The Opening
label: red sea

producers: evidence, ant, celph titled, jnr sas, vitamin d, others.

guests: planet asia, zion i, binary star, 427, ghetto children, slug, others.
year of release: 2002
 
The Tripartite Commission of Ayman Raze, Nomadic Traveller and Jnr Sas finally drop their debut full-length in the shape of this 22 track, 65 minute epic. The Planets clearly intend to weigh in with a major statement, and have brought along some heavy friends for the journey, including Planet Asia, Binary Star, Slug, Evidence and Celph Titled. Not that they need any help to achieve their aim - this is quite a considerable piece of work and if there's any justice a major step forward for UK hip hop into the international arena.
The acclaimed 12" of 2001, "Global" (included here) defiantly sets out their ambition - to make records that cannot be contained by the boundaries of locale or district, but contain within them the ability to travel universally without sacrificing their unique and individual sound. Like they say, "we try to uplift the whole globe". The flows of Ayman Raze and Nomadic are straight-up rap - no chatting, no crooning - and weave around each other like lyrical cobras. The production is consistent and excellent in places, and does not suffer from the variety of producers on display. The work of Evidence ("Open Your Mind"), Ant ("Global") and Celph Titled ("Set Flames") slots in comfortably next to tracks by Ayman, Nomadic and Winchester, but the US contributions do not necessarily constitute the best cuts. For example, "Solar", featuring the beatsmanship of Jnr Sas, is a definite highlight, epitomising the forward-thinking, heads-down determination of the album as a whole, with a wicked jazzy Primo-style sample swirling and curling around the kick and the snare. This is, amazingly, the only Sas-produced track on the album - keep an eye out for this guy in the future.

tracklisting
1. Intro
2. Set Flames
3. Footsteps
4. Open Your Mind
5. Solar
6. GLobal feat. Slug & Musab
7. Cecil All Good Show
8. M.I.C.
9. Medicine feat. Binary Star
10. Knowledge Of Self
11. Bop To This
12. Nomad Interlude
13. Conversation With Malcolm
14. Food For Thought
15. On Fire feat. Planet Asia & 427
16. Hip Hop Love Song
17. Hip Hop feat. Ghetto Children
18. Can't Stop feat. Zion I
19. Questions
20. Planetary Vibe
21. Outro
22. Rhyme Odyssey feat. Park-E
"M.I.C" is produced by Winchester, and provides another intense, hypnotic head-nodder. However The Planets are not restricted to nodding heads - they also allow plenty of opportunity for chin-stroking with their meditative yet rugged lyricism. Dispensing with convoluted metaphors designed to obfuscate and befuddle, they offer instead common sense tales of day-to-day struggle infused with a dose of street-tested spirituality. The closest they get to 'abstract-as-we-know-it' is "Footsteps", a cut which draws on the teachings of Islam to convey a positive message of brotherhood and solidarity: "you are something that cannot be relinquished/that cannot be turned away". On another tip, the Nomadic-produced "Bop To This" is somewhat reminiscent of recent Common or late-period Tribe Called Quest with its JayDee-esque snares and flanged piano, and provides a nicely chilled respite from the heaviness evident elsewhere. Vitamin D's "Hip Hop" features Ayman and Nomadic trading lines with Ghetto Children to maximum effect, again utilising a jazz piano sample to create a cool thinking space, an oasis of thought if you will. There are a couple of throwaway skits in the shape of "Cecil All Good Show" and "Hip Hop Love Song", but they're cheeky and funny enough to earn their place on the record.
Whilst stressing the talents of the core Planets, special mention must be made of the guest producers and MCs, all of whom place their own unique stamp on "The Opening". "Can't Stop" features Zion I on beats and rhymes, and only suffers for being too brief. Slug leaves his glistening trail all over the previously mentioned "Global", while Binary Star and Planet Asia aquit themselves with predictable niceness on "Medicine" and "On Fire" respectively. Extra special propers go to the Planetarium, The Planet's extended family, who bless "Solar" with some extremely dope flows - look out for the forthcoming album on Red Sea Entertainment. All in all, "The Opening" is a very nice package, a generous and expansive debut from a crew with some serious clout. Don't miss out.
review: joe stannard (kilamuk@yahoo.com)
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