4. To The Gut

Various Blends borrow words from a movie to start this album. And at the end, what remains is the statement "understand not my words, but follow my orders". In context to this album, it might not be perfectly clear what exactly the 'Blends wanna tell us with this. Nevertheless we will listen to what they have to offer us.

The track "Bumpin' Blendz", that follows that voice sample, kicks in with hard drums and a bare accompanying, complaining horn like sample. Eb.F and Friz-B take this chance to introduce themselves with declaring lyrics, before things get smoothed out over the sample, brought to fame by Redman's "Tonight's Da Night". Chopping up the strings, not letting them progress, the emcees urge us to "read between the lines" on this "Levitude", that also gives the album it's name. The party gets started on "Krazee Madeo Stylez", may it be during the intro to the song, or the jazzy and very dope second part of the track. And DJ Apollo contributes scratching, while the emcees keep it on the braggadocios tip.

Then a certain Peanut Butter Wolf shows up to produce a super smooth "To The Gut". This track lifts itself up, like light in darkness, like silence on a mountain top, overseeing a city, and the momentum gets enhanced during the chorus. While this might not be PBW's most noise making beat, it shows his musicality and his special touch to create an emotion. On "My Favorite Mistake", Saafir and Rashinel of the Hobo Junction show up. With some annoying female crying in the back, the track has it hard to get us moving. However, it's insane vibe gives us the impression, that this track was felt while the emcee's spit their rhymes. And this humble seeming beat, only waits for the chance to overpower us.

The intro to "Funny Stylez" has to be fast forwarded, while the dramatic hardness of the main beat, let's us pull back our finger, like we just touched something hot. The Wu interlude was uncalled for though. On "Pick A Chemical" we get into some Double XX Posse or early Beatnuts style. With horns and a piano, there's just one thing too much going on at the same time. Especially since Apollo's scratching adds another excitement attracting element to the track. Trading rhymes like Marvel superheroes, the subject matter switches, and fittingly settles on this updated mid 90s bouncyness.

On "Even More Even" Pismo of Burnt Batch shows up, along with Pam The Funkstress of The Coup fame, cutting and slicing some 'tschigga tschigga'. The beat again sounds kinda dated, what not means it's slacking. But it makes one wonder, if this is something old, sneaked to us as new. "Re:chill" enjoys the honor to contain Del The Funkee Homosapien, and he goes at it right from the start, over a moving, and awkwardly jazzy track, flexing his skills, just as the Erick Sermon sample says on the chorus. Not abandoning their style, Friz-B, who did the production, apart the PBW tracks, switches things again for a more abstract "Dat'z Heet". The rhyming gets adapted to this different soundscape, getting more spacey, more cosmic.

The Wolf returns on "You & Your Crew", that has a strangely, but most definitely meaningfully placed 'Rasco' scratch in middle of the voice sample at the beginning. This ex-member of the Various Blends gets commented by laughter, before the two emcees trade rhymes with the Mystik Journeymen, over the hollow guitar plucking of the beat. Stepping up the pace and intensity again on "Born 2 Blow-Up", things move abruptly into the last cut "VB's In The House".

This organic cut, complete with live instruments, ends an interesting album, full of different vibes and influences. And it's important to listen to this at according volume, according many times, until it unfolds it's little hidden details and secrets, that a listener will ignorantly miss, if he intends to consume this with a 'I get a burger' state of mind, rather than a 'this is Indian cuisine', where you gotta check for the special spices and you need to watch what you eat. But we all know what's more delicious.