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El da sensei relax relate release1/9/2024 ![]() But it’s hard to review something when a fair number of tracks are faded out after first two and a half minutes, sometimes in mid-verse. I have a bit of an ax to grind though, apologies I know we try to keep it impartial here. Though it’s incredible how different an experienced wordsmith sounds behind the microphone, how compelling and confident his verses are, especially in comparison to the careless cooler-than-thou artistry that seems in style as of late, there needs to be something more. Though Sensei puts to shame chart swamping newcomers, the album could use a bit more, some kind of punch that gets you in the mid-section, deep, down, and dirty. But, in a world of Pitchfork-inspired barbs, when the worst thing leveled at you is that your album’s a bit heavy on the filler, you’re doing all right.Īs nice as it is to hear a straight-up MC, a no-nonsense lyrical athlete, an album needs more dimensions than one to stand tall in a crowded field. Several tracks (“Rock it Out”, “No Matter”), get bogged down in bland boot-thumping choruses and forgettable lyrics. I won’t take issue with that, but there are few surprises waiting on “The Unusual” —none actually—which I say not so-much as a bad thing, but as warning: if you’re looking for something new, you won’t find it here. ![]() At times El bends to his own rhyming prowess, stringing together unoriginal lyrical blocks just because they sound good, not taking the time to put together real insightful content. That doesn’t mean things don’t get monotonous. ![]() He knows how to rap, and he packs the album with solid verse after verse. Rhyme off-rhythm, skip a beat here or there it’s not that you suck, you’re artistic! El doesn’t have a breath to spare for such trivialities—he’s too tightly glued to the beat to pay attention. It appears that not only is it a lost art, it’s not even a prerequisite anymore. It’s what separates talking from rapping, and it’s important. None of them interested in that nifty talent, the flow, the rhythm, whatever you want to call it, that magical ability to ride a beat with your rhymes. And what a difference it is to listen to an experienced rapper! A random sampling of half-a-dozen new releases will give you an assortment of school boys and boutique hip-hop rangers. Straight-forward with a healthy dose of the abstract, El’s effortless beat-riding flow kicks the album out of the gate strong and fast. Swinging the wood like Pujols, prepare for a new host” It’s no surprising that I’m bringing the good What you’ve been missing in lyrical exercising With the greatest of songs that could never go wrongĭo the neck snap back-and-forth realizing To my duties and laws to refresh all y’all To reel service for clarity in its best formĪbove the normal to my crew just stay swan I’m so ill like the film time to kill, real Respect the essence and build on my landfill My testament in all closed-circuit events This always was a prolific-git – is here to present In excess of trees a lavish home is all I need, oh My chattering patterned to seize what I greed Made the freak of a nature all pro-ed out and for splattering ![]() “Now when the pen hits the pad, things start happening The husky crooning sample (wherever it’s from), sets a deep frame for El to work into, a dense sinker of a track that he picks up and runs with: It eases you into El’s musical world, a growing melody, the pop of the kick hitting, and you’re in deep. The lead-off track, “Crowd Pleasa” (that has one of those taunting samples that I can’t quite place), is one of the few intros that actually perform their stated function. “The Unusual” is El Da Sensei’s second solo effort, and with distribution on the reputable, if somewhat elusive Fat Beats Records, he’s poised to make a major underground reentrance.Įl doesn’t waste a moment in plunging into the energetic body of the album. Though they separated after a pair of full lengths, El Da Sensei and Tame One are both still going strong. The album’s lead single “Wrong Side of the Tracks” presages the earnest affability of Hieroglyphics and Pharcyde, mixed down with the spare jazz instrumentation of A Tribe Called Quest – call it Native Tongues with a little more gangster flare. Somewhere in that flurry of classic albums, The Artifacts dropped “Between A Rock And A Hard Place”, and though it has slipped somewhat to the wayside since, it earns a solid spot in the hip-hop pantheon, a difficult task considering the healthy competition from those years. Dre was splitting wax, eight when Biggie laid down “Ready to Die”, a month later, Snoop released “Doggystyle”. I grin every time I think about how old I was when some of the harder hitting MC’s put out their first records.
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