This is a quick look at a rough edit of Othello & DJ Vajra's new single, "Active Balanced" featuring Now On & Mayer Hawthorne. The track is off of their forthcoming album, The Required Taste, set for release Spring 2010.
Throwback hip-hop is an interesting beast, too often it comes across as gimmicky and a second rate copy of the mid 90s sound created by the Native Tongues collective. But when it’s done well it is so undeniably dope you forget what year it was made and just bob your head. Kicking off the tempo is straight party jams, In The Building, Individually Wrapped and Showcase are fast paced classic hip-hop as the MCs drop fun rhymes with subtle social commentary. There are smatterings of soul samples and smoother bass lines on cuts like Timeless and Bing Pong, whilst all three MCs show their ability as storytellers on the dope Eye to Eye – the beat one of only a couple produced outside the group. Another standout is Wrong Way, a mash up of live musicians and scratching courtesy of four DJs – Rob Swift included – providing a funked up background that the MCs relish.
01. Orientation 02. Timeless 03. In The Building 04. Individually Wrapped 05. Showcase 06. Bing Pong 07. Short Stories 08. Soul Power 09. Afraid Of The Dark 10. Unconditional 11. Wrong Way 12. Uhh! 13. Eye To Eye 14. Speak Your Peace 15. Surprise Cypher
Lightheaded is a group consisting of 3 MC's including Braille, Othello and Ohmega Watts, who have been rocking together since 2002. Their first album titled "Pure Thoughts" is completely produced by Muneshine. The album was first released on Day By Day Ent. , but was later re-released on Hip-Hop IS Music. The first 12" single included "Never Square", "Blink of an Eye" and "Illuminate Part 1".
01. Intro 02. Lightheaded Anthem 03. PT Cruise 04. Pure With Intention 05. Blink Of An Eye 06. The Top 07. Street Corners 08. That's How It Is 09. Selfless 10. Never Square 11. Pure Thoughts 12. Poetry In Motion 13. Completion 14. Outro 15. Lah Lah Land 16. Rock-On
