8/10

Hip-Hop fusion at its finest, The Grouch and Eligh, both of Living Legends, crossbreed genres while meshing together their signature lyrical fluidity on their latest album, Say G&E! (Legendary Music).

From a banging beat you can’t shake from your head to a bluesy country track you’ll vibe to, The Grouch and Eligh will have you hanging on their every word.

The duo kicks off spoken word style and quickly speed up the pace on the album’s anthem “Say G&E.” The Grouch and Eligh are no strangers to pushing the limit and they do exactly that on “Push On (Push Up).” The Grouch’s verbiage lures the ear while Eligh’s verbal quickness makes the head spin. “Me and my boys had a ploy to make some noise / Underground, invisible, but not unheard our words destroy.”

Inevitably, the duo does get political on “Worried About The World.” Eligh’s Rap style is very similar to Andre3000, but his lyricism is beyond intelligent. “Captain America dug a burial plot / And you gonna end up in that motherf***er ready or not / If you’re standing in between his riches get out the way.”

With a maturity rarely seen in Hip-Hop, the duo delves into the topic of drugs and abuse on “Denial.” “You found a path off the track and you followed that / And now you lack what you had; I can’t swallow that / You were my friend to the end and now you’re hollowed out.”

Not always so serious, The Grouch and Eligh let loose on the Amp Live produced track “!BOOM!” Just as easy as it is to have fun, Grouch and Eligh smoothly transition from synthesized beats to crooning on smooth R&B tracks like “Do It Again” and “No Flowers” to rapping over classical Hip-Hop production on “Rivers Run Dry” and “Comin’ Up.” There’s not a genre of music that this duo is afraid to touch – “All In” is a successful blend of Hip-Hop’s wordplay and a country twang.

Say G&E! is a fresh sound to today’s Hip-Hop as The Grouch and Eligh cross lines and dabble in experimentation, all the while with tight lyrics that complete the album’s innovative focus.

Grouch & Eli

“Say G&E”

Welcome to the Mike Jones edition of of AllHipHop.com’s Top 5 Dead or Alive, a reoccurring series. Mike Jones has given the world his phone number, email address and all other contact information, but he hasn’t given his Top 5 rappers. Mike wanted people to be clear that his list is just that – HIS. “Honestly, personally this is Mike Jones personal Top 5, I don’t want anyone saying, ‘Oh Mike Jones don’t know what he’s talking about,” the Houston rapper said.

His sophomore album The Voice, which features the single “Swagga Right”, was recently released to stores, but like Slim Thug, he’s already platinum. Here is Top 5 Dead or Alive: Mike Jones.

Notorious B.I.G.

“Number one, I’m going to have to go with Biggie. The reason why I go with Biggie; I know people are going to say Pac over Biggie and all that, but that’s a debate that can forever go on. Everyone has their personal opinion of why they like each individual. I love them both; it’s a hard decision. I like Biggie because he had similar things that he went through at the bottom coming to the top like I did.”

“He let people know off the gate his downfall, he let people know that he dropped out of school and people considered him a fool. Now they’re misled; now they looking at him like this. He went from Nintendo’s to not having none to whatever he wants. He went from being thirsty and now he’s popping champagne. It was a before and after, negative positive. Anybody can do it, “fat, black, ugly as ever, however; I stay Gucci down to the socks.” Like, you ain’t going to stop my swag, I don’t care if I have four bullet wounds right here; I’m still going to rock this Gucci. That’s how Biggie let it be known on “Juicy,” that was my favorite record.”

Tupac Shakur

“Second, it has to be Tupac because they’re right there with each other. Tupac, he just let it be known, “Dear Mama,” he just let it be known. Both of those artists had nothing to hide when it came to expressing how they felt musically. They had the type of audience core foundation, so when they said something people heard it. Like when Tupac, he’s the only person if everybody said it wasn’t cool to do “Dear Mama,” Tupac’s going to do a ‘Dear Mama’ and get a pass, he’s the only one that’s going to get that pass.”

“Trend setting, I don’t just sign on people’s lyrics; I’m looking at how is he able to transition or change Hip-Hop. When people are saying it’s not cool to do it, Tupac is coming out here, same thing! Everybody else says b***h, b***h, b***h, they tripping, but then Tupac come and say ‘Wonder why they call you a b***h?’ He ain’t calling you one; he’s just letting you know the reasons why they could call you that. Then when people heard, they’re ‘Like oh okay yeah like Pac said [it]’ and roll off that. So I have to give him that!”

Jay-Z

“Number three, I have to go with Jay-Z. From when everything was going down to where it’s a new [era] in Hip-Hop and he still is relevant; that’s important because stuff change in and out. He’s still not only relevant but he’s still making more revenue than a person that is the main person in the game at the time, from a business point of view.”

“You might have a Young Bug [fictional rap name] who might be the hottest thing smoking, but Jay-Z still pulled in $90 million in one year. How you do that and you ain’t a Young Bug? You feel what I’m saying? You would think that Young Bug would have brought that in because all of the talk is on him, but Jay pulled in more than him and he’s away from the camera sitting down. So you got to respect that, feel me, then you got a female [Beyonce] who’s bringing in the same thing as you! My hat of to you, homie!”

T.I.

“Number four, I ain’t going to lie; I got to go with Tip. He is like the young spokesman for d-boys-slash-you can still clean it up and make a better way for yourself. That’s the Tip-slash-T.I., he’s showing you both sides are true. It’s showing you I’m representing, I’m doing all this, I’m looking at this, he still can smooth, casual, switch it up and get a pass; that’s something that everybody can’t do neither. That’s why you’ve got to take your hat off to him.”

Lil Wayne

“You got to give the other one to Wayne. Wayne just came out of nowhere, I mean he’s been doing it from Hot Boys on, but he reinvented himself. Then while he was already doing his thing, it went from dreads, the guitar, he’s already putting the mastermind together. Y’all don’t really understand what he’s doing. In a minute, they’re going to understand, by the time people started understanding and catching to what he was doing, he was already out of here. He’s on a Rock album right now that people don’t really understand, but in time, people understand.”

“That’s what I learned in this game, from me giving the number, to him doing something that a lot of people ain’t understanding. A lot of people are behind. If it ain’t happening right now in their eyes, it ain’t it, you feel what I‘m saying. You got to have someone that takes that step out; you know what I’m going to try. So if it don’t work, it just don’t work; you got to have people that do that because if you don’t then we all following each other. Somebody’s got to take the lead! Sometimes it pays off big and sometimes it lose, anything is a gamble. Those five people are not only who are relevant right now, but have done and are still changing Hip-Hop along with the other top six through 100 people. Those are just elite!”

The Side Bar:

Jones’ honorable mention would be Kanye West.

“I give Kanye his card to because Kanye is a person who could make a track, rap on the track and master the track. I mean he don’t need anybody. When you show him love, you got to show love to Jay-Z because he opened the door for him to do that. It’s just like 50 Cent, 50 is a monster that’s my homie; he knows his business. You got to show Eminem love, because Eminem opened the door and 50 is doing his thing. Dre opened the door and Em is doing his thing. People have amnesia sometimes on how the game is supposed to go. If I open the door for you, you open the door for him and that’s how it’s supposed to go. Some people open the door, open the door and close the door!”