Artist: The AbSoulJah x Ugly Tony
Album: Sketched In Outlines
Tracklisting:
1. Thoro Freestyle
2. Get Well Soon
3. Come On
4. Wonder Why
5. War Of The Mind
6. In Between The Lines
7. The Mood
8. Tomorrow
9. Father N Sun
Note:
This was a little bit of a surprise to see this project released. But I am always game to hear some new AbSoulJah and with Ugly Tony on the boards I knew it was going to be better than just a solid project and it is.
The AbSoulJah puts it on for the fam in a track dedicated to the health of French producer/collaborator, Ugly Tony. This is my personal favorite track off of The AbSoulJah’s latest album, Dim The Light. It’s just a personal track that represents the boom bap flavor that both Tony and Ab represent.
Artist: The AbSoulJah
Album: Dim The Light
Tracklisting:
1. Fork in the Road (Beat by JFX Productions)
2. World Don’t Love ft. Streets Goon & HalfaBrick (Beat by Shaolin Beatmaker)
3. In Motion (Beat by DJ Simsima)
4. Lost in a Moment (Prod. by I.N.C.H)
5. Nighttime Dwelling ft. Spicco (Prod. by DJ Low Cut)
6. The Real Type (Prod. by Soulslicers)
7. No Plans (Beat by NoyZ)
8. Stand Strong (Prod. by Machine Gun Funk)
9. Grand Goon (Beat by H.Lava)
10. The Marriage (Beat by Keko Beats)
11. In My Element
12. Next Life
13. No Serenity (Beat by Keko Beats)
14. How It Is ft. Angry Man (Beat by Manu Beats)
15. Get Well Soon (Beat by Ugly Tony)
Note:
I have been waiting and waiting for Ab to drop this album (and I took forever to do the review so I can’t talk much). I will say I have been checking for this release for about two years. I got an unofficial listen last year sometime, and after a lot of prodding I thought the project was just going to be shelved. Needless to say, I am glad that it saw the light of day. In discussing the album with some heads a couple of weeks ago, someone made the comment that they wished this was the type of music that Mobb Deep still made. I concur. The AbSoulJah has made a career of dropping that street realism with wordplay that keeps things continuously interesting. He never gets monotonous and keeps the listener engaged constantly.
Artist: The AbSoulJah
Album: The Light Side
Source: From The Man Himself
Tracklisting:
Note:
I am going to put you guys onto a little secret…The AbSoulJah. This artist dropped Slave To The Page roughly three years ago. It was a free release that I picked up on and loved. Ever since, I check for his releases, however sporadic they might be. Hell, I want him to drop two albums a year so maybe I am being a little demanding. But that’s neither here nor there. Right now The AbSoulJah has decided to release seventeen previously unreleased tracks from the last couple of years available to you all for free in prelude to his album dropping later this year. There are a lot of bangers and if you notice, Ugly Tony (author of the recently reviewed, At Nightfall) touched some of the production on this piece so you can count on the dope production.
What can you expect from The AbSoulJah? You can expect raw rhymes in a baritone flow. You can expect intelligence coupled with ruggedness. Some folks have it and others don’t and trust that the man has all the intangibles that put him in an elite category of hip hop artists.
I am not going to do a full review as this is more of a compilation than a true album. Every joint delivers as promised, but the something special to me on this comp is track 12, Talk To Me, produced by Manu Beats. Just a personal favorite.
Enjoy!
Artist: Ugly Tony
Album: At Nightfall
Source: Ugly Tony Himself
Tracklisting:
Note:
The AbSouljah hit me up one day a few weeks ago and mentioned that his friend, and producer, Ugly Tony, was going to have an album dropping in the next few weeks and invited me to check it out. For those that do not know, Ugly Tony, is a producer that is coming out of France. When learning this, whether intending to or not, when listening to the album, I began to compare him to his European contemporaries. Specifically coming to mind was another French producer, Al’Tarba, and the beatsmith’s from Germany, the Snowgoons and The Hitfarmers. What I first noticed was a bit of divergence from those contemporaries. At Nightfall is a bit more eclectic and less orchestral. He doesn’t rely on one particular type of production technique, but rather uses different sounds to establish that boom bap appeal.
