OuKast - ATLiens (1996)

This is the first of LuxDel's reviews that she wrote for the old blog, her personal favorite album, Outkast's classic 1996 effort, ATLiens.

Album intros are all at once meant to convey texture, direction and hint at what is to come.  It’s the first hit and it must be taken quickly.  With ATLiens, OutKast’s second offering, the first step is more of a face first fall into a warm abyss. You almost don’t want to escape. Neither Andre 3000 nor Big Boi make an appearance, and it’s left up to a hypnotic rendition of a well known children’s prayer in a cryptic language and a melancholic ballad about (maybe) dying, to usher in listeners to this 14 song lesson in Atlantan space invaders.

After the ’77 Seville vibe of “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik”, ATLiens at once manages to turn a sharp corner without falling over.  Production from Organized Noize and Earthtone Ideas ricochets from the riff driven “Wailin’” to the reverb heavy “E.T. (Extraterrestrial)” then returns to a synth fiends’s paradise on “Wheelz of Steel.”  Bass heads are serviced by the insistent beat of “Elevators (Me & You)”  and the title track’s menacing mix of live bass strings and sampled drums.

Running throughout the entire album is OutKast’s ability to craft a beautiful melody.  This is their second strongest asset and is never more evident than on “Jazzy Belle”, a blunt analysis of the opposite sex that contradicts the softness of the beat.  “Decatur Psalm” and “Ova Da Wudz” have disappointing construction, but the MC skills of the duo and Dungeon Family guests make the songs enjoyable, even without a dynamic beat to hold the verses.

It’s puzzling how often Big Boi is dismissed as ‘the ugly twin’ while he’s standing next to Andre.  Big Boi is an upper echelon MC.  He holds up the end of “Mainstream” beautifully, his storytelling on “Babylon” is engaging and he rips the title track into pieces, easily outshining Andre.  Mr. Benjamin delivers, putting his all into each verse.  He’s in blackout mode on “Elevators (Me & You)”, at his most scathing on “Mainstream” and totally candid in the anti-braggadocio “Millennium.”

The last true track of the album, “13th Floor/Growing Old”, is a soft landing.  Both Big Boi and Andre reflect and speculate, and the tender piano laced beat is deceptive considering the content of their lyrics are hard hitting truths that are still fully relevant over 15 years after conception.

Topped off with some trippy artwork, it’s an album that’s received critical acclaim ad nauseam.  It constantly battles with “Aquemini” for the title of OutKast’s best and is undoubtedly a bona fide classic, coming from a year that saw the hip hop genre gain at least a dozen other classics.  It’s thoroughly southern and holds down the ‘timeless’ label easily. If you’re looking for something that knocks the speakers and sparks the thoughts, cop this.

Highs:  Elevators, 13th Floor/Growing Old, production on Wheelz of Steel and Two Dope Boyz.  Andre’s verses on Millennium and Mainstream.  Big Boi’s verses on ATLiens, Ova Da Wudz and E.T.

Lows:  Average production on Decatur Psalm and Ova Da Wudz.  The bizarre and annoying vocal sample on Wailin’.  Organized Noize’s take on Elevators with their ONP 86 mix is an unnecessary addition to the album.

94/100

More Contributors!

One of the contributors from my previous blog has decided to allow me to bring her reviews over to the new address, so I will now be featuring reviews from, not only myself, but the one and only LuxDel, as well.

Dr. Octagonecologyst - Dr. Octagon (1996)

I can confidently say that that Dr. Octagonecolgyst is the best album about a time-traveling, extraterrestrial, surgeon/gynecologist who sleeps with his nurses and patients and may also be undead that you will ever hear.  Dr. Octagon is the alter-ego of Bronx rapper, Kool Keith, who first made a name for himself in the 80′s with seminal underground group, Ultramagnetic MCs.  1996′s Dr. Octagonecologyst is Kool Keith’s first solo album.

As well as being the solo debut of Kool Keith, Dr. Octagonecolgyst is the breakthrough album of Bay Area beat maker, Dan, the Automator, of Deltron 3030 and Gorillaz fame. Three time world DJ Champion, DJ Qbert lends his talents to several of the tracks, as well.  The album is credited with being instrumental in the revival of turntablism in the mid 90s.  Most of the beats are predominantly synth, giving the album a very spacey, futuristic ambiance.  Many of the samples are ripped from pornographic movies; appropriate given Dr. Octagon’s propensity for having sex with his patients and nurses.

Like I mentioned earlier, Dr. Octagonecologyst has one of the more… interesting concepts that you will encounter in a hip-hop album.  It’s an album that may require multiple listens, as the lyrics are very abstract and full of non-sequiters.  As it were, the album tells the tale of Dr. Octagon, the intergalactic discount surgeon of questionable credentials.  He’ll perform just about any procedure that you need him to, such as “relocating saliva glands” and treating “chimpanzee acne,” and he’ll do it for cheap… as long as you’re not bothered by horses running around the hospital or the mountains of corpses that are the result of all his botched procedures.  Dr. Octagon also likes to pretend he’s a woman and practice gynecology in order to get laid.  Whether or not Dr. Octagon is even human is debatable, as his only known relative, an uncle named Mr. Gerbik, is apparently a 208 year-old half shark-alligator half man with “skin like razor blades.”

Dr. Octagonecologyst is as important an album as it is a bizarre one.  Perhaps more than any other album, it can be credited with reviving underground hip-hop in the 90s.  G-Funk and east coast mafioso were dominating the charts at the time and the underground was stuck in a rut trying to follow suit.  Dr. Octagonecologyst reintroduced innovation to hip-hop.  In a time when everybody was trying to deal drugs and be hard, Kool Keith stood up and said “No, I’d rather be an intergalactic surgeon.”

Best Tracks: 3000, Earth People, Blue Flowers, I’m Destructive, halfsharkhalfalligatorhalfman

Overall: 94/100

Jurassic 5 - Quality Control (2000)

You may remember Jurassic 5 as a group that was “just about to get their big break” for the better part of ten years until they broke up in 2007.  While they never found the mainstream popularity that many thought they would, J5 has a respectable underground following and produced a few very good albums during their run.  Arguably their strongest release is 2000′s Quality Control.

My main issue with Quality Control is a lack of variety, mainly in the production.  Cut Chemist and DJ Nu-Mark are both top level turntable-ists, but by the midpoint of the album, hearing nothing but turntable production gets monotonous.  The album would have better served not having tracks like “Contact,” which, although impressive, only serve to magnify the excessive amount of turntables on this album. When looked at individually, however, the beats are all very enjoyable.  The album remains jazzy and upbeat from start to finish.

The primary appeal of Jurassic 5 is their unique approach to vocals.  The group features four vocalists, all of whom get used in some fashion on almost every track.  The standard formula seems to be to have Chali 2Na and one or more of the others rap the verses, while everyone else sings background vocals and choruses.  Harmonization is a given in any J5 release.  Unfortunately, monotony shows it’s ugly face once again, this time in the lyrical themes.  The message off this album boils down to nothing but “We’re Jurassic 5, and we’re awesome.”  The only real exception to this is “Contribution,” which focuses instead on the trials and tribulations of being poor and having kids.

Chali 2Na is, without question, the strongest rapper in the group.  Mark 7even has his moments, including a very admirable performance of “Jurass Finish First,”  but as a whole, the rest of the rappers’ verses are forgettable.  Zaakir, who sounded very promising on their debut album, Jurassic 5, fails to make much of an impression on Quality Control.

Quality Control is a good album, however, the lack of variety both in production and lyrical themes prevents it from taking that next step to being a great or classic album.  Jurassic 5 was a group that had the talent to release a classic album, but was never able to take that next step before the disproportionate ability of Chali 2Na and Cut Chemist to the rest of the group resulted in a break up.

Best Tracks: The Influence, Quality Control, Jurass Finish First, Improvise, Swing Set

Overall: 86/100

Elzhi - ELmatic (2011)

Anybody who knows hip-hop at all knows Illmatic.  The 1994 album by Nas is almost universally hailed as one of, if not the greatest hip-hop album ever made.  What MC, Elzhi, along with fellow Detroiters, Will Sessions, have done with ELmatic is taken the old beats off Illmatic, tweaked them a little bit, to bring them into the modern era and recorded his own vocals over these re-imaginings of the Illmatic beats.  A project like this is inevitably going to draw comparisons to the original, and Elzhi had big shoes to fill here.  Even Nas, himself, has never managed to escape the shadow of Illmatic.


The beats are classic, but the original DJ Premier and Large Professor versions were classics, so I don’t want to give too much credit to Will Sessions.  They were given gold and basically just polished it a little.  Live instruments are always refreshing to hear on hip-hop albums, though and they did make a few tweaks to make the aging Illmatic beats a bit more appealing to modern listeners.  The original samples are all still present, allowing ELmatic to maintain a similar vibe to the original.  The biggest problem I have is that for whatever reason, several of the tracks include extended periods of just the instrumentals playing, including over three straight minutes at the end of “One Love.”  I’ll never understand why artists include these extended instrumental portions, I’ve never met anybody who enjoys them.  I don’t mind when they’re use to segue into the next track, but that can be done in ten seconds; anything over a minute just detracts from the album.

While the beats on Illmatic are classic, the lyrics are legendary.  Elzhi has had a reputation as a great lyricist since his days with Slum Village, but when I first heard about this project, I scoffed at the idea of him being able to successfully recreate the feel and technical skill exhibited in Illmatic.  I assumed that, at best, it was going to be of a similar caliber to Fashawn’s similarly themed Ode to Illmatic mix tape, from last year.  That is to say, merely an above average tape.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Elzhi absolutely owns every track on here, at times rivaling and (I’m about to commit heresy here.) even surpassing Nas’s original rhymes.  Most of the tracks share a similar lyrical theme to their Illmatic equivalent, the notable exception is “It Ain’t Hard to Tell,”  which turns from a very braggadocious track into a narrative about Elzhi’s early life and rise to fame.

Remaking Illmatic was a risky move.  This could have very easily been an absolute disaster for Elzhi, especially if it had been a weaker release than Fashawn’s effort.  The gamble payed off for him, though and we’re treated to a stunning re-imagining of a legendary album, which succeeds in both paying homage to and building upon the original.  Elzhi shows off a level of lyrical ability that we have never seen from him before, making ELmatic arguably the best hip-hop release of 2011.

Best Tracks: Detroit State of Mind, Halftime, Memory Lane, Represent, It Ain’t Hard to Tell

Overall: 91/100

Common - The Dreamer/The Believer (2011)

Common is a rapper that could have retired ten years ago and still be considered one of the all time greats.  He’s got arguably more classic albums to his name than any other MC to ever do it, and he’s near universally respected because of it.  He’s one of my personal favorites, as well.  That being said, The Dreamer/The Believer is not Com’s best work, not by a long shot.  It is, however, quite possibly his best release since his 2005 classic, “Be.”

Those of you out there who know Common, know that him and producer, No I.D. have worked  together multiple times in the past, most notably on 1994′s, “Resurrection” (another one of Com’s classics).  So, these two Chicago veterans have chemistry; they understand each other, and this shows throughout the album.  The production has a very 90′s-esque feel to it, which I can only assume was the idea, since both Com and I.D. are in the twilight of their careers at this point and neither have found the success that they had together in the mid 90′s since.

Of note is the lack of guest features on the album, aside from the obligatory spot from “Pops” on the final track, all there is is Nas (who Common is releasing a collab with next year), soul artist, John Legend and poet, Maya Angelou.  The guests may be few, but they are all very well done.  Maya Angelou is a legend, and she brought out an original poem for the first track, “The Dreamer”.  Nas delivers a poignant verse on the album’s first single “Ghetto Dreams” and John Legend handles the chorus in spectacular fashion on “The Believer.”

Every part of The Dreamer/The Believer screams “positive hip-hop.”  Common has always been known for having a positive message to his music, but TD/TB takes it to a whole ‘nother level.  From the title of the album, to the music videos, to the production, to the lyrics, Common all but slaps you in the face with his positive message.  Quite frankly, it’s too much.  I’m all for positive hip-hop, but at least try to be subtle about it.  I don’t know whether the whole White House controversy got to him, or what, but Common leaves little to the imagination on this album.  He often comes across as more preachy and pretentious than positive.  The one outlyer in all this is “Sweet,” which takes an inexplicably harder tone, features Common doing braggadocio and for some reason takes shots at singer/rappers. *cough* Drake *cough*  While “Sweet” doesn't exactly fit in with the tone of the album, it does a fantastic job breaking up what could have potentially been an album that all just ran together into one unmemorable blob.

All and all, The Dreamer/The Believer isn't Common’s best, but it is still a good effort from a great MC and great producer.  It’s obvious that Common had a message that he wanted to get across with this album, but it’s unfortunate that he sacrificed wordplay to do so.  If nothing else, he at least makes FOX News look stupid for calling him a gangster rapper.

Best Tracks: The Dreamer, Ghetto Dreams, Blue Sky, Sweet, Celebrate, The Believer

Overall: 83/100

Blue Scholars - Cinemetropolis (2011)

Blue Scholars have come a long way since their last full length LP, 2007′s “Bayani.”  The concept behind Cinemetropolis is supposed to be a celebration of films, or something.  At least, that’s what Geo has said in interviews.  The titles of all the songs (excluding the first and last) are the names of film actors/actresses, directors and producers, with each song supposedly celebrating something about that particular person’s essence.  It’s a concept so abstract, that if Geo hadn’t explicitly told us, nobody would’ve ever gotten it.  The tracks all have little to nothing to do with films or cinema, focusing instead on the typical Blue Scholars subjects: politics, Seattle, etc.

Geologic has clearly developed as an MC over the past 5 years, he no longer has the monotone delivery that he was heavily criticized for on the group’s first releases, which sacrificed inflection for the sake of ensuring that his political charged lyrics were absolutely understandable.  The change takes some getting used to if you’re used to Geo’s old delivery.  The message seems somehow less powerful because of it; he’s lost some of his “poet turned rapper” vibe, trading it it for a more traditional delivery and flow.  It’s hard to fault a guy for becoming more diverse in flow and delivery, though.

Gone are the days of the booming drum machines, sampled guitar riffs and piano that characterized Sabzi’s early productions.  They’ve been replaced by synth beats.  From almost any other producer, I would be applauding the way the beats run into each other and the overall melodiousness of them, but I’ve come to expect more from Sabzi.  Instead of the slow, relaxed melodies typical of him, we’re given several beats that sound like they belong on a post “Late Registration” Kanye album.  Poppy.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, the Blue Scholars have changed.  The music is still good, but they’ve lost what made them unique.  Having beats that sound like Kanye’s wouldn’t be a bad thing… if this was a Kanye album.  I don’t listen to Blue Scholars for grandiose production with a traditional rapper, though.  I know, I can’t expect artists to never change their sound.  It has to happen, but I think Cinemetropolis was a step in the wrong direction for Blue Scholars.  Unfortunately, they won’t see it that way when it’s their most successful album yet.  Get ready to start hearing them on the radio soon, I guess…

Best Tracks: Cinemetropolis, Lalo Schifrin, Anna Karina, Slick Watts, Rani Mukerji

Overall: 77/100