the right way already. He spends the rest of his time spitting some boasts and hard remarks of I-told-you-so, not to mention bluesy notes on desertion without love, but his tremendous, indelible rap-flows of élan and his intimate productions reign very prominently. Come because of the hype but leave a real believer.

O'hene's awesome lyricism and twinkly beat in "Ntro 2 Aloc" deliver him out of his shell, and again his real awesome raps and rhymes help him to give others notice of his rising come-up and to leave behind folks that never helped him along the way and people riding on his coattails now. "Login Out" and "Silence in the Morning" are elected as the album's two love-blues songs, grieving and mourning dying love and the absence from an ex-lover's departure. They're blessed with E. Snipe, Sheda B and Joey Bean Little, who with O'hene are fully devoted and indescribably expressive poetically. In between them coincidentally, the funky "Femp," or the "female version of a pimp," cuts in to warn of these times' ultra-independent woman. After the hot, creatively narrated foreplay of "Misty Love" with razzBearry Vonté, the dreadfully important "Speak The Truth" describes how the financial elite directing quote unquote advanced society from up high are intentionally keeping the masses down (through entertainment among everything else) so they can continue to steal all the wealth and power of the world in dark secret, under concealment. The specific example of overseer control and domination from which O'hene derives his true conclusion has to do with music and the consumed arts being dumbed down to keep the people stupid so they won't get smart, wise up, rise up and lead lives counter to the wishes of demonic corporate forces.

"IDC" runs free into a fun wander through the realm of not giving an f over funkedified talk-boxing. It's the type of song that people in-the-know will understand in terms of what O'hene is thinking, but it would have helped if he made it a little clearer that it is the little harmful insignificant forms of hogwash in life that he is saying "I don't care" about there. In the satire of our society's focus on ego, selfishness and self-centeredness called "A Theory of Mine," O'hene leads us to conclude on our own (self-discovery) that the key mentality is for community, connection and common sustainable values. In "Pro-gress Music," he is fed up with the reoccurring stagnation in the black community, showing very tough love and sharing the fact that progress starts as a mindset, and in "Cesare Borgia," his super conscious flow dances on time with the rhythm of his trained piano fingers. A Lack of Convention is simply outstanding from top to bottom. The wisdom is striking with O'hene's perfect delivery and the music is hip and painstakingly made to mesmerize. It's bound to come out in the wash for 2016 as one of the best efforts of the year, as we'll soon enough see. O'hene Savant is a savant in a handful of technical art and music areas, but the idiot type he could never be.

5 out of 5 stars

(Review by Alex originally appeared on Examiner.com on May 10, 2016.)

'Lead Poison,' rapper Elzhi's first project in five years, is a five-star album

Lead Poison by Elzhi

Given the recent Flint, Michigan water crisis in which lead and other contaminants from the Flint River were poisoning public water works, it's either a big coincidence that Detroit emcee and former Slum Villager Elzhi also named his eight-years-in-the-making sophomore LP Lead Poison or he knew what he was doing. Granted, Flint and Detroit are a trek away from each other, but word travels fast these days and so will word of Lead Poison, a classic hip-hop album (released far ahead of schedule yesterday March 25 via Glow365). Elzhi released his debut album, Preface, eight years ago, and in 2011, he dropped what I'll call a remixtape, the kind dedication-album Elmatic, built with Nas's Illmatic as a major inspiration and guide for it.

In a work that is as much science as art, Elzhi has taken his time crafting this amazing masterwork. With absolutely no dull moments, it has the man unwinding fine creative rhymes with tons of meaning about down feelings, relationship negatives, ghetto poverty, loneliness, and the struggle to maintain and prosper. The expert, emotive music score comes from a pretty big handful of producers. Nick Speed, Bombay, 14KT, Quelle Chris of Mello Music Group, Karriem Riggins, Soledad Brother, Oh No of Gangrene, Joself and Agor are right there for Elzhi, with the appropriate samples and instrument supplements, whether his mood is sad, motivated, energetic or reflective.

The first four-song block in Lead Poison is quite depressive, but Elzhi uses his music and writing as therapy, not to mention his flawless delivery practices. He goes into the hard knock life in the formal intro, the correspondingly titled second track "Introverted." His great lyricism and wordplay are on display right away in the uninterrupted streams of smart philosophy of "Medicine Man" and continue without break thereafter. El's problems with pot and his sadness from longing and loss are very well showcased on "Weedipedia" and "February" made all the more affective with beautiful soul samples of horns, guitar and piano in at least two of these tracks.

In "Egocentric," El spits some ridiculously nice rhymes in crazy good rapping that would be insurmountable in battle. Tragedy hits home in "Two 16's" as El describes the despair and severe misfortune of two 16 year olds from the ghetto. "Hello!!!!!" celebrates communication, or more specifically the joy, magic and technique of reaching out using the device of hip-hop and song as tools, and "Friendzone" expresses righteous vitriol to girls that go for low quality dudes, chicks who choose terrible guys.

Over twinkling vibes, Elzhi raps wisdom in nimble and neat rhymes and speaks on avoiding trouble once again with more stories in "Cloud." The "Alienated" mega-piece is El's ode to not fitting in and closing oneself off from the world by force and/or by choice. It may not feel lonely, and in fact, there is something joyful in the split here, yet again, there is no escaping the overcast darkness looming over the loner Elzhi. What probably started as the depiction of a particularly sad abysmal time in El's life, this brilliantly affective song will be commonly felt by most if not all in years to come. This third block ends with "She Sucks" featuring Chris Dave, a conceptual/metaphorical story with links and relevance to one real-world phenomenon in particular.

The last section ends positively. Elzhi works hard and spreads thoughts of wanting to be self-made in "Cosign" featuring Skonie, and in "Misright," he is looking for a good "down" girl, fighting to stay afloat in a sea of constant discouragement in this matter. Thabisile Griffin has her wonderful way with words in "The Turing Point" interlude-slash-poem, and in the finale, Elzhi chucks some accurate agreeable braggadocio as well as some powerful last words of weight, meaning and lasting value, as he tapers off via a cappella recitation, "Keep Dreaming" y'all.

Elzhi has really delivered well with Lead Poison. We get to experience his prodigious pencil work of fury here ("lead"), and we're warned of some of the natural pitfalls of life too ("lead poison"). We also get just incredible hip-hop raps straight to the gut, no chaser, paired with music productions made in that old style of taking the old and making it new again, fresh. Instead of pimping, hoes, goods, gangsters, guns and green (well, except for maybe a little weed), Elzhi and his team of producers impressively convey real human emotions and feelings. They demonstrate how the ordinary can be made extraordinary with vast mic skills accompanied by equally vast music pieces, brought together in touching concoctions. May he be slept on no more. Elzhi is exquisite to the extreme in Lead Poison.

5 out of 5 stars

(Review by Alex originally appeared on Examiner.com on March 26, 2016.)

Zion I helps us navigate through 'The Labyrinth' of life in new album

The Labyrinth by Zion I

The now two decade long career of Oakland, CA’s Zion I (emcee Zumbi and formerly DJ/producer Amp Live) has surely been without commercial embarrassment but not without several great successful albums, though the journey certainly wasn’t a cakewalk. Label shifts and not enough recognition and acceptance from the mainstream for many of their LPs kept them motivated, on the move, and a mostly underground diamond in the rough. One thing is for sure however: they could always be counted on to make pure hip-hop music that is at the very least good but very much remarkable most of the time. Prior to today, their last studio LP, the winning Shadowboxing, dropped in 2012, and now, The Labyrinth LP (Oct 21, Mind Over Matter) fantastically follows suit for the now solo Zumbi, who has recruited a panel of producers including Ariano, Mikos, Teeko and Decap for the music beats.

The genre-bending and genre-blending musical style that has so magnificently marked Zion I’s run is again in fun unique and original form here, finished with well balanced sound-mixing and professional mastering and complimented with heart-to-heart rap verses. Each one teach one or when possible each one teach many is the philosophy in Labyrinth in order to escape the maze of modern day society. In representing the traditional Zion I stance of freedom, Zumbi cuts himself away from mainstream thought and harmful groupthink in “Wings,” and in “Let Me Be,” he is hip to the dirty ways of the industry, testifying that “it’s evident most rappers are rapping irrelevant, nonsense lyrical concepts are venomous, pedaling toxic ideology” and that those particular rappers do it strictly for the dough (not good). Later, in “Cold Game,” he tests the temptations and trappings of the showy glitzy status quo rapping about “lost ones caught up in fashion” and warns us saying, “caution, noose for a necktie but ‘everything is awesome,’ all about that money but that money never made a man.”

Zion I is one hundred and ten percent dedicated to spreading positive, warm loving vibes geared toward optimism, but he is also watchful of the existing demons that pounce so by no means is he off guard or too trusting. This tone can be found in the firm drum beats and Zumbi’s strong conscious vocals, as any fan can attest to. Other very noteworthy sections include the love sent to good fathers in “Not Ur Fault” and “Sauce” looking at the poor immigrant experience in America with advice to steer clear of the culture’s negative influences and “okey doke.” All play out to a cool backdrop of broad-ranging music, integrated tastefully into the tracks. The Labyrinth follows the general format, structure and outline of your typical hip-hop album with some bouncy rocking party-ready songs, but that’s fine because its nondenominational, nonreligious spirituality not to mention its vast knowledge and wisdom in super strong messages make the LP another fabulous endeavor for this true prophet from the West.

4 out of 5 stars

L'Orange & Mr. Lif reach new heights in their forewarning rally-cry 'The Life & Death of Scenery'

The Life & Death of Scenery by L'Orange & Mr. Lif

Never doubt the wholesome influence and might of Mello Music Group in these days and times because though their record isn’t perfect, they keep coming back with awe-inspiring hip-hop gems that will last forever, as is the case with their latest release, The Life & Death of Scenery (Oct 14), a collaboration between the reputably great, twenty-some years strong-in-the-game emcee Mr. Lif and crate-honoring/sample-resurrecting producer L’Orange, featuring a midsize group of impeccable guests from their own picking. The album is a whole lot more than just a lyrically heavy conscious rap LP. It is an allegorical tale of an artless and heartless dystopian future, one where books, music and liberating opportunities are things of the past but from which the brilliant souls and minds of people rise up to flourish again and overthrow the totalitarian state bent on controlling them. It is equally social commentary and prophecy, driven by human strength, good intentions and a proper measure of humor. Mr. Lif and L’Orange are in top form delivering their best work yet in this lessons-packed hip-hop story.

To help narrate the storyline are four skits announced by the new radio channel created to keep the clones of the dark world in line and in order. In a quotidian segment coined “The Perfect World Radio Hour,” a faceless anchor disseminates drab news of the day with monotonous upcoming events. The first one we hear starts on day 279 (post-purge) and already the situation is very much bleak for its subjects. Mr. Lif, in “A World Without Music,” describes the effects of living under the crushing regime, where weakened thought and a deterioration of human nature and health plague all. With resilient Perceptionist emcee Akrobatik, “The Scribe” arrives with confidence to assist in deconstructing this brutal state (mind DJ Qbert’s professional handy work on L’Orange’s banging beat). Using weak rationale, our radio host tries hopelessly to deny the scribe’s greatness but he simply cannot. Lif with Chester Watson discuss the baits that lure the unknowing in “Antique Gold,” and all the way to “The Gentle End” they “keep[…] only beauty in […their] eyesight.”

The picture moves to Akrobatik again, Gonjasufi and Insight, who are there to help Lif make their fellow men and women aware of the “Strange Technology” and the “Five Lies about the World Outside” that have slyly become so ubiquitous in their lives and permeated into their existence so slickly that they’ve drawn next to no unwanted attention to them. On day 421 during the Radio Hour, the sounds of the revolt can’t help but be heard simmering and bubbling up in the background of Mr. Puppet-broadcaster, who is desperately trying to hold his program together. The voice of Mr. Lif, our hallowed truth-speaker, comes through replacing that of the now powerless “Perfect World” promoter to expose the king, sole controller of the globe, in “A Palace in the Sky” as his cold brick fortress disintegrates and vaporizes into the air leaving him “lost in the mirage of his reprieve.” End scene.

This is a happy ending. The ruthless ruler is dethroned, his institution disappears and the people no longer believe in the spiritless system force-fed to them since the banishment of quality entertainment. The Life & Death of Scenery is as much warning as it is guidance – where we might be headed (ignorant lifeless doom) and what it necessitates (unity and enlightenment). Such a loaded valuable account as this deserves more development and length as it is a bit loose and abbreviated, but it’s got progressive alternative boom-bap and picture-painting verses and it’s nevertheless a solid plot to teach that corrupt sources of power when exposed to the light (or when they become apparent to the people in the form of common knowledge) will inevitably dry up and decay.

5 out of 5 stars

The trailblazing Lady Paradox & beatsmith Gadget tell us how to manage 'Mood Swings'

Mood Swings by Lady Paradox & Gadget

Here to give us sugar and spice and everything nice, emcee Lady Paradox from Leicester, England and recording studio master Gadget have finally gotten together to make a collaborative album, coming eight years after the two crossed paths and hit it off in 2008. Eight years in the imagining and more like one or two in the making, Mood Swings (Sept 9, Millennium Jazz/Vinyl Digital) is Lady Paradox’s third album, her first two (Kind of Peace and Soulscapes & Jazz Breaks) being collaborations as well but with the very jazzy Pat D instead of Gadget. Gadget himself can claim The Dirty Thumbs Project compilation from 2011 as one of his own, and while his style of jazz may not be the same as Pat’s, the genre is definitely felt with a causal swing if you will in Mood Swings. Easygoing and rich with deep understanding of the human mind, psyche and condition, it is sure to leave you in a state of both tranquility and enlightenment.

Not your typical rap individual, Lady Paradox is still a fine emcee suspended in a peaceful meditation of good vibes and healthy thought patterns flowing side by side with her music partner. With help from the very soulful Anna Stott on “Modern Reflective,” she displays breathtaking wisdom as she unplugs from the predominant framework of society with its misleading mendacious media, going over some of the common lies and indoctrinated stereotypes that the orchestrators of society have drilled into people since the beginning of time. In exceptional rap form, she begins with a little mimicry, repeating the rhetoric of the powerful, then she moves on to describe the general feeling of citizens in the industrial world when she states, “the problem is youth, the laws they dismantle / not those in suits who are forming a scandal / I feel hopeless like morning is cancelled” … “the system enclosed us, caught on our ankles / holding us down, all of us scramble / ask questions, you’re more than a handful.”

She reminds us to make the best of life in the cool relaxing “Memory Package,” and on “Trust,” she breaks away from conformity, in a spell of beautiful poetry of course. In seeking out what it means to trust, have faith in each other and even if they still exist, she shares where we as a people are going wrong and how we should go forward: “have you ever had that feeling, alone and detached? / surrounded by people but hopeless and trapped / now that you’re grown up her moments have passed” and “fame can arouse us, celebrity status / or hide behind makeup, neglecting my neighbors / ‘people are dangerous’ is pressed in the papers / we pass the blame but society shapes us.” The second verse offers one remedy: “turn off television, choose not to listen and silence the sound, create our own drama with nights on the town.” Her mind is completely purified, going along with her skits forwarding the message that thought dictates mood which dictates one’s general emotional state and disposition. Out with the bad, in with the good.

Speaking of “in with the good,” Lady Paradox does just that with her “Favorite Things.” Emcee Efeks of Prose helps. The little things you can’t put a price on like “the smell of cut grass [and] going dizzy from getting up fast” fuel her in addition to some you wouldn’t immediately expect to please anyone – she says, “I love a bath and the way you say ‘bawth,’ people who place all their faith in the stars, people who want to be famous but aren’t, people who say they’re not racist but are.” “Where The Wild Things Are” could be its sequel because along those same lines of innocent wide-eyed learning and discovery, “Wild Things” revisits childhood, and “One of Those Days” does slow, lazy, do little off-days, those times when we just let our business and normal routines go by the wayside and wait a while. It may or may not help that Lady Paradox and Gadget express guilt from it. We all know these two will get back on their feet: “I must take distractions away, step out the mundane routines, this lack of motivation is a must change.” -Gadget

In the end and to get guidance due to her curious exploratory nature, Lady Paradox sends a “Dear Future Self” to the person she’ll soon become, asking questions about what type of woman she’s going to be, if she’s changed and most importantly how the world will turn out. She can’t tell her younger self what is to happen but leaves her with the grounded advice to “appreciate and just live your days.” To no surprise since Gadget is a fine music maker and Lady Paradox is such a different incredibly heartfelt rapper, Mood Swings is absolutely sensational, featuring the fine touch and the voice of reason of a smart young woman over sweet equalizing beats of a kicked back variety. It’s like a warm home cooked meal after a hard day’s work on a bitter cold winter’s night. It makes you feel good all over and restores you to normal. It must be because very popular hip-hop in general has too much propaganda that Mood Swings eliminates it entirely from the agenda, and to highly desirable results too. The album doesn’t suffers from the emotional fluctuations of its name simply because it knows how to work around them.

5 out of 5 stars

Swet Shop Boys cross boundaries in debut album 'Cashmere'

Cashmere by Swet Shop Boys

No f’s-giving trio Das Racist dissolved and then Queens, NY-made Punjabi emcee Heems released his solo debut Eat Pray Thug, but recently he’s been linking up with two other guys that are not Kool AD or Dapwell. The Swet Shop Boys are made up of Heems of course but also Pakistani-English rapper Riz MC and London producer Redinho. Their debut LP, Cashmere (Oct 14, Customs), is just as diverse as the backgrounds of its members. As fun and tongue-in-cheek as it seems to always lean back on from time to time, it’s also sociopolitically observant and outspoken, though it never gets extremely controversial despite some nice spots of tempered protest.

Redinho has fused together some choice South Asian and Middle Eastern instruments with strong drums and Western electro-music favorites for a very unique hip-hop production sound. In tandem, Heems and Riz cover some playful topics relieved by status quo busters that are critical of police violence (“Shottin”), media censorship (“Half Moghul Half Mowgli”), government surveillance (“Phone Tap”) and racism (several parts). As often as our vocalists here are system-shakers and establishment-quakers though, they are also fly hip talks of the town and lives of the party just as often if not more of the time.

Tailored for English language familiar rap-audiences as much as for folks from Riz and Heems’ own neck of the world-woods ethnically-speaking, Cashmere has adequate eclecticism to draw a diverse variety of listeners. Their attitude and regional tongues, dialects and slang plus their light, not-too-serious nature keep it pretty well rounded. The rhyme-lyricism and wordplay both get involved most of the time, though not incessantly, and Redinho’s experimental house-type beats make for many nice backdrop musics of a type rarely heard before. Only time will tell if this solid, substantial threesome will be able to maintain their group dynamic and cohesion over the long run.

3 out of 5 stars