So I actually got some time, and I decided to dive head-first into one of my favorite albums. One Be Lo, born Nahshid Sulaiman represents pure alternative hip-hop in it's purest form. Think the straight hip-hop dedication like J Dilla, mixed with Common's good guy/conscious rap message, fused with politically charged rhymes. Add all those together, and you get about half of Nahshid's overall message and appeal... I'm telling y'all don't sleep on this dude.
The Good:
1. Intro- The instrumental is awesome, and the lyrics by themself are also great, but together they don't really work.
2. The UNDERground- As ignorant as this sounds, this track really embodies what hip-hop would have were it not for the rise of the South and hip-pop... and ultimately this song sums up all my feelings about hip-hop in a concise three minutes.
3. enecS eht no kcaB- Compare every song ever made to this one. It's beyond perfect.
4. Questions- This is one of those verses that sounds like it was taped by telephone (maybe it was). But if you really focus on what Nahshid's saying, you will marvel at how cruel the world really is.
5. Oggie- This track is a little bit weaker, One Be Lo is quite the vivid storyteller, but you can tell when he's lacing the wax with filler...
6. Propaganda- Every line is true, and I'm Jewish (listen and you will see the irony).
8. Axis- This track is an underground classic, ask any hip hop head what they think of this track and they'll answer with one word: CLASSIC.
10. True Love- A Tribe beat, you know how I say I don't like tracks that are female-oriented... this once, and probably only once will I change my mind completely... love this track.
12. Used To Be Fly- You know shit is tight when you can listen to a track that's pretty much acapella, over and over and over and over and over and over again.
13. Deceptions- I'm about halfway done with this review, and I'm running out of synonyms for perfect... um... this song is great!
14. Can't Get Enough- Fuck replay potential, this track has got "Live my life by this track" potential.
16. Evil Of Self- Back to the basics!! An insanely smooth jazz sample, that itself is probably a supreme track... lends an upper hand to one of the better narratives on this album (and that's definitely saying something).
17. The Future- Another sick instrumental, laced with great lyricism. It's getting hard to not sound repetitive (I'm sorry)!
18. E.T.- The instrumental matches the title of the track, a very funky almost "One Love" type vibe.
20. Rocketship- It's almost funny after hearing One Be Lo share part of his soul with his intensely personal rhymes, to hear him on that old school tip talking about how fake the industry is... but this track is still tight.
22. Follow My Lead- And if you ever think you've heard a good rap outro, YOU WERE WRONG!!
If you couldn't tell I was biased coming into this review, now you can... this album is something everyone must have, EVERYONE! Yes, that includes you...
0-20: Terrible listening experience
21-40: Maybe one good song
41-60: A few good songs
61-80: Half are good songs, half are weak
81-100: Great listening experience, almost all are great songs
I give this album a 98.
First, when I gave "Illmatic" a 95, I said no album would ever get higher... I was wrong, very wrong... I always held this album in high acclaim, but after hearing it again. Damn... it's nearly perfect.
After listening to this album and falling in love with hip-hop once more, I expect all of you to go out and cop this shit.
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