love this project. the beats are raw and to the point head nodders. this is gritty and straightforward - not for people who like pretentious pitchfork rap with a million space noises - but definitely for those who dig DITC and DJ Premier.
I wanted to love this. I expected to love it. But all you really need to know is that when they're big-upping Detroit hip-hop, they name drop Everlast and Trick Daddy... and don't mention Black Milk or J Dilla. The production's nice, but the beats are just awful: bass snare. Bass bass snare. Ditto with the raps: great voices, awful execution, from the Vinnie Paz school of rhyming couplets; except for Invincible's verse on Statistics anyway. Next time, let her do all the rapping, bring in ?uestlove to do the drumming, and it'll be great.
Gangster.
i was not up on Apollo Brown. This lp is amazing. Slow, dusty, smoky beats behind lyrics of cultural and societal introspection. Haunting, dark beats with horns, strings, voices and ambience. Head nod stuff, 92 style. Soulful and lamenting. Boots and Chuck D and Al Green and Marrvin influenced; as well as lyrical talents and soe thug vibe; but not for violence's sake...this is for change. i cannot say enough about this. this is rap for real; CNN '10. if this was just bragadocious, it would be album of the year, but it is so much more. the beats are perfect and lyrics have substance.
What Diamond Disrict "In The Ruff" was to 2009, The Left's "Gas Mask" is to 2010. If you're not up on who producer Apollo Brown is you're going to enjoy finding out! Apollo is def our vote for producer of the year after having won the Red Bull Detroit Big Tunes Championship, signing a deal, and releasing 3!!! classic albums in one year: The Reset, Brown Study, and now Gas Mask!!! That's not even getting into MC Journalist103 & Dj Soko who kill this one!
Michael Tolle founded Mello Music Group in 2007, after he graduated from the University of Arizona and released a series of mixtapes as a college deejay. As indicated by the label's current roster, Tolle's taste in rap music hasn't really changed. As he's plucked notable, under-the-radar artists from Detroit, Los Angeles and Atlanta, Tolle's also turned select members of D.C.'s Low Budget Crew into flagship acts — producer-emcee Oddisee being the most well-known. And so,… more »
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