Truly refreshing! That’s the best way to describe the Fellowship‘s first collective effort, Temptations,
in years. In fact this album is nearly flawless in every important aspect: the Fellowship‘s lyricists’ (Aceyalone, Mikah Nine, Self-Jupiter,
and P.E.A.C.E.) rhyme styles
complement one another, subtle scratching gives the tracks a raw edge that is
missing in most music nowadays, and the hard beats are touched with cleverly
laid melodies and basslines.
The Fellowship waste no time to
display their dextrous abilities; the second track Ghetto Youth has a
commanding musical presence and perhaps one of the year’s best verses with this
Aceyalone bombshell:
|
my people always try to tell me, you should commercialize |
Experimentation is not something that these guys shy away from things slow down
from the dominating frenetic pace on the spoken word piece Fragrance. In
contrast things get wild on the funky, electronic sounding Sex In The City
in which the esteemed emcees relate their humours perspectives on the
attributes that they desire in the women they date. Other noteworthy songs
include Take That MF, Best Rapper In The World, What Would You
Do, and No Hooks No Chorus, the latter of which should draw
comparisons to another revered underground crew, Organized Konfusion.
Interest in a few songs may wane after time, but the vast majority of this disc
has high replay value. In the weeks that I’ve had Temptations I’ve
listened to almost nothing else, nor have I desired to.