Saturday, June 25, 2011

Album Review: Random Axe - Self Titled



Admittedly, I wasn't expecting too much from this release and was really only looking forward to the Black Milk production. Individually I find Sean Price and Guilty Simpson way too monotonous to enjoy over a whole release, they have their moments but the lack of variation in flow, delivery and content really starts to grate on you after a while. On this release here though I feel like they've managed to avoid that as much as possible. The addition of Black Milk on a number of tracks as well as a couple of guest verses and some fantastic production has made for a great combination and the fact the tracks are on the short side has helped alleviate any real monotony. Both Sean & Guilty had some better punches and schemes than I was expecting and Black Milk put out a performance behind the boards that's not far off rivaling his Popular Demand / Tronic days.

For all that the lack of variation in the content does start to wear a bit thin by the albums end. No, I wasn't expecting anything different - battle rap was always going to be the flavour of the day - but neither Sean or Guilty is dynamic or impressive enough to engage with battle raps over a 15 track album. Onto the guest verses where I felt Danny Brown added some much needed energy to the record and Rock put out one of the best verses on the entire release. The rest the album could have done without. Oh, and next time, throw Elzhi on there as well. It's a travesty that Detroits best MC right now wasn't on this and 'Fatt Father' was.

Highlights: Random Call, Japhy Joe, The Karate Kid, Monster Babies
Lowlights: Understand This

Rating: 7.7/10

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