Big Tone - The Drought

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Emerging from the Motor City underground, emcee Big Tone delivers an impressive debut, "The Drought." While consistently smooth and soulful throughout, it manages to be cool without being soft. Tone maintains enough edge to reinforce his rugged Detroit roots while spreading enough knowledge to please backpackers and college radio stations.

Tone touches on a multitude of topics, demonstrating his diversity as a lyricist, a refreshing change from the stale monotony of recent releases. From women ("Girl") to day-to-day life ("Real Life") to past memories ("Good Ole Days") to ending urban violence ("Peace"), Tone tackles one challenging subject after another. While his lyrical wordplay may not be as strong as others, they are genuine and believable. We have to give Tone credit for not taking the easy way out and spewing only braggadocio, which he does well by the way ("Watch Me").

The varying topics are glued together by the soundtrack. Heavy usage of sped-up samples and R&B vocalists mesh the album into one cohesive whole. Even Tone's measured delivery does little to deviate from the uniform sound. The Detroit soul drips from this album and makes it a winner from front-to-back. Sure, the downside is that at times the cuts sound alike and some would complain that the consistency makes the long player predictable and boring. You can't please everyone. For me personally, this album is perfect background music for low-key parties and trendy coffee shops. Not overly pretentious, not overly street. Another bonus is that Tone limits his cursing. Usually I have no problem with swearing on rap records, but after listening to such a tightly knit album, it's apparent how much more polished an emcee seems by not blurting out four-letters in every bar.

01. Intro
02. Watch Me
03. Come My Way
04. Get Up Get Down feat. 87 & Quelle
05. Black Girl feat. Deion Lucas
06. Good Ole Days
07. It's So Hard feat. Patrice Williams
08. Real Life feat. Lanice McKay
09. Turn My World feat. Woodz
10. One Hour Session
11. Rap Stars feat. Phal and Beej
12. WWYI Radio (Skit)
13. What's Up (Intimacy) feat. Dwele
14. Peace
15. Respect
16. Outro

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DJ Superstar Quamallah & Taj the Infinite - All Souled Out

MySpace: DJ Superstar Quamallah

MySpace: Taj the Infinite

Taj the Infinite - emcee, writer and scholar - and DJ Superstar Quamallah - deejay, producer, Hip Hop historian and educator - are on a mission to rejuvenate the soul of black music in Hip Hop. The two combine insightful lyrics and prose with spirit sturrMYSpaceing beats and melodies working to inspire and motivate the masses to have fun and be critical simultaneously.

They demonstrate this forte in their recent compilation, All Souled Out, produced by the talented Brooklyn producer DJ Superstar Quamallah. A return to the fun and conscious Hip Hop best symbolized by the Eric B. and Rakim, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, and Native Tongue eras of Hip Hop, this project takes us through a journey of impeccable beats and ballads accompanied by stories of struggle, love, and life. They bring the old to the new in a real fly and contemporary way and resurge a sense of soul back into Hip Hop. Taj the Infinite explains, "All Souled Out is our definition of what music was, is and should be. It is a synergy of Jazz, Soul, Funk and Hip-Hop - black music."

01. Intro
02. Midnite (Over You)
03. Niggah Song
04. Watch Out! (Interlude)
05. All Souled Out
06. Love I Never Knew
07. Clowns
08. Favorite Things
09. Nuthin
10. Doc's Freestyle
11. Rock With Me feat. Lloyd Jones
12. I Want More
13. Reflection
14. Ride (Cry)
15. Get Home

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