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.

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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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State Of Lunacy is the debut album by UK underground artists “Rhyme Asylum”. Rhyme Asylum for those of you who don’t know, consists of rappers: “Possessed”, “Skirmish” and “Pliskone”; The production is done (for the most part) by new-comer “Leatherface”. The album has been described as: “…what happens if you suffocate the Wu-Tang Clan’s collective vision with a straight-jacket.”, and thats an understatement to their brutal style.

This album is by no means for the faint of heart. Covering everything from brutal battle raps to being locked up in an insane asylum, this group doesn’t shy away from shock factor. The Instrumentals portray these topics perfectly, giving the blueprints for vicious war themes and in some cases, even sounding very dream like. There was not one beat on this album (with the exception of Multiplicity’s remix) that sounded lacking in any way; complimenting this is the groups incredible grasp of language and flawless use of multiple-syllable rhymes. Everyone in Rhyme Asylum holds their own (only ever slipping up a few times), with each member contributing their own unique style to the mix, dropping a ton of quotables that I’m sure many underground heads will be repeating for ages to come.

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Posted by LostMoniker on September 17th, 2008 :: Filed under Out Of The Cage: Album Reviews
Tags :: battle rap, depressing, dope, horrorcore, out of the cage, recommended, rhyme asylum, state of lunacy

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Combining Hip Hop’s underground heavy weight ‘El-P’, of Company Flow fame and two very talented New York underground artists ‘Vast Aire’ and ‘Vordul Mega’ comes one of the freshest albums in Hip Hop. Many purists will tell you Company Flow’s ‘FunCrusher Plus’ was a classic in it’s own right due to the unique production and stylized battle lyrics done by El P and Big Juss, and with this you’ll also get the “there’s no album that broke ground like this one”. Well, while Cold Vein may not have broken this ground, it’s just delved deeper.

Now, you’re probably wondering, what’s the recipe to what I’ve already summed up as a genius album? Top notch production and some of the finest lyrics ever heard on a Hip Hop album. Vordul Mega’s style is laced with multiple-syllable flows and a dash of abstract metaphors pertaining to his depressing views on life. Now, to be honest Vordul isn’t the reason this album is still playing on my stereo, his lyrics are good but they don’t have the same level of uniqueness as Vast Aire’s do. However, without Vordul’s input on this album, it wouldn’t feel right. Vast Aire, while not having the incredible flow that Vordul does, makes up for it with his charismatic delivery and genius wordplay. Each track, he laces his lyrics with some of the wittiest line’s I’ve heard in Hip Hop thus far. Lines from Iron Galaxy such as: “You were a stillborn baby, mother didn’t want you but your were still born, boy meets world of course his pops is gone, what you figga, that chalky outline on the ground is a father figure?” leave my jaw still dropping.

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Posted by LostMoniker on September 14th, 2008 :: Filed under Out Of The Cage: Album Reviews
Tags :: cannibal ox, classic, company flow, def jux, el-p, funcrusher plus, hip hop, review, vast aire, vordul mega

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