CD Reviews

Awol One + Factor | Owl Hours

Fake Four/Shape Shifters (2009)

By CHRIS FARAONE | June 23, 2009

3.5 Stars

Depending on your taste, Awol One is either the world's worst rapper or hip-hop's most inventive artist. He sounds like a stoned lacrosse player sweet-talking a cheerleader into performing her first blow job; if you're looking for spiritual, lyrical miracles, don't look here.

However, Awol's latest collaboration with producer Factor is a gorgeous synthesis on par with the Deltron 3030 of Del the Funky Homosapien and Dan the Automator, only without any single driving theme. From lead single "Celebrate," which would be a ripe soundtrack cut for a 1984 cocaine-relapse scene, to the driving anthem "Stand Up," with Aesop Rock and Myka 9, the beats and topics span the gamut. "Waste the Wine" with Tash and E-Swift is a deliberate party jam; "Sunset Sandwich" finds Awol waxing halfway philosophical: "I'm the class bully and the class nerd."

One surprising side note: Owl Hours was executive-produced by Xzibit, who's better known as the leather-throated ride-pimping West Coast MC from MTV. It's hard to believe that X flexed creative control over a one-of-of-a-kind project this catchy. But hey, I wouldn't mind broadcasting Owl Hours over one of his obnoxious truck stereos.

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Chairmen of the boards
Not unlike Swedish, Tagalog, and Esperanto, music is a language, with its own conjugations and (lewdly) dangling participles.
War of the words
50 Cent has a long history of initiating beefs before he releases a new album.
Top 10 Hyphy Videos of all time
With Warner Bros. snapping up the cream of the Yay Area rap scene , TVT capitalizing on Hyphy Hitz , and even indie-rock geeks learning how to ghost ride the whip , we figured it's high time to take a quick look back at how we got here. So get your stunna shades on and get ready to go dumb: it's the top 10 hyphy videos of all time!
Bay Area beats
Although Oakland’s hyphy movement got its name from a bastardization of the word “hyper,” at this point that could just as easily stand for “hype.”
Dead, or immortal?
When Chuck D challenges the status quo, a bunch of fortysomethings nod their heads, but Nas can put the young rappers on the defensive.
Diversified incoming
It’s a testament to the strength of hip-hop, as the medium enters its third decade, that 2006 would see such a wide range of sounds so well represented, from commercial anthems to abstract beat tapes.
Larger than life
Although predictions that Jay-Z, in his comeback, would pull in the biggest sales numbers of the year were proved wrong (at 680,000, his Def Jam release Kingdom Come ranks third behind Rascal Flatts and Justin Timberlake in 2006), that’s hardly the story worth telling.
Birth of the DVDJ
Much of the hype swirling around the show was that Peanut Butter Wolf was going to "scratch" DVDs, thereby inventing a whole new style of performance. Slideshow: Stones Throw Anniversary Tour at the Paradise Rock Club, November 1, 2006
JeknowwotI’msayin?
“People have this kind of problem with me,” says Lady Sovereign over the phone from her London home. “They think they know me, and they don’t know me — and it’s dis gustin ’.” Lady Sovereign, "Gatheration" (mp3)
No success like failure
The wild, idle guessing game over the Roots’ Game Theory and OutKast’s Idlewild is finished.
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Topics: CD Reviews , Entertainment, Hip-Hop and Rap, Awol One + Factor | Owl Hours, More

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