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| tracklisting |
| 1. CLA Intro |
| 2. Crunchtime |
| 3. Flawless Rawest |
| 4. Stealth Hustle |
| 5. The Topic |
| 6. No Homies |
| 7. O |
| 8. Cat Burglars |
| 9. Beef 03 |
| 10. I'll Be |
| 11. The Windtalker |
| 12. Symphony |
| 13. Rhino Shells |
| 14. Star On Tha Wall |
| 15. 1981 |
| 16. 2??? |
| 17. The Other Thing |
| 18. Smokin Gunz |
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| This album, in many ways, is one long posse cut. In theory. In practice, the solo songs make it less the forced clogged, and more of a group effort, by artists that see eye to eye, and that want to be heard together. |
| And the members are Otherwize of Blak Forrest (and the man who defeated Eminem at the Rap Olympics in 1997), Black Silver of the Analog Brothers (the group with Ice-T, Kool Keith, Rex Roland, Mark Moog and Silver Synth) and the 2000 Crows. There's also the graff-rhymer Resek, the
lady to his side Sticks, 50 Caliber of the Filthy Rich Crew and DJ Obi of his damn self and the Cosmic Truckaz. So you see, it's not like these cats roamed the streets of LA all by themselves, or as the bio says: "Most members of Cobra LA are noticeably part of other hip-hop crews. Cobra LA represents
a point in time when all of these different elements collided and a new team was formed." |
| And there's a lot of collision on here, in the best of ways. But that's due to the gritty sound of a "No Homes", where Otherwize is really going for his. He swallows the mic without any chewing, spitting harsh braggadocios verses, making fun of that melody for good
measure and needling the opponent as much as the itchy scratching in the back. This is one of the few solo songs. Others are "Stealth Hustle" by 50 Caliber, also a battling song, with bare production, straight forward rhymes and a cocky 50, whose bringing skill to that number. And while
Black Silver provides the "CLA Intro", two solo cuts were done by the sole lady of the bunch, Sticks. Her "Symphony" is in many ways poetic, and as much carried by her good voice as by the stringy beat. The actual poetry dangles through a couple of sounding like freestyles
moments. Nevertheless, she still has a lot to say, leaving her little time to breathe. "1981" is similar in voice, connotation, and intention too. Sticks still talks about herself, her thoughts and findings, with the darts flying left and
right, hitting many targets and topics. |
| And to put a mid conclusion here: this album really offers a lot of hardness, grit and rust. Certainly so on the solo tracks and the group efforts like "Crunchtime", where Resek, 50 Caliber, Otherwize and Black Silver speak
to the mic. And the many battle moments on here, the strong sound of determination, is quite likely due to the pressure and friendly game of 'write the better rhyme', that a good group always plays with. Therefore the pace on this record is very high, not just because of fast flows, but because of quick
passes of the mic, and content that's constantly hitting and punching. What again goes for "Smokin Gunz", where the same four again attack the sound recording equipment, bringing Jefferson De Jesus along. |
| Yes four. What means that one rapper's missing. That person is Sticks. And interestingly enough, there's not one song here with every Cobra on it. "I'll Be" misses Otherwize (but again features Jefferson De Jesus), and "The
Other Thing" is again without Sticks. That's certainly remarkable. It doesn't say anything about the next thing we'd like to discuss though: this record, for big stretches, lacks the air of collaborative writing. What either explains the many repping songs or is explained by the many repping
songs. But despite the philosophical lines here and there, the characterizing of whoever, the revolutionary rhyming of "2???", the occasional and obligatory personal thought, the Halloween tales of a "The Other Thing" or the
exception of "The Windtalker" (another 50 Caliber solo track), all these other concepts are mainly put into the net of repping verses and there's a whole lot of styling going on. So everyone is a little bit rhyming for him/herself, or as said, rhyming against the others, to shine, and
to inspire others to shine. |
| Also a shining aspect of this record are the beats by lone producer DJ Obi. He keeps to the dark and heavy, very well done on "O", a little more bouncy and bobbing on "The
Topic" and creative on "Rhino Shells". There might be a couple of songs that are not mind blowing (like on the writer song "Star On Tha Walls" or "No Homies"), but there's no song that's boring or wack. That is if you like this really harsh,
cryptic and hallow (with "Beef '03" being a defining example) type of style. That in many ways stays in the tradition of other fellow LA cats. |
| So to now come to the fin conclusion: there may just be too many people on here. Every time you settle with someone's verse, the next appears. Amongst all the names, styles and characters, you do find differences, but also little time to really get into the people. What's the problem
with crowded posse tracks. But which is cleverly balanced with the few solo songs, or the tracks where a reduced number of emcees rhymes. So in total, we're certainly overrun by an armada of hungry emcees. But most certainly, that's a lot of what makes this record the force it is. And hey, we're looking
forward to the solo records. |
| review: tadah |
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