Review

A full-length collaboration between Bay Area underground rapper AWOL One and producer Factor, Only Death Can Kill You is that rarity, a hip-hop album that has a consistent mood and sound throughout instead of having to make a virtue of the jigsaw-puzzle quality that comes from the sound of too many collaborators and guest stars. Only Death Can Kill You is as moody as its title, but AWOL One is far too clever a lyricist to dip into the usual inner-city-strife tales. Instead, he sets the scene with more personal and idiosyncratic musings: the opening track "Sunrise Sandwich" sounds like the pre-coffee musings of a man still slightly drunk from the night before, both in content and delivery. Factor underpins these quirky tales with settings that include jazzy guitar and flute samples alongside the simple, straightforward beats; the album as a whole has a mellow, laid-back quality, sort of like what Kanye West's records would sound like without his constant search for the next earworm. Folks used to that kind of hyperkinetic, show-offy hip-hop may well find Only Death Can Kill You simply too low-key for their tastes, but this album's placid surfaces hide a wealth of interesting ideas.