Look Mom...No Hands

Rate It! Avg: 3.5 (42 ratings)
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Look Mom...No Hands album cover
Album Information

Total Tracks: 17   Total Length: 72:09

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His biggest disappointment...

headbangingteacher

This album was a huge letdown. Of course, with the absence of El-P, the beats were not going to be like those on the legendary "The Cold Vein", and that is fine, but I was not expecting such a decline in the bite of Vast's wit and the breadth of his toying with the English language. Lines like, "You were a stillborn baby, mother didn't want you but you were still born" on "The Cold Vein" introduced people to Vast's simplistic yet brilliantly thoughtful style projected through a confidently laid-back voice. Unfortunately, Vast's voice on "Look Mom..." is the only remnant of the promising debut. If you want to see Vast working his way back towards the Vein supremacy, check out his work with Mighty Joseph. "Look Mom..." is hands down the worst of the four albums I've heard featuring Vast.

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Not Bad

Robbo

Not a bad solo effort, thought it'd be amazing, but it isn't. The bloke who said that he's better without EL-P has to be joking. Or drunk. And to say that EL-P's really a heavy metal producer is pretty ill-informed. Anyone who loved Cannibal Ox and thought it was an amazing album (which is was) will be disappointed with this effort. The tracks are a little lightweight and subject matter tiresome. Bring back Cannibal Ox (especially since Vordul's solo effort was weak)! Bit of a waste of huge promise this one.

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Give us more of this!!

stglaw

This whole album is just plain fantastic. First off, getting rid of El-P as producer was the best move he made. Yes, the Cannibal Ox album was really good, but the vocals always seemed to be fighting with the production - El-P, who is really a heavy metal musician in disguise, always seemed to upstaging the MC's on that album. Here, Vast Aire's rapping comes out loud and clear with even better rhymes this time around. Lots of these songs are battle rhymes/boasting, but man, this guy takes dissing to a new level! Plus, he's got a great lineup of guests: MF Doom (who I hope he links up with again), Sadat X, the goodness goes on and on. There literally is not a single weak song on this disc. We need more!!!

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Vast is Future!!

bLoTerra

Vast Aire (1/2 of Cannibal Ox) is one of the sickest lyricists, he's got many (unique) flows and deep lyrics that often take more than a few listens to get the true meaning of them. His beats are often chaotic, metallic (much like other CanOx or Def Jux releases) but are real head bangers and he riffs off of them amazingly. Check out songs 2,3,5,12,17 esp. but the whole album's mad dope!!

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They Say All Music Guide

Cannibal Ox, authors of underground hip-hop’s most brutal assemblage of beats and rhymes (The Cold Vein), took the blueprint of Company Flow and, assisted by CoFlo’s own master producer El-P, delivered the flipside of hip-hop’s usually warm, earthy breakbeats. Unfortunately, they broke up before delivering another record, leaving Vast Aire, half of the duo, to launch a solo career with this full-length on Chocolate Industries. Vast’s chillingly detached raps and delivery were a large part of Cannibal Ox’s success, and there’s much more in the same vein here. His lyrics aren’t at the same level as on The Cold Vein (he tries to say more, but doesn’t always succeed). Still, for him, communication means less than simply transmitting a dark, ominous mood. (And he occasionally spits an astonishing rap, like this one: “I heard justice was blind when Uncle Sam f*cked her/I heard she came when he whispered she loved her”). The roster of producers includes some of the best in Vast’s section of the underground, including Blueprint (Soul Position, Aesop Rock), CamuTao (of S.A. Smash), and Jake One (Rasco, Planet Asia). – John Bush

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