Artist: Project Blowed Presenst…Title: The Good BrothersRating: 3 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Ducksauce
The Good Brothers is the latest release on Aceyalone’s Project Blowed Recordings – named after the long-running open mic session held weekly in Los Angeles’ Liemert Park. This new collaborative effort features a plethora of upcoming Project Blowed MC’s, a handful of West coast headliners, and the legendary Acey himself as the ringleader of this eclectic circus.
Like most typical compilations, this album was seemingly designed to have something for everyone. For the partygoers, there are the contagious tribal sounds of “Give It Here,” featuring notable performances by Aceyalone, Ahmad and Pep Love. Accompanied by energetic percussions and a catchy chorus, this track will definitely have heads nodding. The charmingly smooth, up-tempo “GB In Your Life” is yet another gem – a perfect, though not a little late, summertime anthem to bump up in your ride.
For the conscious heads, on the reggae-induced “Come Unity” and the bouncy “Do The Math,” the Project Blowed MC’s take careful aim at society’s ills as they see it. Aceyalone spits: “Education’s at an all-time low / People don’t wanna learn s### no mo’ / Ask ‘em to read and then they say, What fo’? / ‘Cause fool you slow, and this is all about to blow!” Not the most complex lyrics of all time, but coupled with an ill instrumental, it can do wonders.
Although this album has everything from poetic melodies (“Locked In”), love ballads (“L#####”), even a rock-n-roll finale (“Superstar”) – overall, it is bogged down by one too many filler songs. In addition, much of the production is nothing more than dinky, Casio keyboard sound-effects and what sound like throwaway beats from an 8-bit video game. To top it off, the numerous singsong hooks prevalent throughout the album prove to be more annoying than entertaining.
As far as lyrics go, the album is cluttered with nursery rhyme-esque verses, like this one by Riddlore on “Hey Ladies”: “Now, I’ve been some places, and I’ve seen some faces / Good Brothers be rocking so many locations / Get standing ovations for running the nation / You know the rotation – feel the sensation.” Although his words flow nicely over the wickedly rhythmic track, non-descriptive, generic statements about rocking the crowd got played out like in 1989, and verses like this only add deadweight to an already sinking ship. Even a guest appearance by Rakaa Iriscience (Dilated Peoples) on the RJD2-produced “Rock With Us” isn’t enough to salvage this shipwreck. However, Aceyalone does appear on virtually every track, and thankfully so, for it is his lyrical presence that ultimately carries the weight of this project.
Overall, The Good Brothers is just that – good (in a mediocre, average sort of way). It isn’t a monumental release, but at the same time, it isn’t horrible. Hardcore Acey fans should go and add this to their collection, but don’t set your expectations too high. Like the title suggests: it isn’t great, it’s just good.
