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| tracklisting |
| 1. begin... |
| 2. Intergalactic Hustla |
| 3. Godz Up |
| 4. Hustlaz Guide |
| 5. hold on... |
| 6. Frk Prvrt |
| 7. Booty Catcher |
| 8. Underwear |
| 9. just fix my food (black abstract?)... |
| 10. Sway Scales |
| 11. Volcanoe Flow |
| 12. Mind Over Matter |
| 13. Give Thanks And Praises 2002 |
| 14. Lamentations |
| 15. Feelings |
| 16. Freedom Mind |
| 17. TONY |
| 18. Job (like from the Bible) |
| 19. Yayu |
| 20. Trans Kush Express |
| 21. Renaissance |
| 22. menage?... |
| 23. Ghetto Wildflower |
| 24. Thing Thing |
| 25. Vegan Boogie (no sausage party)... |
| 26. Joy And Sorrow |
| 27. Capoiera |
| 28. Anti-Front |
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| For a long time, Labtekwon has been a difficult artist to pin down. 'Diverse' is one word that would describe his contributions to the world of music; 'numerous' is another, given his vast catalogue of releases. "Hustlaz Guide To The Universe" is the new full-length album,
and its title is a clever summation of both the Hip Hop skills and the considered thought that make up the music on it. This isn't a 'guide to hustling' in the pimps-and-hoes sense; it's an exploration of ideas about the universe and a spiritual journey of sorts for Labtekwon himself, although with
track titles like "Frk Prvrt", "Booty Catcher" and "Ghetto Wildflower" it's clear that Lab has thrown at least a little sex up in the mix. |
| Supplying the musical backing for Lab's lyrical wanderings is Professor Max Mineblo, who brings simplistic beats to the table that frequently contain echoes of tribalism and eastern music. For the most part, these beats support Labtekwon's flows and the ambience of the project very
well, although just one glance at the twenty-eight-deep tracklist should suggest to anyone that this album might overstretch somewhat. A further recurring characteristic of the album's tracks is Lab and Mineblo's frequent usage of gospel-type sung vocals for hooks, and these vocals add further names
to the list of those whose music Lab's own might feasibly draw comparison with. |
| "Give Thanks And Praises 2002" is one track that might be seen as definitive of the album as a whole. On it, Labtekwon philosophises both about himself and others, considering universal facts alongside lyrics such as "I
used to cry in the rain, now I'm inspired by pain" that chart his own spiritual progression. Spirituality is one of the consistent themes throughout the album, and while a great number of lyrics seem referential to the Nation of Gods and Earths, Lab's words tend to reach further than the specifics
of one religion. Flow-wise, Lab's delivery covers almost as broad a spectrum as his subject matter, and he flits easily between double-time and simple, spoken word rhythms, all the time reading the beat below him. Lab's adoption of the track's rhythm on "Feelings"
makes his rapping effort and, subsequently, the track as a whole, one of the best on the album. |
| As I briefly mentioned earlier, "Hustlaz Guide To The Universe" is not without its fair share of sexual references. Indeed, as well as the three track mentioned above, "Underwear", "Anti-Front"
and "Lamentations" (among others), all consider sexual relations in varied ways. Alongside the spiritual contemplation of other tracks, these themes do strike an odd chord, although they succeed in illustrating that Lab's thoughts are more varied than his position as spiritual tutor
would suggest. |
| Where "Hustlaz Guide To The Universe" unavoidably runs into trouble, however, is its epic length. Of the twenty-eight tracks, only a couple are short skits (although these add very little, so you would have thought they at least could have been left off) so the listener
is effectively presented with the best part of eighty minutes of music to wade through. Curiously, almost every track after "TONY" (with the possible exception of "Vegan Boogie")
is considerably less good than the sixteen tracks that went before, which leaves you wondering about the way in which the album was compiled: it's unusual that of the first seventeen tracks, only one or two are vaguely uninteresting, whereas tracks eighteen to twenty-eight sound like little more than
old themes re-hashed. |
| If we were to consider just the first two thirds of "Hustlaz Guide To The Universe", then this would be a very interesting album. Where Mineblo's beats fail to make a big enough impact, Lab's lyrics and flow more than sufficiently make up the deficit. Lab's music manages
to invite comparisons with the better qualities of artists as diverse as Zion I, 4 Hero, Ursula Rucker, Scienz of Life and Killah Priest (to name only a few), but he over-reaches on "Hustlaz Guide To The Universe" so that by the end of the album, the decent music is overshadowed by the overwhelming
length of the project. "Hustlaz Guide To The Universe" is another example of the diverse, intriguing music Labtekwon is capable of making, but it would certainly have benefited hugely from more rigorous editing. |
| review: cornerstone |
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