Much like Little Brother’s Phonte, LMNO went the Foreign Exchange route and teamed up with relatively unknown European producer Yann Kesz to release his latest project, Devilish Dandruff With Holy Shampoo. With a title like that, you know the album’s filled with odd references and symbolism but if you’re familiar with this Long Beach spit kicker, you also know that’s to be expected from the Visionary emcee.
Offering his dose of lyricism, LMNO stays in his lane here. Providing a dose of social commentary, politically charged statements and wordy symbolism, he rushes through the twelve cuts of the short release. “I’m not mad at Bush, he’s a Pinocchio/ We gotta focus on shutting down Geppetto,” he rhymes on the title track. “The Brunt” and “Never Stop” serve as highlights, with LMNO dropping some of his knowledge throughout in a comfortable manner. “Too Strong” is another example of this over the Nas vocal samples layered on Kesz’s beat. Kesz drops sample driven instrumentals to fit different moods from smooth and mellow (“Piece of Art”) to the more fast-paced “Cocaine,” where LMNO shares the negative side of the drug. For the most part, Kesz and LMNO complement one another quite well and the chemistry between both artists is evident.
However, the combination doesn’t always turn out the best work. Although Kesz’s beats often do their job, the album doesn’t provide too many memorable bangers. Also, while the mixing and post production work keep the dirty, underground feel of the album, it sometimes just makes it sound too unpolished. Furthermore, LMNO can become excessively long-winded, offering inconsequential rhymes like “1974” where he reads off a list of celebratory events that occurred in that year as if reading from an Almanac. Another aspect of LMNO that some are familiar with is his delivery, which is slower than usual and may draw some away. As a rapper with a choppy, slowed down flow, he becomes monotonous near the end of the process.
Overall, the album is refreshing due to it being a break from the mainstream norm of Hip Hop. However, it also becomes tired after the same flows are repeated throughout. Long time LMNO fans will definitely enjoy the album but it doesn’t offer much to praise for those who aren’t fans of his previous work. Kesz has a solid performance as a producer but his instrumentals are torn down by bad mixing and a low quality sound. In the end, the well intentioned LMNO and newcomer Kesz show that they do it for the love of the music, but sometimes love isn’t enough and the two fall short.
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