One Be Lo‘s
new disc is called The R.E.B.I.R.T.H.,
but to many of his listeners, he doesn’t need to change very much. Getting his
start in the early 2000s, a then-named OneManArmy
and partner Senim Silla made their
mark on the underground hip-hop scene as the duo Binary Star. After the release, repackaging and subsequent re-release
of their debut, they parted ways to focus on soLo careers. Changing his name to avoid conflict with a band that
went by the same moniker, One Be Lo
continued to turn heads with his potent balance of righteousness and style with
humility and substance, gaining critical acclaim and consistently touring along
the way. With his new album, One Be Lo
is sticking with some of the things that have gotten him where he is (including
the acronym album titles: this one stands for Real Emcees Bring Intelligent Rhymes To Hip-Hop), but he’s making
changes that improve his set formula.

This time around, Lo
continues the lyrical dexterity that earned him his reputation. Whether he’s
repping his hometown of Pontiac, Michigan on Born and Raised or chronicling his own grind while recognizing
others’ on the perseverance anthem Keep
It Rollin, One Be Lo has
something to say, and he doesn’t waste any wayward, irrelevant bars while
saying it. Even punchlines–“Talk is
cheap, but that don’t make you blue light special;” “that BS was out of style,
I should’ve bought a vowel“–are precisely used to further deliver his
point, not just to display his acumen. Headlines
sees Lo running through stories in a
newspaper at a corner store, while Snap
Shot talks about the object of his affection. Combining a sharp delivery
and complex rhyme schemes with lyrics that are intellectual while still
universally comprehensible, Lo kicks
verses that demand repeated listens–both to admire his technical skills and to
process his messages.

The most notable change with The R.E.B.I.R.T.H., though, is the production. While his previous
records succeeded by letting understated backdrops from his Subterraneous crew play
the assist man to his upper-echelon lyrics, One Be Lo‘s new crop of boardsmen supply him with dense, layered beats
that hit just as hard as his rhymes. Don’t
Sleep sees a cautious Lo
constantly watching his back, with dramatic, haunting bass and horns by Bean One playing like the ominous naysayer
creeping behind him. Gray serves as a
pinnacle in Lo‘s career as he waxes
poetic over an incredibly soulful head nodder by D.L. Jones. Texture’s dusty,
Mediterranean-tinged beat serves as the perfect backdrop for Lo to describe his Hip Hop Heaven. With production that’s just as full-bodied as One Be Lo‘s notebook, The R.E.B.I.R.T.H. is full of songs that
are great all around, not just because it’s Lo rapping on it.

The only flaw in the disc is its length. The R.E.B.I.R.T.H. cLocks in at 50 minutes over 13 tracks, two of which are skits:
disappointing numbers for an emcee who’s gone two years since a full-length
record, and whose last album, S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M., had a beefy 23 tracks with two
skits and a running time of over an hour. But Lo makes the most of his time here, and with other projects in the
vault, fans should be satisfied for a while.