Out Of The Cage: “Communication” Review

The debut album by producer turned rapper Willie Evans Jr., was one of 2007’s best albums. Now, I know I’m late reviewing this album in terms of release date, despite this I know people have not heard of Communication or the Willie Evans for that matter, so I felt justified - and compelled - to review this wonderful album. Willie Evans Jr is a member of underground rap group The A.B.s and more recently has had credits on The Perceptionist’s debut album Black Dialogue, producing two of the beats. So in this always-growing Underground Hip Hop scene what sets Willie Evans Jr apart from others? Willie is an all in one rap artist, in other words he produces his own beats (with the exception of Slow Adrenaline) and emcees. Now while this doesn’t sound incredibly unique amongst the vast array of combo-artists like so, Willie Evans is a step above the rest in terms of production; with his lyricism being even more impressive.

What’s so unique about Willie Evans Jr to me, is that his approach to lyricism feels abstract yet coherent. At face value, you may feel he’s speaking all over the place but once you delve a bit deeper it really begins to make sense. Here’s an excerpt from the albums opening song Slow Adrenaline: “The apple in my eye, met her at an educate grind, later stated that the apple had a worm, another nigga had a turn, apple seeds in his eye lids”. His use of wordplay and metaphors is amazing, and there are more then a handful of incredible lines like the one quoted above throughout this album.

In many ways Willie Evans Jr’s approach to the content on quite a few of the tracks seem as if he’s an outsider looking in — giving a new twist on the idea of “socially conscious rap”. From the way he describes things to the almost-spacey views he has on subject matter only reinforce this notion. Good examples would be on the opening track Slow Adrenaline or Work It Out. On both songs he speaks about woes, and the ignorant results that follow them, yet it isn’t done sounding as if he’s being overly preachy. It sounds like he’s right there with it and only explaining what’s happening all while making sense of it.

Notable tracks on this album include - the already mentioned - Slow Adrenaline, Work It Out and additionally Communication, Excess, Move Em Out and Jacksonville Pt. 2.
Slow Adrenaline: This being one of my favorites, demonstrating Willie Evans unique style of rapping accompanied by an incredible beat.
Work It Out: The beat uses an almost-chilling piano to ease it in all while giving it a depressing appeal, with Willie Evans lyrics pertaining to a socially conscious aspect.
Communication ft. Mr. Lif: This beats sounds incredibly soulful, and again demonstrates Willie Evans Jr. unique rhyming style. The idea of this track is having music as a means for Communication; Lif pertaining more strictly to that topic then Willie does.
Excess: The beat to this song is incredibly impressive, but personally not my favorite lyrically on this album by Willie Evans Jr. however his unique style is still apparent on this piece.
Move ‘Em Out ft. J One Da: I thought the beat and Willie Evans lyrics were really well done on this track, however I wasn’t feeling J One Da. But Willies lyrics were good enough that I kept listening.
Jacksonville Pt. 2: This song discusses the south, and some of the Hip Hop scene there. As always, very nice beat and some good lyrics.

Tracks that I wasn’t really feeling were Rock Widdit and The Unknown. While they’re not awful, they just didn’t have enough to them that kept me wanting to listen again. The lyrics on both tracks were only mediocre in context of some of the much nicer songs on this album. With this being stated, I would like to point out another gripe I have with some of the tracks on this album overall; that being Willie Evans occasional habit of straying from the base topic. From times it seems like Willie will move from the initial topic and move into an awkward tangent, while not all tracks are like this it has happened on a few tracks (including the ones mentioned within this paragraph) and for me it makes some otherwise smooth concepts seem skewed. However Willie doesn’t do it enough to ruin any of the tracks.

To be honest, I’m sure not everyone will love this album; the lyrics to some may be too different then what you’re normally used to and some of the beats may throw some off. For those that are willing to invest their ear however, you will be rewarded with some very nice quotable and unique beats to compliment this. Definitely one of 2007s best albums, and for those who want something that has all the great aspects of Rap represented with something a little different, definitely get this album. I’ve noticed a few sites saying they’re sold out of this album, so I suggest you get onto iTunes or wherever you digitally download your music (Of course not Torrents right?) and listen to this immediately.

Rating: 8.8/10

I have taken a new approach to Reviews, this way I can give a more in-depth feel towards the artist themselves as apposed to having a track listing that gives less details then it should. Please post in the comments below not only what you think of the review or artist, but what you think of the new format! Thanks!

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Posted by LostMoniker on November 3rd, 2008 :: Filed under Out Of The Cage: Album Reviews
Tags :: 2007, communication, jacksonville pt. 2, rawkus, slow adrenaline, willie evans jr., work it out
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